Hello from Central MA.

Glad you "actually read" the WD G.O. How about that, citing another document! What will they think of next?

You treated a WWII vet well; that's your payment.

Discharge only lists last MOS, so no way to know from available info what his MOS was in Jul 43 or Jun 44. The morning reports should tell the tale - if they ever reopen and if you want to go to the expense. It's not impossible he served in another unit for the second DUB.

As I understand it, pay records were not lost in the fire. If so, they should show the extra $10/mo for the CIB, and, hopefully, also give his company. I think the DML in Block 4 might be 'demobilization' which would fit with his station after Dec 44.

An infantry battalion had 5 companies - An HQ Co, 3 Rifle Cos, and a Heavy Weapons Co. He could have been in any of those. Total strength around 900.

 

"An infantry battalion had 5 companies - An HQ Co, 3 Rifle Cos, and a Heavy Weapons Co. He could have been in any of those. Total strength around 900"

The story he used to tell (and the ONLY story he used to tell, which the family unanimously confirmed a day or two ago) was the "nearly drowned" story. We all seemed to recall that he said he was carrying communications equipment (a radio, perhaps?), which was part of the reason he immediately sank beneath what was probably "shoulder depth" water to normally sized people (he was only 5'3").

If that's true, would he have been assigned to a specific company? Or would that task just be given to whoever was most readily available when gear was handed out?

 

"His Bronze Arrowhead device was for an assault landing, so either HUSKY or NEPTUNE, with the 16th Infantry. His return to the Z/I on December 1944, but lack of wounds, makes illness or injury the most likely reason he rotated home."

I had assumed that the arrowhead was for either Sicily or Normandy (is only 1 arrowhead awarded? or would a person receive an arrowhead for EVERY qualifying campaign?)

But your comment regarding possible injury or illness intrigues me. No one in the family knows of anything that happened to him in the war, so that would be an interesting assumption to make which opens up other possible sources of info. I'll pursue that angle to see if anything appears.

 

Yes, only one Arrowhead Device was awarded per campaign medal, so it could be for both HUSKY and NEPTUNE.

Soldiers rotated to the Z/I were normally suffering from wounds, illness, or injury that precluded them serving in a theater of war in any capacity. That meant he was probably unable to perform even light duties in rear areas. So a pretty severe injury or a chronic illness is my best guess. Digestive and respiratory illnesses were endemic, but there is also trench foot, frostbite, and other things that could be the culprit.

 

"Soldiers rotated to the Z/I "

OK, I give up I thought I could figure it out or find the info on his discharge paper that tells you this, but I can't. What is the "Z/I" and what box(es) on his form tell you that's where he was sent?

Thanks.

 

Sorry, I get so wrapped up in writing about the period I tend to use the acronyms from then..."Z/I" was the Zone of the Interior, what we now usually refer to as CONUS or the Continental US. He returned to the US, thus he returned to the Z/I in the parlance of the time.

 

Ahhhhhh. OK. I get it. Thanks