927TH SIG BN STAC

Looking for any Forum Members who might have served with or have heard of PFC Morris Talbi- Service Number 32334534. He separated from Active Duty 2 NOV 45 from the Separation Center at Fort Dix, NJ. His Active Duty Service in Europe begins with D-Day Invasion coming ashore at Utah Beach as a Combat Infantryman with the 22nd INF REG, 2ND BN, CO G in a LST. For the better part of the next five weeks fights his way through the murderous French Hedgerows in very tough Combat with very high casualty rates for the 22nd INF REG. On or about 11 July 1944 PFC Talbi and eleven other 22nd INF REG Soldiers were SWA by a German 88 MM Artillery Shell near Bleeville, Normandy. Spends the next fifty plus days at US Army Hospitals recuperating from the Artillery Shell Fragments for which he received the Purple Heart.

PFC Talbi is reassigned to his old Unit (22nd INF REG) around 14 October 1944.this time as a Ammo Handler, my educated guess he was feeding Ammo to a Soldier with a Machine Gun. This is the beginning of the awful Battle of Hurtgen Forest for the 22md INF REG and which PFC Talbi was probably in a Foxhole next to the Machine Gunner. Due to awful Weather Conditions PFC Talbi is dropped from the 22nd INF REG on 26 NOV 44 for a Non-Combat Injury, most likely Trench-Foot which was very common. Now the mystery of how I believe he was attached to the 927th SIG BN sometime in December 1944 or early 1945 begins. I assumed that if the 927th was listed on his Separation Papers that was his final Unit. Due to a lack of Morning Reports from late 1944 and through 1945 from National Archives, there isn't any document to verify. I'll add this key note: On his Final pay Voucher from Fort Dix, dated 28 OCT 45 on the Voucher is a Box "Last Paid date and by Who". That date was 31 AUG 45 by a MAJOR S R Gerard of the 5th Disbursing Section under US OMGUS. That tells me he was in Germany in August 1945. During November 1944, the 927th SIG BN along with other Units was transferred from MTO to ETO under the control of the XII Tactical Air Command. Once V-E Day was declared, the 927th SIG BN became an Occupation Unit in Germany during1945 reestablishing Communications in the bombed out German Cities. Last MOS was "Truck Driver Light" probably hauling Telephone Poles an Wires in a Ton and a Quarter or Deuce and a Half. He leaves European Theater on October 18, 1945 sailing from Marseilles, France aboard the USAT Marine Robin or SS Sea Robin arriving Port of New York 28 OCT 45. From New York travelled to Fort Dix, NJ on 2 NOV 45 and final Separation.

In finality, any Members who might have heard of PFC Talbi or related stories from a Yearbook would be appreciated and please contact me.

 

Your timeline doesn't work for Central Europe campaign credit unless your father returned to duty during the period. With the acute manpower shortage, the ETO forced premature hospital discharges on many who were not fully recovered, only to discover the obvious. Ammo bearer MOS went away in July 44, but who knows if the word got to the field everywhere.

It seems to often be the case that unusual units on discharge means the GI was transferred for the trip home, but never actually served in that unit during the war. There are very few PFC slots for light truck driver MOS in a signal battalion, most are T4 or T5, so the odds would perhaps lean towards the trip home guess. However, the ETO tried light duty for a while to utilize manpower better for hospital returnees with physical limitations, so not impossible.

There's a limit to what logic alone can penetrate. You can either wait for NARA to finish scanning the morning reports, go to St. Louis yourself, or hire a private researcher. Good luck in your hunt.