Having trouble finding specific unit information/AAF/Pacific Theater

Hello everyone,

My name is Derek, and I'm a huge history nerd (and WWII buff). I'm making a shadow box for Christmas in honor of my late grandfather who served in WWII, Pacific Theater. I plan to give it to my brother who is an 11B Iraq/Afghanistan veteran. This is a very long post, and I'm sorry in advance, but I've spent weeks researching this stuff and wanted to offer as much info as I can.

My grandfather has long since passed (almost 20 years ago), but I knew he served "in the Army" in "the Pacific" (I believe he also used to say Marshall Islands, specifically). He was a from a realllly small town in Texas, a city called Coleman. Their newspapers are incredibly detailed usually, but I'm starting to wonder if units/battalions were just incredibly dynamic in WWII in the Pacific theater, or they would just report wrong information by accident?

To bring you up to speed: I got my grandfather's discharge paperwork from the Nat Archives. He was an 867 - Radar Mechanic, Bombardment from 4/28/42-10/29/45. This didn't seem so "Army/artillery" like I thought growing up. I also saw that he got a Good Conduct Medal and Asiatic Pacific campaign medal (which I know is pretty standard). The battles he was in are GO's listed as "Central Pacific & E Mandates". His rank was SSgt. All that kind of seems straight forward to me.

Here are my questions which see to baffle me. I consider myself a very good researcher/genealogy freak, but when it comes to the military (which I LOVE reading about), I seem to get all dumb and hit a dead end.

1.) One of the newspapers articles mention when my Grandfather just left for war and was in the "27th Signal Battalion, C Company, SCRTC, Air Corps Signal School at Camp Crowder, MO". He eventually get overseas, and the newspapers thus far are very mum on where he ever went (I understand why, loose lips and all). I can't find any history at all of this 27th Signal Battalion (only a company?) and nothing in relation to the battalion being in the Camp's history.
2.) Another article stated he "was inducted into the Army April 20, 1942; sailed overseas Dec. 28, 1942, after extensive training in the States; spent 22 months in the Pacific; served with 579th Signal Battalion; discharged as staff sergeant". Again, I cannot find anything about the 579th Battalion and WWII/Pacific.
3.) I cannot find any concrete/extensive history about EITHER of these battalions. I don't know what division they were with etc. One of my older friends who's an Army lifer thinks he was most likely with the 27th ID (seeing as he was 27th Battalion), and some of their history lines up with the locations/movements in the Pacific, but I can't be sure. Was he part of an Infantry division? Or ultimately an Air Force (like the "7th Air Force" or something). That's another confusing part, since I know there were ground forces and AAF, but his MOS makes me think he was definitely AAF.
4.) Another article mentions he was stationed "on a very small island" and the "natives were nice and helped them locate an enemy sub, which his unit sank". That would then not really make sense to me if he was attached to an infantry division (27th ID, for example). Was he more AAF/"pre airforce" then? This seems like a ground radar job on bombers who would have sunk the sub, not infantry or field artillery radar?
5.) Finally, his departure/organization unit is listed as "326th AAF Base Unit", at Drew Field, FL. Searching that didn't yield a lot of info either, and I'm aware a lot of "departure units" are not always who they served with. He did start a new life here in Tampa, FL which is where I'm from, and there's also MacDill AFB here. He was always "Army" and not so much "Air Force" growing up, and my whole family has been Army. I wonder if it's the same to him during his times.
6.) Is it possible for some people, even with unit/battalions, we just never ever get more info and that's that? Like "he served with the AAF doing radar mech work in the Pacific during the war" and that's it? Most people can't even find an MOS/unit numbers, so I guess I should be happy. I just HATE I feel like these two battalions never existed at all since there is NOTHING out there, and this war was well documented at this point in 2017.

Thank you all in advance for any info you can give. I've requested paperwork which was incredibly helpful, but for troop movements/info I've hit a dead end. If I can provide anything else, please let me know.

In comparison, my Great Uncle (my grandfather's brother), I have almost no paperwork like I do for my Grandfather but know he was 5th Army - 36th Division - 142nd R - B Company. He got a Purple Heart, 3 battle Stars, a Bronze Star, Good Conduct, and fought in North Africa, France, and Italy. Shot in the shoulder and got frozen feet, but came home. I can somehow find all of THAT for him in about 20 minutes, go figure!!!

Happy Holidays!
-Derek

 

Derek, Would it be possible to post a copy of his separation paper? Sometimes there's some indication of his division hidden among the acronyms.
"Air Corp Signal Corp" makes it sound like Army Air Force, but it should show that in Box #4.

 

Hello, Buten42! Not a problem! Thanks for your reply. I just went back and re-read my post, it seemed to make such good sense then but I might seem like a rambling madman in retrospect, lol. Also worth noting, in box 24, "Camp Walters" doesnt even pull up in Google; the closest thing is "Camp Wolters". Really?!

Since I don't have quick access to a scanner, I took some cell phone pics, so I hope they're sufficient. If not, let me know and I'll run out and scan them tomorrow.

Also, not sure if it's normal, but it looks as though I have a copy of the negative microfiche. Anyways, I've included a full page shot, and 2 "split page", close up shots.

Thanks!

 

Hello Opana,

No, I'm not familiar with that/have heard of that. I'll look and see if I can find anything there. Hopefully they have some online resources. Thanks!

 

It would definitely be Camp Wolters. I've seen that misspelling before on discharge documents. "SCRTC" would be Signal Corps Replacement Training Center, and Camp Crowder was the location of the RTC for the Signal Corps. The 27th would have been the 27th Signal Training Battalion at Camp Wolters, which explains why you couldn't find anything on that unit. I was only able to find references to it as a training unit in context with Camp Crowder. It would be surprising to find much more than that on a training unit.

Newspaper articles from the period did sometimes provide unit info early in the War but quit doing so for the reason you suggested. However, the info was not always entirely accurate. In this case, they were close. I think the unit was the 579th Signal Air Warning Battalion. Here's a Google book reference to the unit, an oral history interview with a veteran of the 579th, and an obit for a CWO vet of the 579th. From the oral history, the 579th supported elements of the 13th Air Force.

 

The other thing to keep in mind is that the Air Force was not a separate branch, but was part of the US Army. So, he would have been in the Army Air Force, but it is unlikely that his unit was attached to a Army Division. There are others here that are much more knowledgable regarding the AAF, but I did read that the 13th Air Force and the 7th Air Force did coordinate at least to some degree. That may explain the Central Pacific campaign credit.

 

The 579th spent a brief time as a subordinate unit of the XIII Fighter Command.

 

Definitely Army Air Force, and I think Opana has a good suggestion to see what the Historical section at Maxwell can help you with.
The one thing that jumps out is him having 5 years college and him going in as enlisted instead of an officer. Sorry I couldn't be any help but wish you good luck and a happy Holiday.

 

Here is what I have on the 579th. It does not match the "Central Pacific and E[astern] Mandates campaign credit given in his discharge, but those are usually a bit wonky. On the other hand, it does match up with Drew Field and his return to the US.

579th Signal Aircraft Warning Battalion
Subordinate to the 13th Air Force
Activated 25 Jan 1943, Noumea , New Caledonia
Campaigns & Foreign Service Awards:
Bismarck Archipelago 15 December 1943 – 27 November 1944
Northern Solomon's 22 February 1943 – 21 November 1944
Deactivated 11 Dec 1944, Drew Field, Tampa, FL

Here is a link to the Air Force History index card on the 379th. http://airforcehistoryindex.org/data/000/033/742.xml With that, you should be able to do a record request to Maxwell and the Air Force Historical research Agency. Air Force Historical Research Agency

 

Now THAT is a cool link! I think you might be on to something here. The article I saw in the newspaper (it's actually an old "AOL/fan style" webpage) looks it was written after the war or after he came back, so I feel confident with the 579th being correct.

Also, thank you for confirming I wasn't totally crazy, and that I couldn't find anything on the 27th Signal Bn because it was a training unit. I would figure more experience folks like you all would be able to help. Thank you so much for this info, Tommy!

 

Good point, Buten. Any speculations? Anything under the sun? LOL? You bring up an interesting point though, which is also a bit embarrassing because I feel like I should have known more about this. My father (a Vietnam vet) passed away last year, but I remember him telling me my Grandfather got his Masters from the University of Florida. I used to always wonder how the connection for my Grandfather being the only Stewart from Texas to relocate to FL (of all places) came about. It seems like he liked the state from his visits here during his service (there are articles of him being in Tampa, FL when my great uncle, his brother, would be home visiting family in Texas).

I guess he must have finished after the military? However when he went in he already had a lot of education, no idea why he didn't go in as an officer, and his Army serial confirms he was volunteer, not a draftee.

 

Hello Rich, thank you for this info! I will definitely look into requesting more info from the AFHR like you said. It's very amusing, and also highly frustrating, how sometimes bits and pieces fit, and other times does not seem to jive. It makes this challenging, especially when the veteran is deceased and you're left trying to figure out the puzzle.

 

I would like to thank everyone so far for their help. The fact that complete "strangers" are willing to invest their time and information to someone they don't know is an amazing feeling. One of the positive things about the internet is there is always a community of people who are more knowledgeable in a certain area than you. I like genealogy and have learned some tricks and tips, but even I am amateur and still hit blocks.

With military, it's even trickier for me being a civilian and not being an expert at structure/org like a veteran would be. I can only imagine how little I will truly find out about my father, who was Army Intel (under the NSA umbrella) during the 70's in Germany. He would sneak across the border all the time and work in 4 man groups called tricks. I'm pretty certain much of his "duties" are still classified. I do know of a few word of mouth stories, which does jive up with a least 1 official medal. Just thought I would mention that, I would start a separate thread for that..

I just wanted to thank all of you so far for your help. I'll keep looking into the 579th and checking with the resources provided.

 

Derek, following up on this and have a very personal interest because the 579th is one unit that my grandfather potentially belonged to as well (like you, I have his final discharge paperwork, but can't work it backward to exactly the unit he belonged to. At least you have the advantage of the press articles).

If you want absolute confirmation that he was in the 579th Signal Air Warning Battalion, you are in a pretty good position because the unit rosters are available in St. Louis up until December 1943 (the Army destroyed the 1944-1945 rosters for an unknown reason after the war). Since your grandfather served so much of his time overseas prior to December 1943, there's a good chance you can find him on the roster list. I've used Golden Arrow Research in the past to do a quick roster check - his prices are very reasonable and you may be able to get the hard confirmation you're seeking.

As for the operational reports or troop movements of the 579th, it's also possible to hire a researcher at NARA II in Maryland to dig those up. I myself will be going this summer to look at the 579th among other units, and can check into it then and let you know. Would appreciate anything interesting you yourself dig up on the 579th as well.

You hit the nail on the head when you asked whether the units were dynamic. Not only were people re-assigned, but units themselves changed. It can be a fun/frustrating adventure trying to track this stuff down, and I'm happy for you that you've got such good clues to work with.

 

Know this an older post but I’m glad I found this.
My grandfather too was in the 579th during ww2. He just recently passed away at 94 and he never talked about the war except for one time.
When Japanese signed the surrender papers my granddad told me that night was the only time in his life he had ever drinked. Which after 4yrs of fighting I’d say he deserved to celebrate!

I stumbled across some old papers he had in his basement and found a list he made from the time of enlisting to discharge to which I found he was in a few units (engineer) but the 579th is who he was with at the end.

It’s all just battalion numbers and APO letter time lines so I been trying to piece it all together.

He left me his m1 carbine. After I took the carbine apart to clean it really hit me seeing the wear on the barrel where they wouldn’t lock the hand guard down so that Incase of a malfunction it would be faster to field strip it.

His generation earned the title as the greatest by blood and unselfish sacrifice that is beyond words.
Thank you all for the information I found here.