Louis A. Russo - Summary

I hired Gollden Arrow Research to find out more about my father. Here is a brief summary of his service. There is also a copy of the Morning Reports that show what was happening to the various units he belonged to. A lot of interesting reading.


Here is a short summary of the records: Russo Joined F Battery of the 505 Cavalry Regiment in September 1942.. He joined as a Private from New Cumberland, PA. I've included training/action details when they are noted by the unit clerk. In December he headed overseas. Unfortunately, the name of the ship was not included. In July 1943 he was promoted to Private First Class. In August he was promoted to Corporal and he took the HMS Boxer to Salerno. There are some neat details as they tried to dock the ship under fire.


In November 1943 he was sent to the hospital for something that was not in the line of duty. Usually this means an injury that took place due to personal neglect. There is an article number that is hard to make out and it seems he violated some army rule. The December reports were almost impossible to read or print. January 1944 is much the same. In March the unit was redesignated as the 900th AA Battalion. He became part of B Battery at this time. Later in May he was sent to the rest center for a short furlough. In June he was reduced to Private. I believe this may have been for the infraction that is shown on his discharge. I believe it states he violated AW 107. He was sent to the rest center again in August. In January 1945 the unit was folded into the 3rd Battalion of the 473rd Infantry Regiment and he joined K Company as a rifleman. They initially were taking part in training and then into combat. As you will see the men were already acting as infantrymen when they were with the 900th. In March he was again on a short furlough to Florence. He was promoted back to Private First Class in March and then To Sergeant in May. In July he was made Staff Sergeant. In August he was sent to the 338th Field Artillery Battalion, C Battery. In September he was sent to the 7th Replacement Depot to be sent home. This is where he disappears from the records. I hope these help in your research.

 

Glad to see you are getting a little more of your fathers history.

Also good to see he advanced rather quickly to SSgt. after a few "indiscretions"

 

I was told that his rank varied from time to time. This just confirms what I was told.

 

"rank varied from time to time' , I had a cousin who had the same thing happen to him in Vietnam.

 

Thanks, Tommy. I'm still reading the Morning Reports. I recognize so many names from reunions. Interesting stuff

 

Thanks for pointing that out. In my hurry to read the morning reports, I never noticed that. The reports, however, seem accurate. I'm particulaly interested in January and February 1944. The unit seems to have been providing help to the 34th Division in crossing the Rapido.