Hello, I am doing some stuff with my grandfathers DD2-14 (Box 6)and I am trying to find out information about this unit. He is still living but it is really hard to get him to talk about it. The last time I tried to ask details, he got really upset and started crying, so I backed off and haven't brought it up since. He says he started out in the 45th Inf dev for a short time but then moved to the third armoured, but none of the DD2-14 supports any of it. Any information any one can give will be greatly appriciated... Please keep in mind I have never been in the military, and I am a horrible speller haha

We would need to see either a copy of his 214 or have you post up the details to give you anything concrete on your request.

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Truth is stranger than bullshit!

Hello welcome on the forum. Here are to links with possibly useful information.

Have you seen these sites ?

The Military Order of World Wars - Google Book Search


http://www.hist.unt.edu/web_resource...rcraft_bib.pdf

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Terry's correct, type up what you can from the DD-214 and post it.

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Best Regards,
JW

ok here goes.

Box 3 PFC
Box 4 CAC(AA)
Box 5 AUS
Box 7 3 jan 46
Box 8 Camp Chaffee Arkansas
Box 30 Telephone Switchborad Operator 650 (says he has never operated a switchboard in his life)
Box 31 Marksman Rifle 1 Jan 44
Box 32 Normandy Northern France Rhineland
Box 33 WW II VictoryRibbon Good conduct medal American Theater Ribbon EAME Theater Ribbon and three bronze service stars

I hope this helps thank you guys so much...

Ok
He was a Private First Class when discharged. His branch of service was Coastal Artillery Corps (Antiaircraft). A word of explaination here is that the coast artillery for some odd reason known only to the US Army was tasked with air defense prior to and during WW 2.
In box 5 it shows his status as Army of the United States meaning he was drafted and not a "regular" and neither a reservist, volunteer, or National Guardsman.
Box 7 shows his discharge date
Box 30 shows his official MOS as 650. This doesn't mean he actually did this just that officially that was what he was supposed to be trained to do.
The last three show his awards and campaigns.
Now, it is possible, and actually very likely that he was pulled from some antiaircraft unit in late 1944 (October to December) or early 1945 and used as an infantry replacement. This was very, very common in the ETO during this period as casualties had mounted and there was a very bad shortage of infantry and a massive excess of antiaircraft units in theater.
Given the three bronze stars this is probably the case. What you give here doesn't say what unit he might have been sent to but you indicate the 45th ID and 3rd Armored. This is entirely possible. Armored infantry battalions were some of the most cronically understrength units in the ETO much of the time due to their constant use in offensive operations.

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Truth is stranger than bullshit!

Thank you very much Mr. Gardner. Your info and his match up perfectly. It is hard to get any info out of him, but the little I have did not match with his discharge papers at all, so I got really confused. Thank you so much again for your information and time.

I believe this unit went ashore on UTAH on June 20th 1944, so I wouldn't be surprised if it participated at the Falaise Gap battle

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407th AAA Gun Bn (semi-mobile) formed 10 Jan 43 Camp Haan CA as Seperate Coast Artillery Battalion AA-Gun. Inactivated 30 Apr 46 in France.

Departed Boston Port of Embarkation 27 Feb 1944, Arrived England 8 Mar 1944 Landed France 23 Jun 1944 Credited with Normandy, Northern France and Rhineland Campaigns. source: Order of Battle, US Army WWII, by Stanton. This book is not always 100% accurate, where smaller units like this are concerned. Stanton was doing the best with what info he had at the time. Your best bet is the unit history, if it exists and if you can find it.

I cannot find them ever attached to any division, which was quite common in the ETO, which means they remained a part of Corps or Army and as Terry stated above were most likely stripped of "non-critical" men in late 1944 or early 1945 and sent to the infantry.

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Best Regards,
JW

Your sources seems correct, there is just a 3 day difference with mine (sources in the links provides earlier) . This confirms the Battle of Normandy scenario and the move to Gemrany

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Thank all of you very much. The info you have and What I have been able to get out of him match up perfectly. I think he started out with this Unit, and then got stipped off and sent to the Third Armored. He has told me several times that he was at the Battle of the Bulge, and that he would still follow Gen. Patton into hell even today.

You could then follow a line from Normandy to the Loire River, then Reims, the Ardennes and the Rhine area in Germany.

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