Company M 129th Infantry 37th Infantry Division

I was wondering if anyone would happen to have pictures of Company M 129th Infantry 37th Infantry Division. Im looking to find a picture of my great uncle Sgt. Edwin C. Ziemann. Unfortunately my family can not find his picture anywhere. Thanks for any help.

 

Contacting this family might lead to some information for you.

Wesley Slaymaker Letters Home, 1941-1946

 

Good call, Top. There is a picture of Company M on that website. I definitely recommend that you download the photo rather than opening it the browser window.

They also provide a contact for anyone with a relative who was in Co. M.

 

He logged in on the 14th, so he does check in. I sent him a PM just in case.

 

Hey thanks Tommy for the PM. I did look at the company photo but with the picture I do have of my great uncle and being its not the best quality its hard to pick him out of the rest of the group. I'll have to see if I can get into contact with the website.

 

Keep us posted. Hopefully you will be able to glean something interesting from them.

 

My grandfather Clarence Ray Smith (b. 1920 in Oklahoma) was also in Company M 129th Infantry. This information is listed on his gravestone at the Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno, California. He enlisted 31 July 1944 out of LA and survived the war to have more children before passing away of a heart attack in 1959. He was an alcoholic & fighter in those days after the war - I suppose the PTSD was bad - this is all I know.

I registered for these forums because Tommy had a book that he would look up requests about this infantry. Tommy - anything more on my grandfather in your book? Plus I am happy to connect with other who may know about this company specifically. I did see the photo of company M but could not be sure of who exactly was my ancestor. Did they train at Camp Anza (1942-46)? His family lived in Los Angeles at this time so it seems logical to me during his 1944 training.

Any additional help is appreciated. Today I researched & discovered the company M photo, the 129th shield from Wikipedia (symbol) and the Camp Anza training theory.

 

GringaLCS, did you try the Wesley Slaymaker website in post #2 above? They have an email contact on the website. Your grandfather was likely a wartime replacement, given the 31 July 1944 enlistment date, so I would not expect him to be in the photo. However, I will check my book on the 129th to see if he is on the roster. Very few men are listed in the history, so I wouldn't expect to find more than that.

I'm not sure if you have found this already, but here is his electronic enlistment record. That will provide you with his service number which you will need if you want to request his service records.

 

Well, I found a PFC Clarence R. Smith in the roster, but it has him listed as being in Company G. I'm reasonably sure it is your grandfather as the hometown given is Hawthorne, CA which is in the LA area. It is possible that he was in one company and transferred to the other, though it is difficult to know the exact situation without more specific information (i.e. personnel records, morning reports).

 

Tommy - wow - thank you so much for the information!
Yes, I looked at Wesley's site thoroughly and this gave many great leads.

And yes, the family DID live in Hawthorne. I will request my grandfather's records using the serial number but I suspected the fire may have included his records, too. I've been on ancestry.com for a long time and had access - but - sometimes it takes looking at a source again for the 10th times before something new is discovered. I'll never know why this happens! I'm happy to have new leads.

My mom looked at the photo of all 208 men in Company M and did not recognize her dad anywhere. I figured he wasn't there for whatever reason - a late enlistment was my first thought, too.

Again - your help and feedback is so appreciated. Clearly you are the expert here!

 

You're welcome, Gringa. I am definitely not an expert. There are many here who are, though. Two years ago, I was where you are now in researching a relative who served in the 129th. From my personal experience, I found that letting family members know that I was looking into my great uncle's has provided me with newspaper articles and photos that I didn't know existed. Another thing you could try is the historical society at Hawthorne. They may be able to help you check for any local records that might exist.

You should definitely request his records. It costs little to find out if they have anything, so it's worth a shot. If that doesn't yield much, there is a more expensive option, but it will almost certainly answer many questions. That would be hiring a researcher to go through morning reports, rosters, etc. I would not even consider that until you have exhausted all other options.

If you want, I can scan the roster page and post it here for you to download. Also, if you can find out when he got his PH and what company he was in at the time, we can determine generally where and when it occurred (i.e. battle of Clark Field/Fort Stotsenberg, battle of Manila, etc.).

I hope to hear more from you as your search progresses.

 

Thanks, Tommy, that scanned page would be great! I looked into buying the book but the ONLY copy I could find on-line is now almost $100. I had forgotten Hawthorne was Grandpa's home at that time. I will follow the links graciously provided in this thread and the suggestions to get more information. My family already knows that I am the one who conducts family research (been doing it for decades) but this aspect of grandpa's history has yet to be discovered. It's like putting a puzzle together! And something to pass on to my sons someday, too.

 

Here's the page from the 129th Unit History. Your grandfather is listed in the left-hand column. Sorry it's not the best quality scan. I know what you mean about he cost of regimental histories. Keep a look out for them on the auction site. Every so often, one will come up for auction and you might be able to get a good deal. You can get a reasonably priced reprint of the division WWII history from the 37th Division Veterans Association.

View attachment 17818

 

Very Nice! I saved it & will add to my records & share with my family. Thanks SOOOO much!

 

You're very welcome. Don't be a stranger. I hope to see an update on the progress of your research.

 

Gringa, there's a 129th history on Ebay right now for under $70. FYI.

 

My father, Laird Wilcox, Jr., enlisted in the Army in the summer of 1944, was trained at Camp Wolters, TX and shipped out in February, 1945. His first two stops were in New Guinea and then to Tacloban on Leyte. From there he went to Manila where he was assigned to the 37[SUP]th[/SUP] Infantry Division, 129th Infantry Regiment, Company I.

He fought in the battle for Baguio and after 3 weeks rest his Regiment headed up the Cagayan Valley. He was wounded near Bayombong on 7 June 1945. His total heavy combat time was a little more than 3 weeks but he received a Combat Infantryman badge and a Purple Heart. He lived until 1997.

I've heard that soldiers wounded on Luzon were also awarded a Bronze Star as a group. They should also be eligible for the Philippine Victory medal and a couple others. After a lot of searching I've found quite a bit more detail but the best source of military detail is the book "The 129th Infantry in World War II," published by the Infantry Journal Press in 1947. This book is almost impossible to find but if anyone has anything specific they need from it I would be happy to photocopy several pages for them.

This is a bad time to be researching this area because the records of these late battles in Northern Luzon are spotty and nearly all of the participants are dead. Three fairly good books that are available are "From Hell to Surrender" (2002) by Corbett W. Clark; "Boy Soldier: Coming of Age During World War II"(1998) by Russell E. McLogan, and "Memoirs of a Groundpounder," (1999) by Jacob Close.

McLogan appears to have been on the same ship that my father was leaving San Francisco and their experiences roughly parallel one another except that McLogan was assigned to the 6th Infantry Division although he was also at Baguio. Clark, on the other hand, was in the 33rd Infantry Division but also fought at Baguio. Close actually served in the 129th Regiment of the 37th Infantry and was in the Battles for Baguio and the Cagayan Valley offensive.

Of the three books McLogan's is by far the most interesting. He fills in a lot of historical information and the book makes a good read on that count alone. I purchased all three of these through Amazon.com in 2012. They may also be available in used condition. Each of them gives you a good sense of what it would have been like to be there.

There are also some U.S. Army videos that were taken of these or similar campaigns. They depict mountain combat on Luzon. You can locate these on the web by searching YouTube for “WWII Luzon” and add the division, as in 37[SUP]th[/SUP] Division. There are a huge number of videos on the Landings on Luzon and the Battle for Manila, far fewer of the Northern Luzon campaigns, however.

 

Thanks for those book recommendations. I have the Jacob Close book, but not the Clark or McLogan books. I haven't spent much time on the post-Manila history of the 129th, but I believe that they were attached to the 33rd for awhile during that time. You may know more about that than I, though.