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Charles Edward "Lefty" Booth, 376th PFAB, 82nd Airborne--Suggestions?

Discussion in 'Military Service Records & Genealogical Research' started by adambhoy, Feb 4, 2012.

  1. adambhoy

    adambhoy Member

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    Hi all! New here; this seems to be a great forum so hopefully someone can help me. Like many of you I am researching my grandfather's war experiences. I am basically trying to track his journey from home through training, to Europe and back.

    Here's what I know:

    He died in 1970. My grandmother died a couple of years ago, and I of course never had a lot of conversations with her about his experiences. I have always known that he was in the 82nd, as my mom had his shoulder patch. Family lore states that he "jumped at Normandy", and that he received a Bronze Star during Market Garden, but that's about all I knew. I've studied WWII history for about 30 years so I am versed in the "big picture", but lately it's been gnawing at me to zero in and find what he did to the best of my ability.

    Recently I joined Ancestry.com and found an actual scan of his "Record of Burial Place of Veteran" from the state of PA. It listed "376th Parachute Bn" as his unit, and that is what is now on his headstone.

    I am trying to verify if he actually served with this unit or if this was the unit he was in when discharged, etc.

    I also know that he returned to the US on a ship called the Thomas Marshall (my uncle was named for the ship that brought my grandfather home). Can anyone suggest the best way to track down the ship, her history and possibly manifest information?

    So far, I have:

    *sent in a form 180 to NPRC. Last week I received an "Order for Archival Record Reproduction Services" form, and a letter requesting the $60 fee. I filled it out and returned it with a check, which is where we stand right now. Does this request mean that his file actually exists, and that it survived the fire? Or am I paying $60 to have them look for it?

    *I have been in contact with a Belgian historian who wrote the history on the 376th PFAB. Unfortunately that unit doesn't seem to have an active association, and not much internet presence. The historian has been very helpful, but told me he didn't have my grandfather's name among his nominal unit roster (he assured me that this is by no means definitive). I would be interested in talking to other vets from the 376th. Anyone have any ideas on the best ways to track them down? I'll talk to the historian about it too, but first I want to verify what unit(s) is/are listed in the DD-214.

    Is there anything else that people suggest I be doing while I wait for the DD-214? I would love to try to track down anything at the county courthouse, but unfortunately I live in Minnesota while he lived and died in Pittsburgh, PA. Just trying to cover all my bases. Any suggestions would be great!

    Thanks for reading!

    Adam
     
  2. Buten42

    Buten42 Member

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    Adam,
    The 376th was a parachute Field Artillery Bn (75mm) It was attached to the 82 Infantry Div so it appears this was your uncles unit. Normally if the records were burned in the 73' fire you would get a letter indicating that. I'm guessing that you will receive your uncles records--How many and which ones I can't answer. I suggest waiting to see what you get from NARA-it may answer all your questions.
     
  3. adambhoy

    adambhoy Member

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    Yeah, that is pretty much what I am thinking. One thing I can't rectify is that I have always heard that he jumped during D-Day (my father mentions it often), but I know that the 376th PFAB did NOT take part in the D-Day invasion; it was sent back to England to re-tool after the Italy campaign/Operation Husky. Who knows what could have happened I suppose, maybe he was in another unit that did take part in the D-Day invasion BEFORE he joined the 376th, or maybe our family stories are incorrect. That is obviously not beyond the realm of possibility.

    Either way, I think you are right; I just need to wait and see what I get, to see what blanks I can fill in!

    Thanks for responding, and I look forward to learning all I can from this forum.
     
  4. Buten42

    Buten42 Member

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    Adam, Just looked in Stanton's remarkable book and it shows the 376th PFAB was given credit for arriving in France on June 6th, 1944. They did go to England on July 13, 1944 and to Holland (Market Garden) on 17 September, 1944.
    So it appears your family history is pretty accurate. The timeline for the 376th- arrived N. Africa 10 May,43--
    Sicily 9 July, 43-- Italy13 Sept 43-- N. Ireland 9 Dec.1943 (I'm guessing this was to re-tool from Italy) then France 6 June,44--England 13 July, 44-- and Holland 17 Sept 44. Then home to New York 3 Jan 46.
    Your Uncle saw more than his share of the war-and jumped from a perfectly good airplane to do it. He has my respect and admiration. His service should be recorded and saved for the next generation. Good luck
     
  5. adambhoy

    adambhoy Member

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    Wow that is great information! Thanks so much. I'll never be able to understand how these men (kids, really, in a lot of situations) accomplished and sacrificed so much for us. I wish I could have met him; sadly, my grandfather died before I was born. Digging up this info has been a real treat for me; thanks again for your help!
     
  6. Sgt Potier

    Sgt Potier Member

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    First of all , i'm sorry for my english .
    I'm a Belgium member from the 82nd airborne and one good way for you is maybe contact the 82nd airborne museum at Fort Bragg , He could help you . BUT I have a question for you adambhoy ? do you have some pictures from his uniform? patchs or something else ? because I have a roster with 100.000 US airborne names and I have the same name in the 680GFAB , 17th airborne ... Your grand father was maybe transfered after the 82nd airborne ???
     
  7. adambhoy

    adambhoy Member

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    No worries--your English is way better than my French or Flemish would be! ;o)

    Thanks a lot for the suggestion; I am definitely planning on contacting the 82nd museum, once I get whatever info I can obtain from NARA so I know his unit definitively.

    As for the pictures, I don't have many unfortunately. The one patch I have seen is an 82nd shoulder patch that my mother has. There is one picture I am aware of, and while it is at my parents' house (I have been meaning to go find it and scan it in), my recollection of it is that it's from some training facility, and that the only patch is on his garrison cap. I will have to look closely to see if I can figure out if it's a paratrooper or glider patch. Hopefully I can do that soon (they live about 20 miles from me so it's not that hard).

    Interesting info about the 680th! Does your roster tell anything else other than name? I do have his service number, if that would help ID him (I'm sure there were plenty of US soldiers named Charles Booth)-- his was 33-676-819.

    Thanks!
    Adam
     
  8. Sgt Potier

    Sgt Potier Member

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    Adam,

    In my roster I keep ; name, rank, asn, unit + Co + transfert , POW, Date of dieth + burried spot, Chalk and serial for all the combat jump . When I have ... For your grand father I haven't his name because I didn't find any roster or books about the 376PFAB .
    You can see here my job ( totaly free ) in this case just for the 505RCT . http://www.505rct.org/roster.asp

    Domi
     
  9. adambhoy

    adambhoy Member

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    Domi--

    That is a really impressive project! Quite some undertaking there.

    I googled the 680th and found this roster, which DOES contain a Charles E. Booth:

    www.usairborne.be/Roster/ROSTER-680GFAB.pdf

    The 680th trained at Camp Forrest outside Tullahoma, OK, which coincides with what my uncle had told me about where my grandfather had trained (he didn't know much overall unfortunately but he came up with "Tullahoma" unprompted by me). I know that the 376th PFAB did NOT train there, so if he was in the 376th like his burial record says, then how did my uncle know about Tullahoma?

    All of this means that the mystery is deepening, and I cannot wait to get info from NARA!

    At this point I don't know with whom he served or when; I've got conflicting information from a variety of sources. I hope I haven't bitten off more than I can chew here.
     
  10. Buten42

    Buten42 Member

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    Adam, Camp Forrest was/is in Tennessee. The 680th Glider Field Artillery Battalion (GFAB) - Unit History
    The 17th Airborne Division didn't see combat until Dec.44- which means they missed D-Day at Normandy and Market Garden. Bet you can't wait for the records to unscramble all this. My guess is that you're family history is generally correct and the C.Booth in the 680th is another guy with the same name. Too bad there wasn't a serial number with the name on the roster.

    My brother's head marker shows he was attached to the 34th Tank Bn which is a unit of the 5th Armored Division. In reality, he served the entire war from N.Africa to Germany in the 67th AR of the 2nd Armored Div. They transferred him to the 34th for processing to the states and that was the unit on his separation papers. So this sort of thing does happen, but my family history always had him with the 2nd and was pretty accurate about time and places. Let us know when you get the records--I love mysteries :)
     
  11. Buten42

    Buten42 Member

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  12. Sgt Potier

    Sgt Potier Member

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    Domi--

    That is a really impressive project! Quite some undertaking there.

    I googled the 680th and found this roster, which DOES contain a Charles E. Booth:
    www.usairborne.be/Roster/ROSTER-680GFAB.pdf

    Adam,

    this roster is ... mine ... Unfortunaly I have no ASN or something else which could help us ...

    Domi
     
  13. adambhoy

    adambhoy Member

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    Buten42 you are totally correct. I guess I typed OK because of the "homa" sound in Tullahoma, but I knew it was supposed to be TN! My bad.

    And right again, I cannot WAIT for those records!! This is really keeping me up at night haha.

    Gonna try to get in touch with the 376th PFAB Assoc too, good suggestion. Hopefully someone is still around to answer phone calls or emails.

    Domi--that really is an amazing roster you've put together there!

    Adam
     
  14. adambhoy

    adambhoy Member

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    Great news (for me)!

    I got my Grandfather's OMPF yesterday--75 pages of long-awaited gold. I got his Bronze Star Citation and everything--way more than I expected.

    I tried to upload a JPEG of his DD-214 but it says the file is too large (12.5MB)--can anyone tell me what the file size limits are/best way to link/upload an image?

    Near as I can tell from his file, he began and spent the majority of his Army life as a member of HQ Battery, 680th Glider Field Artillery Battalion of the 17th Airborne--totally news to me. He was transferred late in the war to HQ Battery, 376th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion of the 82nd Airborne. This jives with family history, but I just can't believe we were missing such a large piece of the puzzle!

    I tried assembling a timeline for him, in case anyone is interested:

    10 April 43 Joined service in Pittsburgh, PA--sent to Ft. Meade, MD
    15 April 43 Basic training--Camp Mackall, NC
    17 July 43 Assigned HQ Bty, 680th GFAB (MOS 055 Clerk, Gen)
    24 Sept-4 Oct 43 On ten day furlough
    27 Sept 43 Promoted to Tec/5
    11 Dec-30 Dec 43 On furlough
    18 April 44 Training at Camp Forrest, TN
    6 May-16 May 44 On ten day furlough
    1 July 44 Placed on Glider Flight Status
    20 Aug 44 Left Continental US (arrived England 28 Aug)
    28 Aug 44 IN ENGLAND (until 24 Dec 44) 
28 Aug 44 EAME Ribbon issued
    25 Dec 44 IN FRANCE (until 17 Jan 45)
    8 Jan 45 IN BELGIUM (until 8 Feb 45)
    8 Feb 45 IN FRANCE (until 21 May 45)
    28 Feb 45 Overseas Service Bar authorized
    22 Mar 45 IN BELGIUM (until 24 Mar 45)
    24 Mar 45 IN GERMANY (until 15 Jun 45) (OPERATION VARSITY)
    12 Jun 45 Promoted to Tec/4
    15 Jun 45 IN FRANCE (until 10 Aug 45)
    23 Jun 45 HQ Btry 320th GFAB, 82nd AB
    2 July 45 Presented w/Good Conduct Medal, Epinal, France (Clasp for Good Conduct Medal “at date of transfer”)
    5 July 45 HQ & Service Btry, 376th PFAB, 82nd
    30 July 45 Promoted to S/Sgt So 81, HQ 376th PFAB
    11 Aug 45 IN GERMANY (until 19 Nov 45)
    20 Nov 45 IN FRANCE
    23 Dec 45 Returned to US (Boston)
    27 Dec 45 WWII Victory Medal, American Campaign Ribbon Issued
    22 Jan 46 Bronze Star Medal award notice was mailed. “For meritorious service in connection with military operations during the period 20 Aug 44-8 May 45”

    Turns out he wasn't at Normandy OR Market Garden, which is what I had always heard. Funny how these family stories get sort of garbled over the years. Also, he was a gliderman, not a paratrooper as I was always told, either. Go figure.

    Can't wait for the next step, which I guess is assembling his units specific movements throughout the war! If anyone has advice I'd love to hear it.
     
  15. Sgt Potier

    Sgt Potier Member

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    Great news . I'm happy for you and yours . My roster is correct ;-) . He was a Glider but he was also maybe awarded with the jump wing just after his transfer to the 376PFAB . You could maybe have a contact with the 82nd airborne Museum Fort Bragg . they have some historians which could provide some helps .

    Domi
     
  16. adambhoy

    adambhoy Member

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    Thanks Domi--

    I will definitely try that. I found records of Glider Pay in his file so I know he was qualified for those wings, but nothing mentioning Jump Wings. I would certainly like to find that out though--thanks for the suggestion!

    I'm also going to try to see if he is due for the Army of Occupation medal; seems to me he should be, since he was in Germany from 11 August to 19 November 1945.

    No mention of that in his file but I think I'm right in that he qualified for it.
     
  17. adambhoy

    adambhoy Member

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    Attached Files:

  18. Buten42

    Buten42 Member

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    The Occupation Medal wasn't authorized until April 7, 1946 so most of the guys that earned it won't find it on their records.
    Seems he should be qualified for his Glider Badge- and that should be on his records.
    Write to NARA and ask for a replacement set of decorations and badges. It's free, and since you know they have his records they will do a good job of locating everything he's entitled to. Glad to see you're beginning to unscramble things.
     
  19. adambhoy

    adambhoy Member

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    Thanks Buten42,

    That is definitely my next step! It's all coming together now. So rewarding!
     
  20. Earthican

    Earthican Member

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    Great stuff, you are one of the lucky seekers!!!

    I am curious if the list of assignments and locations was in one document or did you have to piece this together from various documents?

    What other kinds of documents were in his personnel file? Obviously promotions, discipline actions (if any), weapons qualification score sheets(?), aptitude test results(?), anything else?
     

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