Good afternoon, I am currently trying to research and get to the bottom of my grandfathers role in WWII. So far I know he has a Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Unit citation medal, among others. I know he was in Battle of The Bulge, he was in the 394th regiment In Mississippi in 1943 and I think he has Jump Wings? He tucks his pants in his boots like someone who’s a paratrooper and in his picture he deff has jump wings on. I guess I just never knew he was a paratrooper. He only ever said two things to my father about the whole war so we never found out much. I know he was a private 1st class and that’s it. If anyone has any information or relatives who were also in this regiment at this time please let me know, I’d love to chat.
394th was part of the 99th Division. You might want to pick up Battle Babies, the official (or original) divisional history. Once Upon A Time in War is Prof. Robert Humphrey's book on the same division. He interviewed every living member of the 99th he could find to compose their story. Most are dead now. Less relevant but by a member of the 394th is Max Gendelman's A Tale of Two Soldiers. Gendleman, a Jew and a sniper was captured during the Battle of the Bulge (Wacht Am Rhein) and hid his Jewish identity (SS thought he was Volkdeustch from America). Anyway, at a work farm Gendleman was befriended by a recuperating Luftwaffe Lt. who helps him and another GI escape to American lines. The Lt. talked his way through German posts and Gendleman and the other GI convinced the American sentries that they were real PoW escapees with a German prisoner. The German became a prisoner and decades later, Gendleman reunites with him (ala Adam Makoos' A Higher Call). BTW, I still don't have Battle Babies.
So my grandfather in his picture has his pants tucked in to his boots like he was in the Airborne and he has jump wings on his chest. Dose that mean he prob jumped into Germany?
You have to check his DD-214. Did he transfer from the 394 to an airborne unit and where did he become jump qualified? I'm not aware of any American jump school facility in the UK so it had to be here. He could also have transferred post-war and earned his jump wings then.
It could also be that he was originally in the 394th and afterwardn volunteered to be a paratrooper. You have to ID his unit to figure out where he went.
