Dad's Discharge Paper

Have we ever figured out what AW 107 is and what the Time Lost refers to? Some give a number of days while others record "No Time Lost under AW 107". Does that refer to leave?

 

Great question former jughead......I have wondered that same thing just have not asked about it. What does that mean?

 

That is really cool Lou. Seems like there is a lot of variance on discharge paperwork even among WWII vets. I know when I was in My DD214 looks exactly like everyone elses. Seems as thought they were still perfecting military paperwork at the time....lol

Wait....this is not discharge paperwork is it?

 

Should have saved that salute for that post. I'll make it up to you though.
Judging by his "Chronology" you posted it looks like he was promoted from Cpl to Pvt while in the Coast Artillery.

 

I really wish I could find my Grandpas "Separation Qualification" paperwork. Maybe it will come with his information we requested from the NARA. Very cool document, Lou......

 

That is so cool Lou, and I must say that I had one uncle who was so "yo-yo" that he used to say his stripes should have been put on with zippers. Today one would say with Velcro.

Uncle Erwin was bounced between Pvt., Sgt. and back to Pvt. so many time in his years in the US Army of the WW2 period, and afterwards nobody was sure what his veteran benefits should be. He was a "card" though, and a great friend for a kid to have in the fifties.

 

Bump

I'm not sure if inactive threads disappear but I find it troubling that the last message on the last thread was 3 Feb 2011 (I checked 2 Feb 2012).


I find this veteran's story unique. When history books discuss the shortage of infantrymen, it is often sited that anit-airacraft artillery units were converted to infantry. I know many were disbanded in the US and the men sent into the replacement system, but I think it was somewhat rare for whole AA battalions to be converted into infantry battalions.

According to the army official history for the Italian campaign, the 434th and 900th AA Battalions went into the frontline as infantrymen before becoming part of the 473d Infantry. I wonder about the details of that process. Did they first go into the line as rifle-armed gun crews and batteries? Once converted to an infantry battalion, how did the leadership learn their new trade as infantrymen?

In other veteran's memoirs I have read that the Army had particular qualifications for being declared a trained infantrymen. I wonder if the people in charge of converting AA battalions made any attempt to meet those requirements.

 

Staton cites the 434th AABn became the 1st Bn 473d Infantry, 532d AABn became 2/473d Infantry, 900th AABn became 3/473d Infantry and the 435th AABn became HQ 473d Infantry (not sure what HQ means, maybe HQ Co and Service Co). So I assume you mixed up the 505th?

But why do you think they were acting as infantry at Salerno? If it was an emergency, do you think they switch back to AA until the fall of 1944 in the Appenines?

I did think it was possible that after their initial employment on the frontline, before they became the 473d Infantry, that they felt they learned enough about infantry combat. And they would have, for the most part, except maybe attack techniques.

Then, of course, many veterans comment in their memoirs that training seemed useless once they got on the frontline. Or rather there was so much that training did not prepare them for.

Thank you for this thread and your father's colorful service.

 

OK, my mistake and it was only recently that I learned that the Coast Artillery Regiments were disbanded to form the various AA Bns. At 45+ my short term memory is already shot.

I checked Stanton and it states the 505th CA "assaulted Salerno". It would take some checking to see if they came in as 'hasty infantry' or as an AA unit that came under attack and picked up their rifles or some other battlefield contingency.

I saw you had mentioned posting the 473d Infantry regimental history elsewhere. With some effort I tracked it down starting at this post:

http://www.ww2f.com/photographs-documents/20781-sharing-copies-wwii-documents-4.html#post356910

The history mentions some plan to be trained as infantry after they had been in the line for a defensive mission, but that plan was cut short in the spring of 1945.

 

William R. McQuade, was a US Army Infantry officer rising to the rank of Major while serving with the 473rd Inf Regt. There is a good chance that he was a former CA officer "converted" into infantry when the 473rd was formed.

 

Initial deployment of the original AAA Bns is unrelated to the 473rd Inf Regt. All four had some combat experience by the time it was decided to convert them into Infantry. The 900th had the least...
rgds
M

 

Did he live in Allegheny County?
m