Hey Guys!
I have been searching for info on the 226th Field Artillery Bn., actually a specific soldier. His name is Harold L Vander Maas, KIA Oct. 25 1944. I just had a discussion with my 2nd cousin last night, he was in tears. This was his father. Harold died when his son, Jim (my 2nd cousin) was 3 1/2. He did not know his father, and only recently learned that he died while trying to save his buddy. He ran out onto the battlefield and put his buddy over his shoulder and then ran back to their line, only to be hit by small arms fire. Both men died.
It would please Jim very much to be able to tell his kids and grandkids about this hero of WWII. If you could direct me to a site where I can start digging that would be great!

Thanks in advance for all your help!!

scott

__________________
...this army made up of ex-resistence men and named by the Prince Himself, became known as the STOOTTROEPEN(Stormtroopers).
Nulli Cedo = I'll give way to no one.

Scott

That's tough one, Scott. I'll sniff around some more but it ain't looking good for finding anything that finite.

__________________
Best Regards,
Not Slipdigit

Thanks for moving this to the appropriate spot! My bad! I was afraid of that Jeff, I can't seem to find anything about this particular man at all. But I told my relative that I would try to find info on his Father. I have a few leads, but mostly just on the unit.
Thanks again Jeff!

__________________
...this army made up of ex-resistence men and named by the Prince Himself, became known as the STOOTTROEPEN(Stormtroopers).
Nulli Cedo = I'll give way to no one.

Scott

I dug around in my book.
the 226th FA was a non-divisional battalion of 155mm towed howitzers. They served on Leyte (20 Oct 1944) and Okinawa (14 June 1945) and arrived in Los Angeles 20 Jan 1946 and disbanded the next day.

I've not been able to find anything else. Small units like this that were not part of any larger organization are hard to find anything on.

__________________
Best Regards,
Not Slipdigit

Thanks Slip,

well the time fram fits pefectly, he was KIA on Oct 25th, 1944. I didin't mention this before but this man was supposed to be the Lead man on the #1 gun. Jim (the son) also knew that his father was on a 155 mm howitzer.

What book did you get that out of Jeff, maybe I can refer it to Jim.

thanks again!

__________________
...this army made up of ex-resistence men and named by the Prince Himself, became known as the STOOTTROEPEN(Stormtroopers).
Nulli Cedo = I'll give way to no one.

Scott

Does this mean I won't be able to look up divisions or other possible connections?

__________________
...this army made up of ex-resistence men and named by the Prince Himself, became known as the STOOTTROEPEN(Stormtroopers).
Nulli Cedo = I'll give way to no one.

Scott

I've slept several times since that post...Probably got it from Shelby Stanton's Order of Battle World War II.


Probably not. Non-divisional artillery battalions were shuttled back and forth between different Corps as needed.

I looked in Order of Battle World War II again, there just isn't much information provided for this unit (and a lot of other non-divisional units). Best you might find is to luck up and read about it in other units histories, if they happen to mention the 226th. The smaller down the org chart you get with these histories, the less likely you will find mention of the battalion, as the smaller units probably didn't know where they were getting the artillery fire from they requested.

__________________
Best Regards,
Not Slipdigit

Thanks Jeff, I'll give that a try!!

__________________
...this army made up of ex-resistence men and named by the Prince Himself, became known as the STOOTTROEPEN(Stormtroopers).
Nulli Cedo = I'll give way to no one.

Scott