Army Meritorious Unit Citation

looking for anyone who can help me find the general order authorizing a Meritorious Unit Citation received by my fathers unit The 69th Medical Depot Company. I received two unit histories from the National Archives one of which stated that the unit received the award on September 1,1945 and my father remembers his CO presenting the insignia to the men. At this point I have went through Fort Knox the national archives and Golden Arrow Research and come up with nothing does anyone have any ideas?

 

Thanks for the reply this unit history is what I submitted to The New York State Adjutant Generals Office to obtain a New York State Conspicuous Service Star. I was told this was not sufficient they would need the General order number. Unit awards are not listed on DD 214 discharge papers.

 

Not to state the obvious, but you will need to figure out what unit/authority issued the GO for the MUC before you can track down the GO. That, of course, it the hard part.

 

Not sure if this will help? The Meritorious Service Unit Plaque was originally established by War Department Circular 345 on 23 August 1944. The circular provided units which received the Plaque were entitled to wear on their right sleeves of their service coat and shirt (four inches from the end) the Meritorious Service Unit Insignia. A gold star placed on the plaque represented additional awards until War Department Circular No. 54, 1946, provided that additional awards would be shown by placing a gold numeral on the inside of the wreath....

I found the info here: Meritorious Unit Commendation - Wikipedia

 

When you say that you've contacted the NARA, I presume you mean the NARA at College Park since you were provided unit histories. Did ask them for a listing or index of the records they hold for the 69th Medical Depot Company. If you had only asked for a history, that is all they would likely send you. They should supply you with a listing/index for no charge.

There is one GO specified in the history you have: GO #162 HQ, SOS USAF CBI APO 885. Another avenue to consider is asking College Park if they have the 1945 GOs for Headquarters, Services of Supply, US Armed Forces, China-Burma-India. It's possible that was who issued the GO in question. No guarantees, of course.

 

Tommy I have a question for you? You gave me some good advice and I am trying to use it. The website you showed me was great it does not list the 69th Medical Depot Company Anywhere that's OK no Army internet sites do somewhat confusing? The question I have is my father had told me that he was stationed in Chubua from Oct 1944 through June 1945 in that time period he was stationed at the 9th Medical Lab and a place called Camp Balijan just north of Chubua. I found that the 9th Medical Lab did receive the Meritorious Unit Citation for the period of Feb-March 1945 GO 111 USAF IBT. Is there a place on the internet that would show me the GO ?

 

http://www.benning.army.mil/library...nze Star, Soldiers Medal, Legion of Merit.pdf

 

Most GOs are not available online unless someone happens to have posted a copy. More often than not, a copy would need to be obtained from NARA in College Park. You are more fortunate than most in that you know exactly which GO you need. I believe the full GO reference is: Feb-Mar 45, GO 111, Hq USF IBT, dtd 5 Jun 45. Just submit a request for that GO from the records of the Headquarters, US Forces, India-Burma Theater. It is very likely that they will not copy just that one GO. They may require you to get a group of GOs. You won't know until you submit a request. However, they will send you a quote which will tell you how many pages and the cost, so you can always decide to not follow through on the request.

 

Tommy your seem to be updated on my situation. That being said if you have read the 69th Medical Depot Company history it claims the organization was awarded the Meritorious Service Unit Plaque on 1st Sept 1945 this covered the period from Oct 1944 to 31 July 1945 and the unit would have been in the China Theater at that time period. But yet with all this information Golden Arrow Research Group and the Fort Knox people and the national archives can't find anything. When I look up the Fort Benning list and other lists made available by the army nothing on the 69th like it never existed. Golden Arrow thinks that the unit belonged to another outfit but yet the unit history says that the 69th answered to no higher authority other then Hq. They then said check in past stations where the 69th served I told the man that my father said he was stationed at the 181st General Hospital the 9th Medical Lab and Camp Balijan. I checked these places and found out the 9th Medical Lab did receive one but the date does not match with the date on the unit history. Do you know of any other private research group that does paid research?

 

There is a member here who may be able to help you check for records at College Park. See the thread NARA Researcher Needed. I would suggest sending him a message to see if he is still able/willing.

 

I found something that said "Discontinuance of Medical Department Reportss, dated March 8, 1944." Apparently, they quit keeping records March of 1944 outside of the U.S.! I was trying to find mention of 69th, looks like no units in this info, but found this interesting... Scroll down to March 8th..... http://cgsc.cdmhost.com/utils/getdo...f/filesize/5268349/title/Part_2_13Feb_19Mar44

 

There are many people who tried to help me over the summer pertaining to a Meritorious Unit Citation and the 69th Medical Depot Company that served in CBI 1944-45 Kunming and Chanyi China. I have went through National Archives,Collage Park Fort Knox and Golden Arrow Research all these folks came up with nothing so far been working on this for a year. I spent a week or so going over the online lists put out by the US Army there are not very many units that received the Meritorious Unit Citation in the China Theater and 90 percent of those units were listed on GO #136 China Theater SOS, USAF. So I ask those researchers out there if the two units I am going to mention seem to make sense as possible units attached to the 69th Medical Depot Company? 93rd Quartermaster Battalion Hqs & Hq Detachment and Medical Detachment and the 178th Quartermaster Battalion Hqs & Hq Detachment and Medical Detachment? These units are the only ones listed with Medical Detachments. Also how do I find out who the two Medical Detachments attached to these units were?

 

Have you seen this? WW2 Military Hospitals | WW2 US Medical Research Centre

 

The researchers didn't find anything on my father either. I got the disappointing email today. As I come across medical units in my readings, I continue to check for your stuff too. I am going on vacation this week, so I won't spend much time on it until after the 25th. Will let you know if I find anything....

 

Was wondering if any has any information on the 93rd Quartermaster Battalion and the 178th Quartermaster Battalion both units served in the China Theater in World War 2 ? Any information would be appreciated.

 

Okay, a Quartermaster Battalion Hqs & Hq Detachment and Medical Detachment is a unit headquarters to which other quartermaster operations units were attached. The Quartermaster Battalion Hqs & Hq Detachment and Medical Detachment acted as a command unit for those other Quartermaster units. The "Medical detachment" is just that a detachment, like the Hq & Hq Detachment it is part of. In Army parlance a "detachment" can be a number of different things, but in the case of the Quartermaster Battalion Hqs & Hq Detachment and Medical Detachment it is a unit, smaller than a Hq & Hq Company, which is intended for command purposes. However, the "Medical Detachment" that is part of it is another meaning of "detachment", in this case a part of a parent unit attached to another unit in order to fulfill a specific requirement - in this case day to day medical care for the Quartermaster Battalion Hqs & Hq Detachment and the Quartermaster units attached to it, which did not otherwise have any medical personnel. In a division, the medical personnel attached to various components of the division were drawn from the divisional medical battalion and were administratively part of that medical battalion. In a corps, army, army group, or theater unit such as a Quartermaster Battalion Hqs & Hq Detachment they were drawn from medical units assigned to them or from the "Big Army's" Medical Department as a whole.

All that being said, it is unlikely that a specialized units such as a Medical Depot Company would provide personnel for such a Medical Detachment in order to provide day to day medical care for the various ailments soldiers can be prone to (there was a reason they were nicknamed "Chancre Mechanics".

 

Thanks Rich for that great definition and explaining it. So can I ask this question could a Medical Supply Depot Company be attached to a Quartermaster Battalion Hqs&Hq Detachment and or a Quartermaster Group Hqs&Hq Detachment? And if not what higher authority would a Medical Supply Depot Company be attached to if not under its own authority?

 

Don't know if this will help, and you've probably already seen it. If you are like me, you might benefit from going back and rereading it, now that you are more familiar with military terms. I am rereading old stuff now and catching things I missed before.

Not sure if this is connected in any way, but just read this:
American Typhus Commission, Hq Southern Area Command, Advance Section, IBT, USA

• Meritorious Unit Commendation: Mar 44-Sep 45, GO 286, Hq USF IBT, dtd 24 Nov 45.

It is near the bottom of this link: MEDICAL SERVICE UNITS

 

That's unlikely. Typically, a Medical Depot Company was directly assigned to an army and administered through one of the armies medical groups. It was then usually attached by platoons and/or detachments to various medical units as required. For example, in Europe, the 1st Medical Depot Company was assigned to First Army and organized an "Advanced Support Platoon", which in turn was organized as two sections, with one comprised of a single squad assigned to the medical units of the 1st Engineer Special Brigade, VII Corps and the other comprised of two squads to the medical units of the Provisional Engineer Special Brigade Group of V Corps. The remainder of the company directly supported the mass of medical units assigned to First Army.