Need help for a small Washington state museum.

Hello All,

I have been impressed by the depth of knowledge of the members on this forum.

Myself I am a retired (21 years) soldier. Following that I did five years of contacting work around the globe for the Department of the Army.

I have been fascinated by World War II for a young age, but only truly appreciated the horror after wandering the mountains of Afghanistan. Can not imagine the days-long barrages that the the soldiers (of both sides) endured. Don't get me started on the Pacific Theater.

My grand father served in the Army during WWI. My father served during the Korean War in the Navy aboard CA-72 (USS Pittsburgh). I have "The Sea Chest, US Naval School, Officer Candidate, Newport Rhode Island, January 29, 1954." and The USS Pittsburgh ( CA-72) year book for 1954. I am willing to share anything contained within gratis.

Now to the reason that I am here. My daughter works for a small museum in Washington State. During the COVID she provided me with a project to occupy my time. The project is this:

SGT Robert C. Baskett (19193437) died (KIA) on 15 JUL 1944.
Assigned to 8th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division ( I do not know the Battalion nor Company)
Buried in Blosville temporary cemetery 31 JUL 44
Remains repatriated to Issaquah, WA

My question to the knowledgeable, where to I go from here? I am living off my military retirement and don't have the funds to pay all of the fees that seem to be involved unless you live in D.C. or St. Louis.

Again, any help or pointers will be greatly appreciated!

Most Respectfully,

John

 

Welcome Aboard!

 

Ideally I would like to write an account of what he experienced from Utah Beach until his death on 15Jul 44. I want to get hold of morning reports, rosters, after action reports...I feel like I have hit a paywall.

What battalion and company was he assigned to?

 

The application for headstone indicates he was 8th Infantry, which narrows your search down to the morning reports of 18 companies. The division AAR simply states that:

"The 8th Infantry, Company B, 87th Chemical Battalion, two platoons, Company C, 801st Tank destroyer Battalion, one platoon Companies A and C, 377th Antiaircraft Artillery (AW) Battalion attached, launched an attack at 1015 in conjunction with the 12th Infantry. Upon reaching the objective at 1800, the regiment organized positions for defense as shown on Overlay to G-3 Periodic Report Np. 40."

Pretty telegraphic. Unfortunately that is the nature of most AAR. You would get more details - possibly - from the regimental and battalion AAR and or G-3 Journal entries, but there is no guarantee. Furthermore, unless he died in a conspicuous act of gallantry it is very unlikely that his name would appear in an AAR. His Company Morning report should give more details on the events of the day, but unfortunately they are only available at the National Personnel Records Center...and with COVID I expect they are shut down for such routine business.

Sadly, I cannot find a regimental history of the 8th Infantry, but you may want to contact the US Army Military History Institute Army Historical Education Center at Carlisle, PA to double-check. They are the repository of the most complete collection of unit histories.

The best thing to do though would be to request a copy of his IDPF (individual deceased personnel file) at St Louis.

 

Welcome to the forums!

 

Thanks for all the help. I just submitted my query to the AHEC; let's see how long that takes. On the left hand margin of the application for headstone or marker there is some handwriting that refers to "death rept 1293 or 1273(8)". Does anybody have an idea hold to get hold of this? I found some "translated death reports" at the National Archives, alas it seems that those are of bodies discovered by the Germans.

 

The "death report" is the IDPF I referred to. Individual Deceased Personnel File. Each fatal casualty had one prepared...the headstone request would be part of it. You can request it from the National Personnel Records Center, Give them as much info on the person as you have. The IDPF can be a few pages to 50+ pages and should include the original burial location, information om identifying the body, and should include specific unit information for his company and may sometimes include circumstances of death.

 

Welcome. I Googled 8th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division. It's been a helpful for me in my research to learn all that I can about where they were and what they were doing at the time. Your man was fighting near Periers France on 6-12.
4th Infantry Division | World War II | US Army

With a good head start and with several years of research and luck, I can go on Google Earth to within a few hundred yards of where my father got shrapnel in his buttox. Chiunzi Pass 9/21/43

Good hunting.

 

I sent the requested, and received this reply ( i am posting it for the good of the group):

We're sorry, due to the corona-virus public health emergency, the National Archives at St. Louis will be closed beginning March 23 until further notice. The National Personnel Records Center - military will respond only to military requests involving burials and medical emergencies. Emergency requests may be faxed to (314) 801-0764. Please check archives.gov/veterans for updates on our operating hours and status.
For the National Personnel Records Center - civilian (also closed) see:
email: cpr.center@nara.gov or : https://www.archives.gov/personnel-records-center/civilian-non-archival
Any orders that have been placed will not be serviced until operations can resume safely. We apologize for any inconvenience. Once operations resume, your document reproduction request will be serviced in the order it was received.
Customer service representatives are available to answer questions regarding orders currently in our system at trustfundsupport@nara.gov.
Please visit https://www.archives.gov/coronavirus to stay up-to-date on the latest information.

 

The 22nd Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division has awesome resources. This map has a few references to the Eighth. I located where the Regimental CP was on 15 Jul 44, and the message associated with the icon provides the locations for the 3 Battalion CPs. I just need to figure out which Battalion he was in. getting close.

22IR - WWII Map Locations - Google My Maps

 

Rich, does the fire at the archives in the 70s have any bearing on the IDPF? I believe these records are kept at Fort Knox, KY. Just saw a post that said they couldn't get the IDPF because of the fire.

 

No, it was individual personnel files that were lost in the fire. AFAIK the IDPF were all held separately and are intact.

 

Thanks