WWII vet in 181st Field Artillery Battalion

Good evening. I am the grandson of a WWII vet. I am trying to research his records and of course have run into "the fire".

Oddly, no info appears to be "out there" on the 181st. I cannot even find that they existed?

I have my grandfather's honorable discharge where it lists his battalion, but when I research general battle info, etc. I cannot find anything on the 181st?

Anyone have some suggestions for finding them?

 

TIOH - Heraldry - 181 Field Artillery Regiment

It seems they were a Regiment until May 1943 when they were re-designated a Battalion

Hope it helps

 

I'm interested how that works in peacetime (not wanting to divert the thread), but inducting? (if that's the right word) NG units into the US army in Feb '41 seems an unusual way to increase the US army size, rearmament period or not. It would seem more logical to form new army units, and keep the NG as a reserve for if and when war actually occurred. Was it common practice?

 

Nigel, If you ever find the U.S. Army doing something logical I'd like to be the first to know.

 

Just one example...that of my father who was working in the Civilian Conservation Corp which was a non-military group designed to provide work for public needs and get an income during a period of depression. The CCC granted my father a discharge from this government organization for as they stated "the convenience of the government" and then he was available to be inducted into the Army. Some people enlisted and some people were inducted or "drafted" into military service. He then served in the Pacific Theater. However his first assignment was in the Coast Guard Artillery but as most of the need for troops was over seas he was transferred to another group and sent overseas. The Coastal Units continued to exist but were in lesser numbers in a re-organization and re-naming of some of the units. It has been very hard for me to follow this in the books to find out where people went after the re-organizing. He ended up in the 545th Field Artillery. Perhaps the 181st had some personnel in it from other units such as a Coastal Artillery. It is usually just stated that they were re-organized. Although the draft was used for the Viet Nam war it has not been used since for the induction of U.S. troops but could be re--enacted when needed if we should fall short of the needed troops.

 

Thanks so much Lou!!! By the way I forgot to mention that he was in the Army.

Where did u find this info......I was looking for the same and found nothing?

 

Ultimately, I would love to be able to contact others that served with him (optimistic, I'm sure).

Thoughts on how to find a list of those who served with him?

 

My father was also assigned to the 181st out of Ft. Roberts. I am interested in learning about his role in the invasion of New Guinea. Just starting to look. Happy to share.

 

My Uncle was from Wisconsin and served in the 181st Field Artillery. I would also love to find out more. I know he was in New Guinea and The Philippines.

 

My grandfather from Alabama was in the 181. I was just able to find out his unit number today. I know he was in the Phillippines, and I know he trained in Arizona. Beyond that, I have no information.

 

I could be wrong but believe this was unprecedented at the time. I believe the correct term was that these National Guard units were "Federalized" into the US Army at that time. My father had been in the Michigan National Guard since 1936 with the 182nd Field Artillery Regiment and was Federalized (that's how he always referred to it) into the US Army in the Spring of 1941 also. You have to remember that the peacetime US Armed Forces was rather small prior to WWII and at this time most of the US population was at least talking like isolationists, although I've seen some magazine articles Clint has linked to that do suggest otherwise. Regardless, it seems apparent that FDR clearly saw the inevitability of war on the horizon and saw this as the quickest way to bolster the military's size, at least initially.

I think this makes sense in the context of the times. NG units at least had some basic military training and some of them would even have been in a regular branch of Service previously. By bringing them on board, they were more familiar than the guy on the street with military procedure, though Dad noted that Regular Army referred to them as "Boy Scouts" when they reported, and he was already a Sergeant. Nonetheless, his regiment were experienced around 155mm Howitzers, so that has to count for something and probably was a quicker way to start achieving an effective fighting force with the uncertain future ahead. This was an incredible mobilization process at the time and while I can't quote enlistment numbers prior to Pearl Harbor, I'm pretty sure they were able to immediately upsize the Army much quicker pre-December 7th through this method than recruiting. After Dec. 7th, things changed rapidly in that regard.

 

Hello! While researching my father's WWII history, I came upon this site. I have a copy of the 75th Field Artillery Brigade yearbook from Camp Forrest, Tennessee, (1941-1942) that has the listings and pictures of members of the 168th Field Artillery, 181st Field Artillery, and the 191st Field Artillery, if anyone is looking for information from the early Federalization time.

 

That's a generous offer, Bob. I hope you are able to connect with the folks who are searching for info on those units.

 

Bob, when you look at it, could you look for a Robert Childrey. I would love to have anything from my grandfather's time in the 181st.

 

I went through all the 181st FA unit members but did not find a Robert Childrey. The members are shown alphabetically by rank, so the search goes Officers, NCOs, Sergeant/ Corporals, PFCs, and then Privates. I might have missed him, but I don't think so. Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

 

My father-in-law served with the 181st in WWII. Interestingly, he received two medals from the Philippine government. He has the Mindanao and Sulu campaign medal and the Luzon campaign medal with one battle star. Can anyone shed light on the award of these medal?