I came back from a family reunion and my grandfather Per told me that his uncle served in the US Army and fought in Okinawa. I had no idea my grandfathers uncle was a WW2 Vet. and of course I wanted to find out more about this uncle of his.
This is how far I've gotten:
Name: Sten (Hjalmar) Halldin
Born: 16th January, 1905 in Umeå, Sweden.
Died: 14th May, 1965 in New Jersey, USA.
Enlisted: 23rd December, 1942 in Newark, New Jersey.
Rank: Private

He took a boat from Sweden to New York in the 1930's, (I'm not sure which year it was) with an American show dancer.

All I know beyond that is that he served in the army and fought in the battle of Okinawa during the WW2 and died alone with no wife or children in 1965.

I wonder if it's possible to contact some agency or organization to find out something about Sten, which unit he served in or something like that.

Any help would be appreciated.

/ Erik Halldin. Stockholm, Sweden.

__________________
My Grandfathers Uncle: Stanley Halldin, 981st Field Artillery Battalion.

Hey! I found some information. He changed his name to Stalney, not Stanley, Stalney Halldin. I found him at NARA AAD!

NARA - AAD - Display Full Records - Electronic Army Serial Number Merged File, ca. 1938 - 1946 (Enlistment Records)

But I can't see if he really served at Okinawa or not.

__________________
My Grandfathers Uncle: Stanley Halldin, 981st Field Artillery Battalion.

Okay a little update:
I have found this site: How to Request Military Service Records or Prove Military Service (DD Form 214, DD-214, DD214
And I have filled out the Standard 180 Form since I'm not the next kin but I don't know where to send it because I don't know if he served in the Air Force, Navy, Army, Marines and so on.

I'll try to contact the US embassy in Stockholm to see if they can help me.

__________________
My Grandfathers Uncle: Stanley Halldin, 981st Field Artillery Battalion.

Seems like the embassy don't want to help me. A long time has passed and I have not received an answer yet. Is there some other place to turn to get help? I really want to know what my relative went through.

__________________
My Grandfathers Uncle: Stanley Halldin, 981st Field Artillery Battalion.

Halldin, three items that may be of help:

1) Accoding to your earlier post, your great-uncle served in the US Army which did see service on Okinawa. Hopeully you can direct your request for his service record appropriately

2) I have a membership on Ancestry.com. I did a search and and found a crew manifest for a ship named "Kungsholm" arriving the port of New York on 8 September 1936. It shows a Tor Sten Aurthur Halldin with approximate birth year of 1905. The port of departure is assumed to be Gotheburg Sweden. It lists him as part of the ship's crew, having engaged in service aboard the ship on 6 December 1935. His position is listed as "Assistant Postal Official"

3) With regards to the "American dancer" you noted (and I'm assuming you mean female), there is a passenger manifest with numerous Americans oboard. But the same crew manifest also lists a single female American crew member for the same voyage: Hevig Wolff. It lists her position as "Assistant Barber"


Good luck!!

This threa dis getting interesting. I hope Halldin will find more!

Thanks for this information ProudPapa. Tihs is cool for a first post. If you wish you may go to the new member section and introduce yourself there. Welcome.

__________________

Interesting stuff, hope you have more luck!

__________________
There's no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. There is nothing good in war. Except its ending.

Wow, this is great info, but neither me or my father are sure about one thing: The name Tor and Aurthur makes me think it's not him. His middlename was Hjalmar. My dad thought it was a mix up with his brother Torsten Halldin (Tor+Sten, get it?), who also went to New York, but he returned to Sweden. Aurthur does not ring a bell. The other info seemed like it would be matching, but the name isn't.

I mailed archives.org and they seem to be able to help me, I answered and now I only need an answer before I send in the 180 form!

__________________
My Grandfathers Uncle: Stanley Halldin, 981st Field Artillery Battalion.

Hell yes! I got all the info I need, tomorrow I'm gonna fill in the 180 form and run down to the post office to get like a thousand stamps to get the mail from Stockholm to the US. I can't wait to get the records back!

__________________
My Grandfathers Uncle: Stanley Halldin, 981st Field Artillery Battalion.

Keep us posted Erik. I love to hear how these stories turn out.

Hell och motgång! Från en Texas Svensk, Hilmer!

__________________
__________________________________________

“The first lesson is that you can't lose a war if you have command of the air, and you can't win a war if you haven't.” - General Jimmy Doolittle

I wish I could update you guys with something, but for now, I'm just waiting for that letter to come. Hold on!

__________________
My Grandfathers Uncle: Stanley Halldin, 981st Field Artillery Battalion.

Well I'm gonna pay the 15 bucks to get the Final Pay Vouchers and then I will find out in what unit he served and maybe where. At least it's something.

Edit: Ah, my name and address, well if you come to Sweden you know where to find me.

__________________
My Grandfathers Uncle: Stanley Halldin, 981st Field Artillery Battalion.

Well I posted the letter with the request for the Final Pay Vouchers last week and I can't wait to get back the info!

__________________
My Grandfathers Uncle: Stanley Halldin, 981st Field Artillery Battalion.

I really need your help with this one!

So I got my papers back from the states!
This is what it said:



So he was a Private at the HQ for the 981st Field Artillery Battalion, that's pretty much of what I understand, the rest is kinda half-guess for me. So I would really, really, REALLY appreciate if someone could clear that up for me.

Wikipedia says that company C, 981st FA Bn was attached with the 9th Infantry Div. which seemed to have served pretty much everywhere.

So if somebody could clear up allt the "AD"s, "ERC" and so on, I would be really happy.

/Erik Halldin


Edit: And oh. If anyone is sitting on information regarding the 981st, please share!

Transferred to ERC and Reld from AD per WD

Transferred to Enlistment Reseve Corps and relieved from Active Duty per [the] War Department.

He was released from active service for some reason. Was he badly injured or sick, or did his family have an exceptional hardship? Looks like he was released to work in an essential occupation. What did he do when he got home?

__________________
Best Regards,
JW

Thank you very much!
The National Archives says:
CIVILIAN OCCUPATION: Farm hands, fruit.
Besides me, I don't think anybody really cared about his service and there was not much contact with him. Got some good advice from the guys I mailed over at NARA how to do more research of his personal life, might try that.

It says on the pay voucher:
REASON: Transfered to Enlistment Reseve Corps and relieved from Active Duty per [the] War Department. And then:
Cir 92/43, at own req (request I guess) to acc empl in an essen ind, incl agricl. 5th Ind, Hq 76th Brigade 30 June/43.

Which means he filed a request to be transferred? What does the bold words mean?

__________________
My Grandfathers Uncle: Stanley Halldin, 981st Field Artillery Battalion.

acc empl in an essen ind, incl agricl

I think it means "to accept employment in an essential industry, including agriculture."

__________________
Best Regards,
JW

Seems right. Thanks again.
Two more things, why is the word Enlisted crossed over and the word Inducted or Induction put above? I don't know what the word induction mean in military terms.
And what does the (SS) above company and rank mean?

I guess my mission now is to find out what the 981st did between 1st of January and the 23rd of July, 1943.

__________________
My Grandfathers Uncle: Stanley Halldin, 981st Field Artillery Battalion.

Inducted. I would think it means he was drafted. Don't have a clue what the SS is for.

__________________
Best Regards,
JW

This is getting interesting!
On http://unitpages.military.com/ I found this man named Seymour Katz, he was in the 981st and is said to have information, photos, signatures and more from the men of the 981st. Just like Stanley, he was from Newark, New Jersey AND was at HQ, perhaps they knew each other?
I have contacted him and I'm eager to get a reply.

__________________
My Grandfathers Uncle: Stanley Halldin, 981st Field Artillery Battalion.

Please let us know if you find anything.

__________________
Best Regards,
JW

I sure will, hope Mr. Katz is still visiting that site every now and then.

__________________
My Grandfathers Uncle: Stanley Halldin, 981st Field Artillery Battalion.

Talked to my grandfather today, and he was pretty sure Stanley served in the Pacific. Haven't found anything out about the 981st, but grandpa said Stanley's parents visited him once and he was in Sweden at least two times after the war, so I guess he told his parents and/or brothers what he did during the war. Gah, I hope this Seymour Katz hasn't abandoned the unitpages.military.com-site, or even worse. :/

__________________
My Grandfathers Uncle: Stanley Halldin, 981st Field Artillery Battalion.

Got another question!
In the voucher, it says:
REASON: Trfd to ERC per WD cir 92/43 at own req to acc empl in an essen ind, incl agricl. 5th ind, Hq 76th Brigade 30 June/43.
Is that where he was transfered to, or is it at which HQ he filed his transfer request? Is it some kind of industry unit? Can't find anything about it.

__________________
My Grandfathers Uncle: Stanley Halldin, 981st Field Artillery Battalion.