686th General Hosp Comp Unit - USS Europa

I am looking for a relative of my husbands who may have been in the 686th General Hospital Comp Unit based in England in 1945. This unit returned to the States on the USS Europa in November 1945. Does anyone have information on this unit or any idea if it is possible to obtain a passenger list for the Europa. Many thanks.

 

Welcome to the Forum. I found this description of the Europa on Ancestry:

Ship Name:
Europa

Years in service:
1930-1946

Funnels:
2

Masts:
2

Aliases:
Liberte (1946)

Ship Description:
Built by Blohm & Voss, Hamburg, Germany. Tonnage: 49,746. Dimensions: 890' x 102' (936' o.l.). Quadruple-screw, 28 knots. Steam turbines. Two masts and two funnels.

History:
Launched in August 1928. From keel to top of masts 236 feet. Funnels measured 50' x 21'. Cost $20,000,-000 to build. At one time carried an airplane that was launched from the ship by a catapult. Maiden voyage: Bremen-Southampton-New York, March 19, 1930. A serious fire had delayed her completion for about a year. She became a trans-Atlantic record breaker, by making the westward passage in 4 days, 17 hours, 6 minutes. Remained tied up in a German harbor throughout World War II. After the war was used as a troopship to bring back soldiers to the United States. The liner was turned over to the French in 1946. Renamed: Liberte (1946). While being reconditioned at Havre for service, she was torn from her moorings during a severe gale in December 1946, and sustained serious damage when she crashed into the sunken hulk of the former French luxury liner Paris. As a result her hull was ripped open and she sank in the water of the harbor, but was subsequently refloated and reconditioned at great cost. Commenced her maiden voyage as a French liner in August 1950. Note: See Liberte for additional information. Sister ship: Bremen

Based on my limited experience, I don't know a way to find a ship passenger list without having a person's name. If someone else knows how to search passenger lists by military unit name, I would really appreciate hearing about it.

 

The USS Europa on Navsource.org. No passenger lists, but a brief history and several photos of the ship.

Specialsp321, are you certain that the unit designation is "686th General Hospital Comp Unit"? I could find nothing even remotely close. If that is accurate, you may try contacting the folks at the WW2 US Medical Research Centre website. I'm not sure if they can help you or not, but it's worth a try. I gave it the old college try, but could not find any reference to a 686th Gen Hosp on their website.

 

Since I love a good mystery, here is what I have found, although the OP is likely to have run across these already.

http://fultonhistory.com/newspaper%208/Niagara%20Falls%20NY%20Gazette/Niagara%20Falls%20NY%20Gazette%201945%20Nov-1946%20Jan%20Grayscale/Niagara%20Falls%20NY%20Gazette%201945%20Nov-1946%20Jan%20Grayscale%20-%200116.pdf
From November 26, 1945, the first article on the top left of the page entitled "Two score ships due today with about 39,120 servicemen aboard", the Europa is listed in the second column arriving in New York and listed among the many units aboard are the 682nd, 686th, and the 685th General Hospital complement units.

Having never heard of a "complement unit" before, I was somewhat perplexed. Digging further, I came across this bit at http://history.amedd.army.mil/booksdocs/wwii/actvssurgconvol2/chapter2.3.htm
Scroll down to page 176, there is a table of Hospitals and depots in England that were to support the landings in Normandy. In the General Hospital part there was this listing

Now I am wondering is it "complement unit" or "composite unit". So, I headed to the site mentioned by TD-Tommy776 http://www.med-dept.com/ and under the "Articles" subsection "Hospital & Medical Installation Related" there is one "WW2 Military Hospitals - ETO" The BAD NEWS is that there is nothing on the 686th either way. The GOOD NEWS is that I did run across this

From this we can infer that there was a 686th General Hospital Complementary Unit that was assisting the 186th General Hospital at Fairford Park, Gloucester

 

Nice work, Takao. The "fultonhistory" link you provided will help me researching tank destroyer units, thanks for posting it.

 

Good job, Takao. I did notice the 182nd / 682nd reference, but didn't make the connection as you did.

Presumably, the 686th Gen Hospital Complementary Unit was so named because it "complemented" (that is, assisted) the 186th Gen Hospital. Therefore, (again I am presuming) together they would be referred to as a "composite unit". Hence, the reference in the US Army Medical Dept website which Takao quoted.

 

Many units included passenger lists with their daily unit records before shipping back to the USA so that is one avenue to go down. I would suggest a search of the unit's rosters but unfortuantely NARA destroyed the '45 rosters. Why do you think he may have been with this unit? Do you have paperwork or letters he sent home?

 

Many thanks for the input. The 686th was a black unit and I understand consisted of 3 officers and 189 enlisted men. Being such a small unit I have not been able to find out any more. I did wonder what a composite unit and complimentary unit were and this I now understand from one of the posts above.

 

I learned something new. I did another search and found the 686th listed on the website Lest We Forget under Black Army/Air Corps Units Stationed in the United Kingdom (as of 2 May 1945). You are correct about smaller units. As general rule, the smaller the unit, the more difficult it is to find info on them. The type of unit also matters. Infantry and armor tend to be easier than support units. I'm glad we were able to help you, even if it wasn't exactly what you were looking for.

If you haven't already, I would try contacting the WW2 Medical Research website mentioned in post #3. Also, check back from time to time. You never know who might do a Google search one day and find your thread.