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Wounded in Battle of the Bulge and Fought in Pacific

Discussion in 'Information Requests' started by Dylan Haney, Mar 5, 2019.

  1. Dylan Haney

    Dylan Haney New Member

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    Does anyone have more information on this? He was one of my great-grandpa's brothers. I'll be able to get his his service records in a few weeks (enlistment and discharge) from the County Clerk, but I was wondering if anyone was able to provide a little bit of information until then. What does the obituary mean by the "beachheads of Tokyo until D-Day"? Any information that could be given to clear this up a little would be greatly appreciated. Why would he be sent to the Pacific after being wounded in Belgium? Would he have not be ready to return to service after the war in Europe was over? [​IMG]
     
  2. LRusso216

    LRusso216 Graybeard Staff Member

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    That last paragraph makes no sense. There was never a "D-Day" in Japan, and it was never invaded so there was no "beachhead". It makes me curious as to what is meant.
     
  3. RichTO90

    RichTO90 Well-Known Member

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    If he was 106th ID he was almost certainly NOT part of the 422d or 423d Infantry RCT lost in the Schnee Eifel. If he was, then he would almost certainly have been captured and not released until the end of the war. RAMP's were not typically reassigned to the Pacific. It seems likely then he was either part of the 424th Infantry RCT or divisional troops. Given they all had limited service in the ETOUSA, even with the points from a wound it is possible he would be reassigned. My Dad, married with one child and with nearly 18 months foreign service was rotated to the States in July 1945 and was also assigned to Pacific duty, but was on home leave when the war ended. I suspect the same is the case here, but the reporter couldn't resist dressing up this obituary. It is also quite possible since he had limited service that instead of being discharged he was sent to be part of the Army of Occupation.
     
  4. A-58

    A-58 Cool Dude

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    In regards to the post above, being part of the Army of Occupation seems like a believable scenario.

    I've read in the past the story of a soldier who was badly wounded in New Guinea, sent back stateside for further treatment and recuperation, then upon returning to active duty he was sent to the ETO as a replacement. Don't remember if he was offered the chance to return to his old unit or what happened to him once he got to Europe, or what unit he was assigned to, but dang that was a lot of travelling.
     
  5. USMCPrice

    USMCPrice Idiot at Large

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    But the circumstances are different. he could have been wounded in New Guinea as early as August 1942 and had until very early May 1945 to get into combat with Germany. If he was in the 106th ID and at the Bulge, 16 December 1944 would be his earliest date for being wounded. The last Pacific "D" Days, I am aware of, were Okinawa 01April, 1945 or Ie Shima on 16 April. If you figure wound recovery time, return to the states, reassignment and then the voyage back to the forward combat areas in the Pacific, making an actual "combat" landing would be extremely hard to squeeze into the timeline. To have fought he had until 22 June on Okinawa, that is possible, but improbable.
     
  6. TD-Tommy776

    TD-Tommy776 Man of Constant Sorrow

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    Newspaper articles regarding WWII service are notoriously inaccurate & misleading. There may be bits that are accurate, but the trick is figuring out which bits are which. I agree that it is possible that he may have been reassigned after being wounded. Wounded soldiers for whom it was not practical to return to their original unit were sometimes reassigned to another unit through the Replacement System.

    Dylan, when you get his discharge papers, post them here. That may raise even more questions, but it will give us some more reliable information with which to work.
     
  7. A-58

    A-58 Cool Dude

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    Yes I understand that, I was just throwing that story in for good measure. Sorry that I didn't make that clear. The GI in question was wounded sometime in 1942 during the fighting on New Guinea, then ended up as a replacement in the ETO.

    The campaign on Mindanao continued until the Japanese surrender on 14 Aug 45, so possible the GI that was wounded in the ETO could've been sent as a replacement to one of the divisions fighting there in 1945. But I agree with most here, it was probably a poorly written article by a young reported who didn't have his facts straight nor tried to find out what was fact or fiction.
     
  8. Dylan Haney

    Dylan Haney New Member

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    I finally got back to you guys on this! Looks like he was in the 106th with the 81st Engineers Combat Battalion and he has four service stars on his EAME ribbon. Doesn't seem to have gotten a purple heart either. I just assumed the obituary meant the landings on Okinawa when it said the "beachheads of Tokyo" but that doesn't seem to be the case!

    It do find it interesting that he has the EAME theater ribbon, the Pacific theater ribbon, and an American theater ribbon. 20190830_045757_compress31.jpg
     
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  9. KMZgirl

    KMZgirl Member

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    The obit "D Day" might have been a reference to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. According to his separation papers, he was in the AP at the appropriate time.
     
  10. RichTO90

    RichTO90 Well-Known Member

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    You gotta love the Army. Take a short, stocky, and probably very strong young civilian coal miner, assign him to the Combat Engineers...and then train him as a cook.
     
  11. Dylan Haney

    Dylan Haney New Member

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    Ha! No doubt!
     
  12. Buten42

    Buten42 Member

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    I agree. After basic at Ft. Ord CA. they sent me across the United States and I trained as a heavy equipment mechanic at Ft. Belvoir VA (did pretty well in the classes) and thought sure they would send me to Germany. After graduation, they sent me back across the United States and shipped out to Korea where I was made a parts specialist-
    Love the Army.
     
  13. Tipnring

    Tipnring Active Member

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    I was wondering about his Military Occupation specialty : COOK 060.

    My Dad's WD AGO 53 55 has the same Military Occupation specialty listed.

    I asked him about it & he said that the the only thing he cooked was putting some cans of food on the truck radiator
    to heat them up.
     
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  14. Dylan Haney

    Dylan Haney New Member

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    I assumed my great grand uncle was in a combat role, honestly! It didn't sound like he was doing too much cooking early in his time in the war from what I'd heard, but maybe later on after the war ended, he stuck to his duties a little more.
     
  15. TD-Tommy776

    TD-Tommy776 Man of Constant Sorrow

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    I've done that with C-Rats. ;)
     
  16. TD-Tommy776

    TD-Tommy776 Man of Constant Sorrow

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    Thanks for posting his discharge paper. The fact that a Purple Heart is not listed on his discharge does not mean that it was not awarded. Also, it certainly does not mean that he was not wounded. I know a WWII vet who was wounded twice in combat and never got a Purple Heart Medal.

    His arrival date in the ETO roughly matches the 106th ID, so that supports the newspaper article. It shows him leaving for the PTO in July 1945. The 106th did not go to the PTO, so that suggests he was transferred to a unit that was sent to the Pacific for the anticipated invasion of Japan. Assuming that to be the case, that would explain the somewhat fanciful line, "... shipped to the beachheads of Tokyo" in the article. The "D-Day" mentioned in the article may be referring to VJ Day.

    If you are willing/able to spend a bit, hiring a researcher to track him through the unit Morning Reports will probably give you some definitive answers. In particular, if his being wounded was reported at the Company level, the dates he was assigned to the units with which he served, and his duty MOS in those units.
     
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  17. Buten42

    Buten42 Member

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    My one brother was in the 334th IR of the 84th Division as a heavy Mortar crewman. On occupation duty in Germany he started doing tailoring (actually taking the pieces to town where he paid someone to do the work) for extra money, Guess to be legal he changed his MOS to tailor which is what is on his separation document. He probably changed his MOS when he went to the Pacific .
     

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