Any help/opinions would be excellent....

Funny thing, as the story was told, he was pretty much ignoring her. She came into his office one afternoon and was talking with him, or at him. She got frustrated, and sat down on his hand which was laying flat on his desk. Guess thats all it took.

 

What are his dates of overseas service? The first document says that he was dischrged from AUS (Draftee Army) and enlisted in the Regular Army in Leyte P.I. I am thinking the mystery ribbon may be a Phillipine Independence ribbon that was authorized after the war for personel who served an aggregate period in the Phillipines.

 

Those I am unaware of. The only reason I have the two discharge documents is that my father found them when they were going through what remained of his house. A fire started somehow, in the garage, burning it to the ground(the garage, the house sustained minor fire damage in the front, heavy smoke/soot damage throughout), and everything in it. I remember seeing dozens on card board boxes on shelf's in the garage. Unfortunately, we will never know what was lost.

 

His dates for overseas service should be on the papers you have. If he re-enlisted during the War then I am thinking his original induction was only for two years and he was inducted prior to Dec. 7, 1941. If he was in the Phillipines prior to 7 December '41 he would be entitled to the Phillipines Defense Medal even though it was not anotated on his separation papers.

 

My two cents--for what it's worth. If you notice the rack, it should be on the opposite side--either the picture is inverted or he has placed them wrong. It looks to me like they were pinned upside-down like someone pointed out. formerjughead got the correct placement order in his post, but they are not correct in the picture regardless if they were flipped over and/or inverted--Sure wish the picture was in color. The lack of rank and other insignia is puzzling also. I thought him to be an officer until I looked at the separation papers. The uniform appears to be class A summer (kacki) and the decorations would be regulation, but it would need the stripes and the other stuff. Very difficult to know what is going on.

 

To my knowledge, the negative WAS flipped. As to anything else, your guess is as good as mine.

 

Just a quick update;
I have yet to get anything from the archives, still waiting....

 

Just received notice from the archives today. They say his OMPF(Official Military Personnel File) is not on file, citing that it was probably destroyed in the fire of '73. They did say that they have an alternate record in the form of a final pay voucher, which they'll send me for $20.
Ill be mailing the check off tomorrow, continue playing the waiting game...

 

ssg_craven, you have discharge documents with dates similar to My Dad's and we were not able to get any records from the National Archives because of the fire as well. I think it is clear from the paperwork that he went to San Francisco which was a common trail for going to the Pacific Theatre and maybe Hawaii and there is information about Leyte a well know location in the Philipines. I hope you have greater luck than me as you seem to have Company A, Amphibian Tractor Battalion that may be able to be researched by the smarter ones on this forum. I wish you good luck in your search.