telegram

So here is a telegram from my grandfather to my grandmother. I was wondering if anyone could decipher its origins. I am basically curious about the first line. With the date on there I know this was sent some time after he was wounded and was most likely at a hospital some where overseas. On one audio recording he states that he was wounded near St.Lo and taken to a medical hospital in France, do not know where in France. From France to Bournemouth, England, from England to New York, from New York to Tocoma, Washington at Madigan Memorial Hospital, which is a Army medical center now. Likely though he was still overseas since I have a newspaper clipping saying he arrived in New York in Feb. 21, 1945 with other wounded soldiers.

I have a favor to ask about the newspaper clipping. Can someone be able to track down a more local account of my grandfather's ship arriving in New York?

 

I am going to take a wild punt and suggest it originated somewhere in France. The words to which, I believe, you refer: SANSORIGINE, are French for without origin which to me would indicate that the origin is being kept secret, and as this is in French, would suggest somewhere in France.

Western Union may be able to tell you to what FA92 INTL=CD refers, it could be the code for France.

The above are pure speculation.

Mark

 

The telegram is dated 1944 Dec 10 which is likely the date it was received. The article states that he had been hospitalized in England "since mid-November". I suppose it is possible that he dictated the telegram while still in France and it was not received for 3-4 weeks.

As an aside, this news article is a good example of how they can be helpful, but also misleading. The article mentions he was in "the 353rd Infantry Regiment of the Third Division". The 353rd was a regiment of the 89th Infantry Division which did not arrive in the ETO until Jan 1945. The 3rd Infantry Division was operating in the Voges Mountains and was about 70 miles from Nancy, France around 8 Nov 1944. However, I did not find his name in searching the rosters in the 3rd Infantry Division History. My guess is that "Third Division" should be "Third Army". I have no idea where they might have gotten the 353rd from.

 

The answer woud be the FA92 code = it's France and the Sans origine mention shows it was sent via wire (= cable ) from there.

 

Somewhere during his service he must of changed regiments or something. I do have a postmarked envelope while he was training at Fort Polk stating 353rd and of the 89th. I also have a photo of him with a "rolling W" patch on his uniform. I think I recall him saying on a audio tape that he was transferred to "Patton's 3rd army". Though oral history says he was the 2nd wave on D-Day. I dont recall Patton's Army being involved on D-Day...just after the allies gained a foothold in Europe. Hmmm

 

Well that would explain where the newspaper got the 353rd Infantry from. Yes, he was certainly transferred prior to going overseas. That's the only way he could have been wounded when he was. There is a history of the 353rd Infantry in WWII which was published a few years ago. Your local library may be able to get a copy for you if they don't have it. There is a possibility that it may mention if groups of soldiers were transferred out of the 353rd and, with some luck, where they were sent. If not, it will not have cost you anything, unless you forget to return the book by the due date.

I would take family oral history with a grain of salt, especially without any supporting evidence. "Patton's THIRD Army" and "2nd wave on D-Day" are actually not very specific. As you pointed out, the THIRD Army landed in France in July 1944, well after D-Day. I believe there were something like 2 dozen Infantry Divisions that were in the THIRD Army at one time or another. Also, "landed at Normandy in July 1944", with re-telling over time, can very easily become "landed on D-Day". Nothing nefarious, of course. Just a variation on the game "telephone".

Do you have any other documents, photos, or letters from his time in ETO or after the War? There may be some clues we can pick up on.

 

Thursday night my father found some letters and other documents of my grandfather's. Some of that information has caused me to look at 320th infantry regiment. I found the unit's daily morning reports HERE. I found the exact day he was transferred to this particular unit promoted to PFC and when he was injured and it was all thanks to these reports!

I am having difficulty figuring out which unit my grandfather, William Strebel, came from prior to joining this unit.

 

The Coulthart website is a great resource. Your grandfather joined the 320th Infantry as a replacement. The note at the end of page 2 of the 2 Aug 1944 Morning Report translates as: "18 above enlisted men assigned and joined from 86th Replacement Battalion APO 873 ETOUSA with duty 745".

The 86th Replacement Bn was part of the GFRS, or Ground Forces Replacement System. The 86th arrived in France on 12 June 1944 and was located at Vouilly, Normandy. It's possible, but unlikely that your grandfather arrive in France with the 86th. Most soldiers spent relatively little time (usually 1-6 weeks) in a replacement unit prior to being assigned to a permanent unit. As far as I know, there are no extant records of the soldiers that passed through the Replacement (aka Repple Depple) system. That means that tracking him back beyond this point will be difficult.

 

I got the book as you had suggested,'Good Soldiers:The history of the 353rd Infantry Regiment, 89th Infantry Division". It does provide a lot of information. But, it is the matter of going through it to try and connect dots. Well, I guess I better get digging.
I have pictures and letters as evidence that he was at least in the infancy stages of the 89th Infantry division. But somewhere during his time with the 89th he must of been transferred out to end up in the European theater 5 months ahead of his original division.
Possibilities:
#1 He was at Camp Carson, CO when in the book it mentions that the 89th became a Guinea Pig experiment in attempt to restructure the division in hope to make it more mobile and flexible. Some regiments were striped away during these experimentation period and sent to the 71st Light Division (Pack, Jungle) and the 10th Light Division (Pack, Alpine). Possibly during this time is where the change took place...I will have to look deeper.
#2 My grandfather was also pretty fluent in German, his parents came to the States around 1920. Would being fluent in German expedite him to the European Theater? I would imagine this skill would be a sore need which could possibly justify his early arrival to ETO.
#3 It is possible that he did fight on D-Day and later granted R&R? He said he fought on Omaha Beach. Was there such a practice for D-Day wary soldiers?

 

There would not have been any R&R. Theoretically, it is possible that a solder wounded on D-Day could be sent back to England and, once healed, to be sent back to France via the Replacement System. I think it is more likely that a group of soldiers were transferred from the 89th ID in the States for the purpose of being a replacement following the anticipated losses on D-Day and subsequent fighting in Normandy. The best way to determine what is actually the case will be to get the MRs while he was in the 353rd. They should indicate the when, why, and to where he was transferred from the 353rd.

Speaking of Morning Reports, you may find this tool of interest: Coordinates Translator. The trick is knowing the correct Grid and the correct grid-square in the Grid. Usually the MR will tell you which Grid to use. For example, the MR for 8 Nov 44 states: "Q 0267 Nord de Guerre Zone". The Grid is the Nord de Guerre Zone. the "Q" gives a hint as to which grid square, in this case it is "wQ". The coordinate is "0267". To look up the coordinate, just select the Grid from the menu and type "wQ0267" in the text box and click on "Convert!". Note that this location is a general location of the CP for Company K, and the Translator itself is not entirely precise. However, it is reasonably accurate for most purposes. In the above example, they were located NE of Metz near Charleville-sous-Bois.

It does get a little tricky with units that are on the move. For example, on the 7 Nov 44 MR, it says "Brin 1 mile W U 9721". The grid square "wU" would put them somewhere in SE Germany which would make no sense. However, the square "vU" is to the immediate left of "wQ" so that is the square being referenced. That coordinate location is NE of Nancy, France and about 1 mile West of Brin-sur-Seille.

 

Some of this is self explanatory. In the picture, it says he was part of the 320th IR and no mention of the priors. Do they normally list the last one he was associated with? It says he earned a bronze star but my family was not aware him having one. His name is not on any of the recipient listings for the medal. Could that be because the fire in the 1970s burned his records before a list was compiled? Does anyone know where the Medical depository would be for this specific hospital?

Here is a recipent list for medals that was drafted in 1945 http://www.coulthart.com/134/go20-45.pdf

 

I enjoyed reading this thread. I don't know much, but will tell you what I noticed.

#1) The newspaper article was PRINTED Weds., Feb 21, 1945, but it states he returned on MONDAY. That means he actually returned Mon., Feb. 19, 1945. This could make a big difference in your search. I once heard that men returning were on the immigration records because they came through the same ports as regular immigrants. Ancestry.com is one place you can find these records. There are other free places online.

#2). Since he was wounded, shouldn't he have been given a Purple Heart?

#3) He was awarded an EAME ribbon with a bronze star (picture attached). That is different than a regular bronze star.

 

French
sans = without
origine = origin

 

The discharge does answer a lot of questions. The first thing to note is that he left the USA on 14 Jun 1944, about a week after D-Day. The GO #49 dated 13 Jun 1944 refers to the GO which authorized the Western Europe campaign, not when he was awarded the medal. The same GO also established the Bismarck Archipelago campaign. As Lou mentioned, the Bronze Star referenced is the service star, or "Bronze Star Device". They are often mistaken for the "Bronze Star Medal". However, since he was awarded the Combat Infantryman's Badge, he would have also receive a Bronze Star Medal via what is sometimes referred to as the "Bronze Star Conversion". That would have been issued post-War which is why it doesn't appear on his discharge. So he did actually receive a BSM.

Here are a couple of links for Madigan Hospital at Fort Lewis, Washington: Madigan General Hospital; MAMC - Madigan's History

 

I didn't see the CIB listed. Good catch on that and the departure date. This kind of stuff is why I love this forum.

 

Well thanks to your suggestions Tommy and the book, 'Good Soldiers: The History of the 353rd Infantry Regiment, 89th Infantry Division', which I also have grown to love...I think I pinpointed the time frame in which my grandfather was stripped from the 353rd IF. As I may have mentioned before, according to records he was part of Company M in the 353rd as the Heavy weapons company. (he was part of the Mortar team)
In 1944, while the 89th Light division was at Hunter Liggett Military Reservation on maneuver exercises against the 71st light division, the enlisted men from the Army Specialized Training Program replaced approx. 3,000 soldiers from the 89th and 71st Light Division, almost exclusively Privates and Pfcs from Rifle companies to be sent to the ETO.
Now, I do not know where he went from here. I would love to get my hands on the Division/Company Morning reports!! If anyone is bored at NARA or lives near it, I could use some help acquiring these. ha ha.
#1 He could have been assigned and joined the 86th Replacement Battalion that would later go into the ETO.
#2 The other, but less likely is this...One quote from a soldier in the same section of the book states; "It was here that I lost a lot of good friends... This was tough, because I had known these guys since the first days in Colorado. I later found that practically all of these fellows were assigned to the 4th and 28th Infantry Divisions, which were heavily involved in D-Day, the hedgerow fighting of Normandy, the Battle of the Bulge, etc. Most of them were killed. The letters I sent to them all came back marked KIA, or Killed in Action. This is one thing that has stayed in my mind very strongly all my life."

 

Thanks to everyone so far for sharing their knowledge and having a keen eye for details. It is very appreciative.