2 Corps 45th Maintenance Co

My grandfather told me he served with this unit in North Africa. Unfortunately, his memory is not what it once was, so he couldn't give me many details, and I fear even some of the details he did share might be inaccurate. He shared many war stories over the years, but for some reason, I never thought to ask him about his unit until just recently, and I fear it was too late. I cannot find any information on this unit through Google.

I know his primary job throughout the war was to work on anti-aircraft guns and also to some degree vehicles, and he was in the Ordanance Corps.

If anyone can share any information on this unit, I would really appreciate it. Even if it is just another name that I can google, it would help. Thank you!

 

There are numerous hits if you search for "45th Ordnance Medium Maintenance Company"-do you think this could be the unit?

This unit is referenced in Order of Battle lists for the 5th Army/VI Corps in Italy, early 1944. Didn't find any references to N. Africa so far.

Maybe ask your grandfather if he was in Italy?

 

Thank you for all of your help so far. Natman, I found a reference to your search with the 5th Army in 1943 in North Africa, so I think that could be right.

He shipped out from Philadelphia in January 1943. I am not sure if that was with his whole unit or if he was added to it later. I know he spent time in Oran and also parts of Tunisia. He says he was often attached to other units for short amounts of time as well. His unit went on to Italy, but he ended up back stateside with a bad case of malaria sometime shortly after the invasion of Sicily.

 

I found this link which shows the 45th OC as part of the Fifth Army: http://www.milhist.net/ordbat/5armyus.html It also indicates II Corps as part of 5th Army.

This link shows them as part of Seventh Army during Operation Dragoon, but that may have been after your grandfather returned stateside: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Dragoon_order_of_battle

These ordnance units are tough because as your grandfather indicated, they were regularly attached to various units.

Someone else should be able to shed more light on this. Good luck with your research.

 

I found a couple references to the 45th Medium Maintenance Company in one of the Green Books -- The Ordnance Department: On Beachhead and Battlefront.

Chapter 8: With II Corps in Tunisia (pages 134, 145)

 

My father was Robert D. Hays, a T5 with the 45th Ordnance Company. They were mobilized in the summer of 1942, generally from men who had gone through basic training as combat engineers and were sent to Tidworth, England for preparations for the North Africa invasion. According to my father, they were part of an independent organization that was passed back and forth between the 3rd, 30th, and 45th infantry divisions as needed. They repaired anti-aircraft weapons, everything up to and beyond deuce and a halfs, small arms. In fact, he often talked about how they would crawl from foxhole to foxhole underfire to repair weapons. They went ashore in North Africa and stayed throughout that campaign. For some reason they were held out of Sicily, but made the Salerno and Anzio landings, the landing in southern France and then on through to the end of the war. I don't know exactly when they entered Dachau, but the 45th was on hand at least within the first 24 to 48 hours. They ended the war in Nuremburg. The designation was changed, and the original guys left were given a choice to stay on and go to the Pacific or, if they had the points, to be discharged. Daddy took the discharge.

My father died in 1981, but he told me many stories. At one time, I was in contact with some of the veterans. George Whittaker, the 1SG, and my father spoke once in later years.

I'll be glad to tell you anything else I can.

 

Welcome, tahays34. That is helpful info. I hope you will be willing to share some of your father's stories in the section What Granddad did in the War (never mind that is says "granddad". Dads are included, too. ).

 

Thanks! If I can ever pry them out of my brother's hands, we have probably 50 photos that Daddy took during the war. Some from North Africa, but most from Anzio, Southern France and then Germany. I want to scan them and make them available to folks

 

Well, if you want to start a popular thread, start one with WWII era photos by a veteran. We L-O-V-E that stuff here. It's usually better to put them on a image hosting website (i.e. Photobucket, ImageShack, etc.) rather than use the Forum tool which has a size limit per post.