Re: Please help with grandpa's WWII info
Here's a few things on his discharge papers:
Component AUS means Army of the United States. The US Army in wartime consists of the United States Army, the National Guard, and the Army of the United States. The last consists of draftees not volunteers or Guardsmen. This indicates he was drafted.
The base APO number is typical. First, the bases the US Army had in England during the war were primarily temporary ones with no particular designation or address. Second, it was a security measure to only have the Army Post Office number designating it. I couldn't tell you where that particular base was though.
His discharge was "for convienence of the government" meaning the war ended and he, as a draftee was no longer needed. The RR 1-1 is his reenlistment code if he chose to sign up again. A 1-1 means the Army would have easily taken him if he reenlisted.
The AW 107 17 days means he was charged with an infraction of the Articles of War section 107 (today this is the Uniform Code of Military Justice) and lost 17 days of service time as a penality (probably also some pay and possibly rank). Such annotations are very common on enlisted service records of the time.
As far as awards go, these are frequently not put on the discharge papers for first time enlistees, draftees, or low ranked personnel simply because clerks are sloppy or lazy. My own DD 214 had to be retyped a half dozen times before I'd sign it for that very reason. Often such soldiers are more interested in just getting their discharge and out of the Army than in whether they have a particular award listed or not.
This issue became important towards the end of the war when rotation home and discharges were being issued on the basis of time in combat, awards issued, and other similar things. Many troops were suddenly very interested in medals and paperwork they they thought was "chicken shit" (to use the term of the day) just a few months earlier.
So, it is very possible that he got awards that are not listed but were in his records.
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Truth is stranger than bullshit!
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