Charles Edward "Lefty" Booth, 376th PFAB, 82nd Airborne--Suggestions?

I pieced together the timeline from a few different documents in the file I received. A lot of it was on his Soldier's Qualification Card, which contains a nice dated list of what outfits he was with and when (in the "Record of Current Service" section.

I got a copy of his Service Record booklet (AGO Form 24), which really excited me because this is what Johnathan Gawne described in his book "Finding Your Father's War" as "the ultimate goal of anyone attempting to find out what a man did during the war". It has everything from his induction to dates of qualifications with weapons to outfits he served in to his pay records to when he was given the "sex morality lecture". Interesting reading!

I also got a copy of a "Service Record" (form WD AGO 1 Jun 45 24A) which seems to indicate that he reenlisted for a short time after the war, as it is dated from 28 Dec. 45 to 27 Dec. 48 (maybe they did this to receive benefits or something? Still working on figuring that out). This is mostly blank, but does show that he received Glider Pay, which was of some interest to me.

I got his Enlistment Record and Report of Physical Examination and Induction--lots of medical stuff in there.

Several other interesting tidbits included pay allotment records for purchase of war bonds, his Bronze Star citation and the entire General Order that it came in, and some correspondence he had with the Army post-war to track this medal down. All in all I am a lucky guy to have received this stuff! I honestly was only hoping to get his DD-214; never expected the rest of it.

 

Great, thank you, that's very helpful.

Keep us posted on what you find out about the 680th GFAB.

Best wishes.

 

Found this 17th Airborne Division website (while searching for Yank magazine articles). You might consider contacting the webmaster.

The history of the 466th PFAB section looks interesting with pictures of training.

- TRIBUTE TO THE 17th AIRBORNE DIVISION

 

Nice find, Earthican, thanks!

I sent the webmaster a message. His blog seems to be in French, so I'm not even sure if they understood what I wrote, we'll see what happens.

 

Hi all--

I just wanted to post an update to my search into my grandfather's service and the 17th Airborne in general. I've made some great headway; I joined the Scions of the 17th, which is a division association run by and for the descendants of vets from the 17th. Through that group I've made some great contacts, met some vets and gotten a lot of info that has answered a lot of questions.

Here is the interesting part: today I got an email from the vet who sends out the Association newsletter. I had corresponded with him some time ago and had told him who my grandfather was and that I was looking for information on him. In his email he told me that he had posted my info in one of his newsletters, and that a woman contacted him and told him that her husband (now deceased) "often spoke" of my grandfather and that she wants me to call her!

Here is the problem--I have no idea what to say to her! How do I start the conversation? What do I ask her? I feel like a twelve-year old here, and while I am dying to call her, I don't know what do do or say.

Any suggestions from those of you who have probably done this before?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

Adambhoy--sounds like she wants to talk to you. I'll bet once you break the ice it will go well and you'll learn some things about your grandfather. Phone calls are cheap nowadays so you can always phone her back if you think of something. I made contact with the wife of a deceased buddy of my brothers and we are still friends after several years. Besides, women always have more to say than men do--I doubt you'll have to worry about what to say. Dave

 

Adam, I wholeheartedly agree that you should contact her.

First, I would suggest this thread: Veteran Interview Question Guide. Obviously, you will not be talking directly to a veteran, but it may be helpful to give you ideas on what to ask her.

Second, I would start by asking her about herself and her family. It's a good way to break the ice. People tend to find it easier to talk about themselves because its what they know. Then let the conversation take its natural course. If you have some prepared questions, you can use them when they fit the conversation or if it slows down a bit. I think you will find that the anticipation of the conversation is much more stressful than the conversation itself.

 

Thanks guys! You are all absolutely right. I knew that, I was just nervous for some reason.

In retrospect, I have no idea why! I spoke with her yesterday, and WOW what an extremely pleasant woman! She knew all about my grandfather, even stuff that I had not heard through family lore. She did most of the talking, and it was a really good conversation. She was EXTREMELY excited to talk about it, and stressed that I do as much as I can to learn from the surviving 17th AB vets before they are gone. She basically tasked me with the job of carrying on their memories, and I was of course happy to accept it!

We are planning on chatting more--some amazing stories were shared and I can't wait to learn some more.

 

If you do get the opportunity to talk to some veterans, you may want to check out the Veterans History Project thru the Library of Congress. You could do an audio or video recording and have it added to the VHP collection (with the veteran's consent, of course). If that doesn't work out for you, I highly recommend checking out some of the veteran interviews on VHP.

Here's one I found with a video interview of a 17th AB vet. There are several other audio and video interviews of 17th AB vets.

 

K, WOW. I don't have time to watch the video right now but I have to mention that I have found VERY LITTLE information specific to my grandfather's regiment, the 680th GFAB. So I find it particularly noteworthy that the gentleman in this interview's unit was... wait for it... haha... The 680th.

Life is funny sometimes. Thanks TD-Tommy! Can't wait to watch the vid. Probably tomorrow.

 

It wasn't entirely coincidence. Like I said, I did a search and I did notice his unit affiliation. There were quite a few other 17th AB vets, but I don't know about 608th. You can do some more searches on your own. I wouldn't expect too much info from the interviews as they tend to be mostly about the individuals personal experience, but they are still interesting to listen to.

 

Hi Adam -

My father was also gliderman with the 82nd.. He was in the 320th Field Artillery Battalion A/battery. His first combat experience was in Market Garden. He stayed with the 82nd from the start of Market Garden all the way to the 82nd's occupation of Berlin. I wrote for his records also, and received a letter regarding the fire that happened in the 70's etc. I received a verification of being in WWII and the medals he entitled to. My questions is what source gave you the most information? I know a fair amount of my fathers experience, time lines etc, but it would be nice to have more details. Congrats on your findings. I ran across a tribute website that actually had pictures of my father and I was able to visit with his buddy that supplied my with most of the information that I have.

 

Hi jtedford--I got REALLY lucky in my search for my grandfather's records, and was able to obtain his ENTIRE personnel file--that certainly helped me nail down a lot of information that was not on his DD214 and would have been completely unknown to me. The document that was of the most help to me was his Service Record booklet (AGO Form 24), which is pretty much what it sounds like--a record of his entire service. Tons of pertinent information about things like his induction, inoculations and vaccinations, what ranks he was promoted to, what units he served with and when, what furloughs he went on, decorations he was authorized for, a record of his glider flight pay, etc.

Sounds like your father had quite the time in Europe! You are lucky to have been able to speak with a buddy of his, and to have found pics of him online; that part I don't have. But yeah I have been extremely fortunate in my search!

 

Thanks for the video link Tommy--I finally had time to watch it. That gentleman is pretty hard-core! He almost needed longer arms for all the stripes on his uniform...

Definitely nice to hear some personal accounts and details of training, etc.