Help With My Grandfather's Wwii Service

[Shaundre]

Hi Alan,  I'm hoping you can help me find the history of my grandfather's WWII service.  I have a copy of his separation papers and some sketchy info from him.  Unfortunately he is battling Alzheimers and prior to his illness he didn't want to speak of his service.  Now that he is going through the stages of Alzheimers, he is re-living his past and talking about his WWII service.  We want to get it right and give him a true summary of his service so he can read it and show it to others.  Here's what I know:  George Matthew Wagner - Serial #32739383 - Co M 328th Infantry Active service date was 28 Jan 1943 and separation was 2 jan 1946.  His Battles and Campaigns lists: Central Europe Rhineland Go 33 WD as amended.  We know he was shot on March 16th, 1945.  He says he was shot in the Battle of the Bulge, but we're not sure on that.  He has also mentioned that he was part of the forces that freed Dachau, but again we're not sure on that.  Any help, information or direction you can give, I'd surely appreciate.

[LAngley]

Terri...

This is the second duplicate for my own records. Good talking to you. I thought of something else after my first duplicate. Try contacting the 42nd Division Reunion committee. They might well have someone who knows your granfather.

Good hunting

Alan Cagle

To:  Terri....

Fm: John Vargas/Al Cagle Re: Joint Paper of George Wagner’s service

The one big reason I have delayed sending you this e-mail was my fear of your reaction

to the following statement, since I have to admit I have committed heresy toward

all married women:

YOUR HUSBAND WAS RIGHT Remember your hubby said he though he heard your grandfather say he was in the 42nd

Infantry Division-yes he was.  I know you are now en-route with a stake, a match,

rope and wood, as would any wife. Remember I have a wife and 17-year-old daughter?

Think of them. They would miss me(and my bank account). -------------------------------------------------------------------

However in Latin my motto is Veritas(Truth). So, with John’s able assistance, especially

since I sent this too him for final review and he convinced me to make some corrections,

here is our analysis, and some educated guesses about your grandfather’s service:

Here is a brief history of the 42nd ID, a NY National Guard unit Following training at Camp Gruber OK and the journey to Europe, the three infantry

regiments(222nd, 232nd, & 242nd) and a detachment of the 42ID Headquarters arrived in France at Marseilles, 8-9 December 1944, and were formed into Task Force

(TF) Linden, under the Assistant Division Commander(ADC-Brigadier General Henning

Linden). TF Linden was task organized to VI Corps under 7th Army. TF Linden entered

combat in the vicinity of Strasbourg, relieving elements of the 36ID on 24 December

1944. Defending a 31-mile sector(AC-brother this is a big sector for three regiments-10

miles each!!!!) along the Rhine, north and south of Strasbourg, TF Linden repulsed

a number of enemy counterattacks, at Hatten and other locations. On 24 and 25 January

1945, in Bois D’Ohlungen, and the vicinity of Schweighausen and Neuborg, the 222nd

Infantry Regiment repulsed repeated attacks by the German 7th Parachute, 25th Panzer

and 47th VG Divisions. For this action the 222nd Infantry Regiment was awarded the

Presidential Unit Citation(2001). After these enemy attacks, TF Linden returned

to reserve of the 7th Army and trained with the remainder of the 42ID, which had

now arrived in theatre.

On 14 February 1945, the 42ID as a whole entered combat, taking up defensive positions

near Haguenau in the Hardt Mountains. After a month of extensive patrolling and active defense, the 42ID went on the offensive. The 42ID attacked through the Hardt

Mountains, broke through the Siegfried Line, 15-21 March 1945, cleared Dahn and Busenberg, and mopped up in that general area, while the 3rd Army created and expanded

bridgeheads across the Rhine. Moving across the Rhine, 31 March 1945, the 42ID captured

Wertheim am Main, 1 April 1945, and Würzburg, 2-6 April 1945, after a fierce battle.

Schweinfurt fell next after hand-to-hand engagements, 9-12 April 1945. Fürth, near

Nürnberg, put up fanatical resistance, but was taken, 18-19 April 1945, by the 42ID.

On 25 April, the 42ID captured Donauwörth on the Danube, and on 29 April 1945, liberated

some 30,000 inmates at Dachau, a Nazi concentration camp along with the 45th Infantry

Division.(AC-you can google 45th Infantry Division to see the photo’s, but I will

warn they are awful to look at). The 42ID campaign ended passing through Munich,

30 April 1945, as it cut across the Austrian border located north of Salzburg.

Assignments in the ETO

·   10 December 1944: Seventh Army, 6th Army Group. ·   15 December 1944: Third Army, 12th Army Group. ·   24 December 1944: VI Corps, Seventh Army, 6th Army Group. ·   25 March 1945: XXI Corps. ·   19 April 1945: XV Corps. --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Terri-here is John and my analysis from that discharge document:

Specifically your grandfather entered Federal Service in Jan 28, 1943, and was sent

to Fort Grubner, OK and trained with the 42ID, to be a rifleman(military occupational

specialty 745). Many draftees in those days went straight to Europe as replacements,

your grandfather trained, shipped and fought with people he knew; a big plus in combat.  He earned a sharpshooters badge on the M-1 Garand rifle with a score of

169 in 1943 as part of the 242nd Infantry Regiment, of the 42nd Infantry(This is

our educated guess only without more documentation). In those days there were four

phase of training: basic/advanced/specialized/combined arms training which were all conducted in the division, while it is still forming. It was faster and built

better espirit/morale, but as the former XO of a basic training company and rifle

instructor, I feel the first three types(basic/ advanced/specialized) are best conducted by the Army and then the trained soldier is sent to a division for the

combined arms.)

John believes he was promoted to S/Sgt by the completion of the CONUS(Continental

US) training which lasted almost 22 months stateside. I had reservations about this,

but John beat me on the head and convinced me. The Army Chief of Staff, General George Marshall, always stated that it took two years to train a Division and this

is about right. His promotion at the end of CONUS training would show he was willing

and able to assume a leadership role. The division started to it’s port-of-embarkation in the late fall, 1944 and George

was in the first echelon to reach the ETO on 8 Dec 1944. He may well have entered

combat with TF Linden on Christmas Eve, 1944, but this is a guess only(Lord, think

of Christmas Eve going into combat!!!!). The rest of the division formed and entered

combat as a unit on 14 February 1945 and swept through Southern Germany. Dachau concentration camp was actually liberated by the 45th Thunderbirds Division, but

the 42nd was right beside them on 29 April 1945. But we have gotten ahead of ourselves; apparently George was wounded on 16 March

1945 and was issued a Purple Heart by General Order # 14, 11th Field Hospital. Since

he was wounded and evacuated, he was also awarded the Combat Infantry Badge(CIB)

by the 242nd Infantry Regiment. Now the story gets a little murky. After he recovered in the hospital, he could have been assigned to a Replacement Depot(especially if the war was over on May

8) and shipped to Company M(Heavy Weapons), 328 Infantry Regiment, of the 26th Yankee YD Division.  Or at war’s end as a low-point man, married, 2 ½ months combat

and no children, he was going to have stay in Europe longer than a soldier who was

married with kids and longer combat service. This is reflected in his time in theatre

of 13 months. This is the problem with the Army discharge documents; they only show the unit he

was discharged from. That confused me the first time I read it and I assumed he was with YD as a replacement rifleman. John corrected me and reminded me of my own

discharge. I was an infantry officer, trained in infantry, served successively at

Fort Ord, Ca in a basic training company, infantry headquarters, infantry rifle range, but was sent, with only three months left, on my tour to the Military Police

at the Post Stockade. There I served as a Stockade Duty Officer and my discharge

shows the 54th MP Company.  That can be very confusing.  We both wish this discharge

document had all unit assignments, but they don’t, then or now.

He returned to CONUS on 24 Dec 1945 and separated on 2 January 1946. On the second

page it mentioned Warrant Officer(Branch Immaterial). Apparently his superiors thought very highly of him and considered him for WO training, but his lack of a

HS diploma halted this and he probably wanted to get out anyway. And thus ends his

service.

Decorations and Citations:

Medals:

1) American Service Medal-I think the clerk made a mistake. It should have been the American Campaign Medal. The American Campaign Medal was awarded to personnel

for service within the American Theater between 7 December 1941 and 2 March 1946.

This was for his 22 months of service in the states during training.http://www.gruntsmilitary.com/acpm.shtml

2) European/African/Middle Eastern Campaign Medal w/2 bronze stars:  The European-African-Middle

Eastern(EAME) Campaign Medal was awarded to personnel for service within the European-African-Middle

Eastern Theater between 7 December 1941 and 8 November 1945. This was the general

European campaign medal. John says he should have two bronze stars for his two campaigns

(Rhineland/Central Europe).http://www.gruntsmilitary.com/eame.shtml

3)Good Conduct Medal-NOT everyone got this. It meant his CO thought he was a very

good solider, no disciplinary or other conduct infractions and in WW2 you needed

1 year to qualify.http://www.americal.org/awards/agcm.htm 4)Purple Heart-this was his wound in March 1945 and issued by General Order  #14

from He, 11th Field Hospital.  http://www.gruntsmilitary.com/ww2v.shtml

5)WWII Victory Medal: The World War II Victory Medal was established by an Act of

Congress on 6 July 1945(Public Law 135, 79th Congress) and promulgated by Section

V, War Department Bulletin 12, 1945.  http://www.gruntsmilitary.com/ww2v.shtml

That seems to complete our record search. A few follow-ups: 1) Compensation applied for-pay for travel from Fort Dix to Buffalo, so he got $21.15

to get home by train.

2) John states your father in law is eligible for the Bronze Star Medal.  I and 99% of other people think it was awarded only for heroism,(and many were, my brother’s

father-in-law got two as a medic in the ETO for pulling wounded men out of the line

of fire), but John said it became a service medal in 1946. See the following web site if you wish to know more and apply: http://www.100thww2.org/bronzestarpage.html

3)He was given the lapel button, actually a pin of an eagle, but everyone called

the ‘ruptured duck’. Only a very few wore it, they wanted to forget the Army.  It

was issued to soldiers for civilian wear in order to prevent fights with serving

soldiers, i.e. “...look at that draft dodger”.

4)I noticed his very fine signature. I will admit at that time penmanship was taught

more intensively then than now, but my experience has been that a person who signs

his name like this has had to fight for his education. Combined with the GCM, promoted

to S/Sgt and made a squad leader over 8-10 men, I believe he was a good soldier.

Let us know if we can help again.

Al Cagle/John Vargas

P.S. I will put this all on allexperts so you will get a duplicate through them.

I do this to help my failing memory and as an institutional aid as well.

Al

Terri....

Before getting to your specific answer two personal notes:

1) Another expert and I were talking about the questions asked on this board. We absolutely love people, like you, that give us all the information they have right up front. We are currently involved with one guy who wants to know about his father’s service, but all he told us on his first question was “…my dad was in the Army in WWII”!!!!! Gee, that narrows it down to 12,000,000. Getting information from him is like pulling teeth, i.e., he didn’t even give us his father’s name. I don’t know what his secret motive is, but you sound GREAT. 2) Funny, spooky things happen on this board. I had a funny feeling about your grandfathers sailing date. And sure enough, I had answered another person who was asking about his uncle who was killed in action on 11 December 1944, while serving in the 328th regiment! That was very odd. The reason I remembered the sailing date was the size of the convoy, 300 ships. It was the largest convoy in both World Wars.(And everyone is currently shaking in their shoes over the Somalia pirates. There is no alternative to convoy, only convoy. But everyone-regular navy, ship owners and ship captains have to learn the hard way. Currently they are in the learning curve over there-1) Surprise, pirates are back; 2) Ships are seized; 3) Naval patrols start; 4) and today I heard that private contractors(specifically Black Rock-also used by us in Iraq) would be sent in. They will belatedly come to their senses and go to convoy with armed escort-just like the Spanish Gold and Silver fleets four hundred years ago-pardon my sputtering over maritime stupidity. I will shut up.)

So with that rant/rave let us begin:

Here is another quote from google: heavy weapons company

Three infantry rifle companies, a headquarters & headquarters company, and a heavy weapons company together made up the infantry battalion. The headquarters & headquarters company was referred to by that name, or as “HHC”.  The other companies of the battalion, however, were known as the “letter companies.” Identification of the “letter companies” ran consecutively through the three battalions of the infantry regiment: 1st Battalion contained A, B, and C Companies(rifle companies) and D Company(heavy weapons); 2nd Battalion contained E, F, and G Companies(rifle companies) and H Company(heavy weapons); 3rd Battalion contained I, K, and L Companies(rifle companies) and M Company(heavy weapons). The letter J was not used, as it could be confused with the letter “I” when handwritten.

The heavy weapons company(authorized strength - 166) was designed to allow the battalion commander to add combat weight to the battalion in general, or to specific companies or parts of the battlefield. In addition to a headquarters cell, the weapons company contained two platoons of heavy machine guns(four .30 caliber water-cooled guns per platoon) and one 81mm mortar platoon of six guns. The 81mm mortar of WWII could lob a 15-lb high explosive projectile to a range of about 3,200 yards. The battalion commander generally apportioned the heavy machine guns to support particular rifle companies as he saw fit for specific situations, but usually retained the mortar platoon under the direct control of the battalions command group. ------------------------------------------------------------

Your grandfather's service shows he got to Europe and was in was in the Rhineland campaign, missed the Alsace/Ardennes(Bulge) campaign, but got to Central Europe. See below for his two campaigns:

Google: US Army Divisions of WWII and see the Rhineland:

Rhineland Campaign(15 Sep 44 - 21 Mar 45) in the European Theater Attempting to outflank the Siegfried Line, the Allies tried an airborne attack on Holland on 17 September 1944. But the operation failed, and the enemy was able to strengthen his defensive line from Holland to Switzerland. Little progress was made on the ground, but the aerial attacks on strategic targets continued. Then, having regained the initiative after defeating a German offensive in the Ardennes in December 1944, the Allies drove through to the Rhine, establishing a bridgehead across the river at Remagen. Google: US Army Divisions of WWII and see Central Europe:

Central Europe Campaign(22 Mar 45 - 11 May 45) in the European Theater Following the Battle of the Bulge the Allies had pushed through to the Rhine. On 22 March 1945 they began their assault across the river, and by I April the Ruhr was encircled. Armored columns raced across Germany and into Austria and Czechoslovakia. On 25 April, the day American and Russian forces met on the Elbe, strategic bombing operations came to an end. Germany surrendered on 7 May 1945 and operations officially came to an end the following day, although sporadic actions continued on the European front until 11 May.

It looks like you have his discharge document with the phrase “Go 33 WD as amended” stands for "General Order 33, War Department as amended). If you would like I would be glad to look at it and see what other items are on it. Send it as an attachment to my email: [email protected] This will preserve privacy. If you want to black out is serial number and name that will be fine. Sending to my email would be better because this board is public and I would not want this data on-line. Also I have more reference material for you, but did not want to submerge you on the first reply.  I know some people are very sensitive about their home e-mails, so I will understand if you only want to use the board. Hope this has helped.

Good hunting

Alan Cagle