917th Air Engineer Squadron, Air Corps?

I grew up thinking my father had been a Sergent in the Army, in the Engineer Corps; he passed away in 1991, when I was 19. Recently I became interested in looking into his military service and was very surprised when I located his discharge papers (original, plus 2 copies made by local county clerk (one positive w/clerk's seal & the negative/reverse copy)), which showed he was in the 917th Air Engineer Squadron of the Air Corps. I was even further surprised when I noticed on his original, non-colorized military photo that yes, he does in indeed have the Air Corps insignia on his left shoulder, which was mostly cropped off in the colorized photo always displayes. His rank was also more visible- the was a Technical Sergent.

I haven't been able to find anything about his specific squadron. He was drafted, enlisting Sept 11, 1942 at Kalamazoo, Michigan; Separated Dec 3, 1945, Camp Atterbury, Indiana. I do know from memory that he trained in Utah and went in at Normandy on Utah Beach. He went to Europe on the Queen Mary (departure Nov 15, 1943, arrival Nov 20, 1943), which I've confirmed; possibly on the way back (his discharge list dates as Nov 19-Nov 27, 1945- QM sailed on Nov 21-Nov 27, 1945, consistent with its 5 day crossings). Listed battles & campaigns: Normandy, Northern France, Ardennes, Rineland, Central Europe.

I do know that he was in fairly active areas. At one point he ordered a convoy of trucks to move out, to retreat, as they were behind enemy lines...unfortunately the last truck driver forgot something very important, namely him. The joke was what is more embarrassing then leaving your Sergent behind enemy lines?- when he walks into camp 3 days later. He also brought back the insignia from a Nazi uniform, from when they took over a Nazi barracks. The solder who left it behind had been sewing onto his uniform when this happened and from what my father said, the Nazi's only retreated 1/4 mile.

I know I have more information then many and even reading here has triggered little things he said when I was kid, but I would really like to find more information on his unit, if I can. Also, I sort of understand the Army-Air Corps thing, but if someone can help explain it to me better, I would be very appreciative (I have 5 older siblings who will not just take my word for it...I'm the baby of the family-lol).

Thanks~
maxcat

 

Hopefully this work...I scanned both photos (B&W and colorized), plus I did a text scan of his discharge and a photoscan.

Dad had worked in a local iron works, owned a sawmill, worked on the family farm, and probably a few other jobs before WWII. He had a photographic memory- the other Sergent's couldn't figure out how he could call early morning roll call without a flashlight even when new men had been assigned...he just looked at his clipboard before he went out

He also had the innate talent to build just about anything out of nothing...including some generators during the war. We have a special letter his commander sent back to his family, noting how the 'generators may not have been as quiet as government issue, but they worked very well...especially considered they had put in multiple request for additional generators, but none were available." I don't have the letter here, but when my Mom finds it, I will definitely scan that in too.

Another favorite build from scratch he and a buddy did one winter were hot showers. They had made everything portable, with the intention of taking them with the unit when they received orders to move out. Somehow word spread, and their move out orders included specific instructions to leave the showers behind for the medical unit that was moving in. You can only imagine the grumbling that had to be going on...

And yes, working with the heavy equipment for building airfields would fit. In his retirement years, he had a Cat D3 bulldozer (the babydozer), a large Cat front end loader, and a Cat D9 bulldozer (bigdozer), more or less for 'fun' (we did have 520+ acres), plus all the other farm tractors that he kept running on his own.

 

The funny thing is that his military headstone even says Army, but I don't know what documentation they required, especially with so many records having been lost. I would imagine the county court house still has his records, as its noted on the side of one which liber and what page it was recorded into.

On a side note, my BIL was stationed in Turkey during the first Dessert Storm, and because of my fathers death, he was allowed to come back stateside, which in itself took a lot of documentation. He came back one day before the first major wave of solders were suppose to come back from Iraq in April 1991 after the cease fire officially took effect. He said he had the hardest time making his way through the airports as everyone wanted to buy him drinks.

 

Try posting what you're looking for on this site,it's a good USAAF one,
Army Air Forces.com
good luck !
Johnny

 

based on the fact you stated that, he arrived in England Nov 20th, 1943 (had to be England, because the invasion did not take place until June 6th). This is consistent with AAF units being deployed to bomber and fighter bases located all over south east England.
Since his MOS was Automotive Mechanic I suspect he was assigned to a support group that provided motor pool or aircraft maintenance at one of these bases.
Using his discharge unit will not really help find his deployment unit(s) while in England. This discharge unit was the LAST unit he was assigned before being discharged. This could've been a stateside unit (in IN)?? If you can locate ANY letters he may have written home (from Nov 43 thru June 44) the return address (on the envelope) will provide you with his 'unit' he served with. From this info, we can locate what bomb group or fighter group he made have been stationed with.
After the invasion (Jun 44) and later into winter 44 and spring 45, the US Army was incurring more 'losses' than it has anticipated. Therefor they were 'actively' recruting men from the bases (in England) to 'fill' the replacement ranks. Many guys (including my Father-in-law) took this opportunity to see some 'action' in France, Holland, Belgium and Germany as the war progressed.
This is where he probably saw the action you noted while in mainland europe.
Again, he would've been assigned to an infantry division (76th, 99th, other?) To find this, again, you would need to locate ANY letters he may have written home during his time 'in theater'. This would have the unit he would've been assigned to (at that moment in time).

If you do not have any additional documentation, it may prove difficult to locate the units he served with. A fire (in 1973) destroyed the records of Army and Air Force service men from WWI, WWII and Korea. (see this link)
It's very sad this happened, Many men have had thier history lost to this tragic event.

The shoulder patch is the Army Air Force basic element patch
His riddon IS the Good Conduct medal.
The medal with the hanging metal banners looks to be
Marksmanship qualification (EXPERT)
The individual bars under the badge show 'what' weapon he received this marksmanship for.

Hope this helps.
Bill

 

Just a note, his headstone would say "US Army" for that was the service he was in. There was no US Air Force during WWII. If you look on the top line of his papers there is a block labeled "Arm of Service" typed there is "AC" for Air Corps; the next block is "Component" where you see "AUS" for Army of the United States.

You may want to go talk to these guys: http://forum.armyairforces.com/