My name is Gary Schultz and I just got signed on today for the first time. Though I live now in SC, I grew up in NJ and went to college and raised a family in Michigan. I'm still working, via internet, as a mechanical engineer with a small company in Kalamazoo. As for hobbies, all my life I've been very interested in cars and history. More recently I've restarted my efforts to learn about my Dad's experience in the war. Dad hardly ever talked about and I'd like to find out why. He was not a real family type of guy and I suspect that his experiences were a part of that. Dad (who passed away 10 years ago) was in the 18th Infantry Rgmt, 1st Bn., Co. D and was in all 3 invasions. He actually enlisted in 1936 and was scheduled for discharge on December 8, 1941. He did not get out until June, 1945. I'm looking forward to using this sight to connect with others who may be able to fill in some of the blanks.
G'day Garry! Schultz is a fine German name...plenty of settlers around the Carolinas from memory... Welcome abard mate.
Hi Gary. Why don't you tell us what you know of his service? That way, we won't duplicate what you already have. In addition to what I found in Stanton's OOB of WW2. I found this as well: History
I know relatively little beyond his serial number (6885827), dates of service (21 Aug 1936 - 24 Jun 1945) and that, during the war at least, he was in the 18th Inf Rgmt, 1st Bn, Co. D. In the 5 years before the war he spent a bit of time in Panama and was stationed at the 1939 New York World's Fair where I believe they put on marching demonstrations and the like. His records were lost in the fire and so I do not even have his discharge papers, although I have a lead and filed a request to get them from the county (Essex in NJ) where I think it would be most likely that he recorded them (if in fact he did). I've been in contact with 18thinf.org for several weeks and through them have managed to find one person who served in the unit with my father, but only for the time in Europe. I've spoken with John McHugh on the phone twice already. He did not recall my Dad specifically but said that the "old timers" who were in from the start didn't hang around much with the newer guys. It was also he who got me looking into getting discharge papers from the county where he settled after the war. The 18thinf.org also got me reading American Iliad which has me on a quest to find out if my Dad was the corporal who spoke fluent German referred to in a letter from Sam Carter, the Captain of Company D. If you haven't read the book, here's a quote from Sam Carter: "About mid-morning this fully armed German patrol came down the road. Leading the patrol was one of my own men, with a dirty face towel at his hips and a pistol in the middle of his back that was being held by a young German officer. My man, a corporal, was fluent in German, and I learned they wanted me to surrender my unit and become prisoners of war". The anecdote continued with Captain Carter telling the corporal (in English) to hit the ground when he gave the order to open fire, then directing his unit to fire on the Germans at the same time, and ultimately the killing of the German officer and capture of several Germans as well as the capture of handbooks of information from the dead patrol leader. That corporal could have very easily been my father. I am fairly certain he was a corporal at the time (promoted 3 March 1941) and he was also fluent in German and Polish (as he was born and had grown up along the border with Poland until 1931 when he immigrated to the USA). I also know that his only "souvenir" from the war was a German P-38 pistol. (He rarely brought it out and I do not know where it is today). If he was the corporal who survived that episode I should think he would have been allowed to have the pistol. (I understand the the P-38 was issued to officers in the German army). Dad had also once told me that the Germans referred to his units as "Chicago gangsters". The story would fit. I was also able to speak on the phone with Slipdigit from this site who explained to me that things like morning reports and operational reports for the unit might be good sources. I've started to look into these from links at this site and elsewhere but so far all I get are dead ends. I have a lot to learn about how to search I suppose. Just the name, serial number and dates don't seem to lead anywhere so far. I'm hoping to run across more folks who have looked into Company D in more detail to get a few leads. I also submitted new requests to the NPRC for information, even though an earlier attempt at that (in June, 2003) resulted in a letter from them about the fire. They did ask for a copy of the Report of Separation (WD AGO 53-55)/(DD Form 214) back then but at the time I did not know how to go about it. I'm hoping that this is the information I can get from Essex County. As I'm new to the site I haven't quite figured out the best place to post things like this; I actually posted some of the same information last night in the North Africa forum. I've read thru a lot of the headers and done a few searches haven't found anything specific about his battalion or company. Any leads would be much appreciated. Thanks to all who can help!
