Corporal Walter Kruszczynski - service number 36025392 - was a member of the 132nd Infantry Regiment, Americal Division, who was killed at Guadalcanal on january the 7th 1943, but he is buried at the Ardennes American Military Cemetery at Neupré in Belgium. Does anyone know the story how it becomes that he is buried on the other side of the world?
I looked him up on the ABMC site, and it only said that was in in the Americal Divison an killed on January 7th 1943. How do you know he was killed on Guadalcanal? Is it possible that he was detached from the Americal division and in (or near) Europe at the time of his death? If he was indeed KIA on Guadalcanal, I have no good ideas about how he would have ended up buried in Europe. My only guess is that his family requested that he be interred there, but I would have no idea why. Here's the official info from the AMBC site, for anyone interested: [TABLE="width: 421"] [TR] [TD="width: 100%"][h=1]Walter Kruszczynski [/h][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="width: 100%"][h=2]Corporal, U.S. Army [/h][h=3]Service # 36025392 [/h][h=3]132nd Infantry Regiment, Americal Division [/h][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="width: 100%"]Entered the Service from: Illinois Died: 7-Jan-43 Buried at: Plot B Row 10 Grave 10 Ardennes American Cemetery Neupre, Belgium [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="width: 100%"]Awards: Bronze Star, Purple Heart[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE]
I would suggest that you request his IDPF (Individual Deceased Personnel File). It should provide you with the information you want... and maybe more than you want. I requested one back in June and received it yesterday, which is super fast. It's usually about a 4 month wait. How to request an IDPF
Not sure if you have found this yet, but the Digital Archives at CARL has a PDF of Narrative History of Task Force 6814 and Americal Division, Jan 23, 1942 to June 30, 1943 There are two narratives in this document. The first runs through PDF page 12. The other begins on PDF page 13 through the end of the document. The relevant period is covered on PDF pages 10 and 16-17. Obviously, it doesn't reference Cpl. Kruszczynski, but it does give the location of the 132d Infantry in early January 1943. At that time, the 132d Infantry was on Mount Austen, Guadalcanal. Battle of Mount Austen - Wiki Capture of Hill 27; 2 Jan 1943 - Map The Wiki article says the Japanese named their fortified position on Mt. Austen GIFU after a prefecture in Japan with the same name. I don't know about that. It sounds more like a military acronym to me.
Last Saturday, the 'Stichting Verenigde Adoptanten Amerikaanse Oorlogsgraven' organised a meeting at the American Military Cemetery of Ardennes. We have got a very interesting guided tour by Jeffrey Hayes. He explained to me that there are two soldiers buried at Ardennes who died in the Pacific. The reason is that when the two bodies were found, Ardennes was the only identification center in the world, so they took their bodies there of identification. After the identification, they were buried there. May I recommend some very interesting websites. This organisation, of which I'm a participator is collecting al the data of all the soldiers, buried at Henri Chapelle, Ardennes and Margraten. If you may be interested in adopting a grave, these websites are a great start for finding information. Adoptiegraven Database Homepage https://www.facebook.com/groups/284634671629962/#!/groups/284634671629962/
That is very interesting, RD3. Thank you for finding that out and sharing it here. I think it would be interesting to see Corporal Kruszczynski's IDPF.
You are right TD-Tommy. I'll send a request, but ik may take a little while. I asked a few, some weeks ago, and I'he got a reply that it could take about 16 weeks. So, we will see. I'll keep you posted.
This is the story about the second soldier who died in the Pacific that is buried in Ardennes: MATYKA, Felix T
That is the typical time frame. However, I requested one in June and got the IDPF in August. Perhaps they have fewer requests in the summer time. The first one I requested did take the full 16 weeks. One has to be patient when requesting military documents. That is a very interesting story. Thanks for posting it RD3.
