Looking for info from Leyte gulf on my grandfather

hello. I’ve been doing some research on my grandfathers service in the navy. I’ve found his draft card, where he was deployed to pearl, where he went to Leyte Gulf on the USS Custer and where he was transferred off that ship to a hospital. Then a year later when he redeployed out of Portland OR back to Pearl. I was wandering if anyone could point me in a direction of where to find hospital/hospital ship records online that way I could see where he went for the year missing in the records I’ve found. I’ve got some broken oral history but of course it’s sporadic at best. Thanks for any help.

 

Google "USS CUSTER (APA-40)" and you'll find a bit of info.

 

I’ve got a lot of info on the Custer. Looking for somewhere to get info on hospitals or hospital ships that were there. He was injured 10-29-44 on the Custer or one of the landing craft and he was transferred on 10/30 but it just says transferred to hospital. Nothing else and no other info for a year until he was out of the hospital and redeployed

 

That will be a bit more exciting. The Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships has histories on 99% of USN ships. NavSource has them sorted by type. Patience will be needed to go through the files to find ships that were in the right place at the right time. If he was sent to a shore facility do you know if the hospital was USN, Army, or something else?

If you can post copies of the documents you're working with the sharp-eyed among us might find some bread crumbs that will narrow your search.

 

I don’t have hard copies of documents. I will see if I can print them off to post. Have no idea of hospital. He fell thru a deck hatch on the ship and landed across the tailgate of a Jeep in the cargo hold. He didn’t remember much after that. Family lore is he went to the USS Hornet then to pearl. I believe he went to a outpost hospital somewhere in the pacific island chain and then to pearl or San Diego. He did remember being worked on at a hospital then being transferred to another hospital and operated on again.

 

Looks to me like he was offloaded in New Guinea when the Custer docked there to resupply from 26 oct- 2 nov

 

Check DANFS for dates the Hornet was in the area.

Ooof, I can sympathize. They woke me up in the PI to see if my brain still worked. It did and the next thing I remember was looking at San Diego from a hospital bed.

 

I was just wandering where to find medical records I guess. Also is there anyway to track LCM’s that were attached to ship? He was an LCM operator

 

Have you inquired at the National Archives in St. Louis?

 

There are a number of various kinds of hospitals that operated in the area. They are listed here with dates and locations. There are several that were in Leyte during the dates you referenced. If you can find the type of hospital he was in it might be of help. WW2 Military Hospitals | WW2 US Medical Research Centre