Question on US Armored Division units and training

Hello everyone! I am still trying to research my grandfather's WWII service, but with little information to go on, I'm having quite a time. I have recently found out from my grandmother's aunt, that my grandparents met while living in Illinois. This was sometime between 1942 and 1943. From the one photo I have of my grandfather we know he was a Sgt. and he had an armored division shoulder patch on his uniform. I am trying to find out if any component (medical, engineers, mps, etc.) of the armored division units may have been stationed or trained in northern Illinois around Elgin? I know the munitions factory at Elgin also had a school that taught some servicemen, but there are no records of the school any longer so not sure if someone serving with the Armored Division would have been sent there for any type of training. Any information would be of great help. Thanks much!

 

JD,
Your grandfather was probably inducted through Camp Grant in Rockford Illinois, which is a stone's throw from Elgin. From there he was probably routed to the Armored Replacement Training Center at Fort Knox, Kentucky and from there to his unit. As slipdigit says, a pic might prove helpful. Your parents could also ask for a copy of his DD214 record from the National Archives in St. Louis and then you would know a whole lot more.

 

Thanks Slipdigit and Up From Marseille! I do appreciate the info. I have posted a link to the photo below, I was having trouble adding the actual photo to the post. It is hard to make out the patch clearly. You can tell it is the triangular patch of the armored division and there seems to be a number at the top point, but it is to fuzzy to make it out. I have tried enhancing it with a few different photo programs, but I have had no luck making out what it says. I have sent in for a copy of his IDPF, but not sure what that will turn up. My father never met my grandfather because he was born in Aug. 1944 around the same time his father was KIA. One of those situations where my grandmother remarried after the war and for some reason she never talked about my grandfather. The picture only surfaced a few months ago when my aunt found it in some of my grandmother's belongings that had been stored after her passing in 1994. We know very little about him other than what limited info is on my father's birth certificate (his age and occupation and birthplace which only listed the state of Alabama) and what my grandmother's aunt told us just recently before she passed away which was she knew my grandparents had met and married in Illinois. I know my grandmother and her mother and brother lived in Elgin, Illinois for some time during the war working at factories, but I am not sure of what time frame. Thanks again for help with info! Maybe someone on here can make more of the pic than I've been able to.

JD

http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad148/jd7695/family/mammawandJamesRDavis.jpg