I am a new member to your forum, I am a Staff Sergeant in the Army. My wife's grandmother recently passed away and I am trying to put a shadow box together for her. She was a 1LT in the Army during WWII and I have her DD 214. I have her medals figured out but I am trying to figure out her unit, I would like to put a patch in her shadow box I can't find any info about it. She was a Nurse and on her DD 214 it says "DET MED DEPT 3595th SCU" she was in the Naples-Foggia Campaign and Rome-Arno Campaign. The DD 214 look nothing like they do now so I could use a little help decoding it so to speak, any help would be greatly appreciated.

SSG Shannon Hilker

Welcome to the forum--The 3595th Service Command Unit looks like it was located in the Continental U.S. in 1943. A lot of time vererans are mustered out and the mustering out unit is placed on their DD214 even tho they never served with it. she may well have served with another unit in the two Italian campaigns.

Are there any units listed behind any of her decorations? Usually a decoration is issued by the HQ of the unit she was serving with. For instance, "Good Conduct Medal GO#2 HQ 67 AR-44" This was given in 1944 under General Order #2 by Headquarters of the 67th Armored Regiment" Most units are assigned to a particular Regiment or Division and stay with it throughout the war. This is not always the case, like some individual Battalions are assigned to different units as needed, (like the Ranger Bn) but this will at least give you a clue what unit she was attached to during the tour in Italy. If possible, post a copy of her 214--makes it a lot easier to decifer.
Thank you also for your service, it truly is appreciated.

Pull this up and scroll down to the picture of the gal with the jeep. Below that is a bit about the WACS in N.Africa and Italy.
The Women's Army Corps

Also found an article in the October 1943 National Geographic titled "Women in uniform".
Says the WACS did not wear shoulded sleeve insigna. The officer lapel insigna was a gold head of Pallas Athene.

Shannon, I altered your account that may post pics. Scan the documents you have and post them to make it easier to help you.

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Best Regards,
JW

I scanned a copy of her DD 214 and placed it on my desktop how do I insert it in a post? I tried to upload it in my pictures here on the site but I get a "security token missing error".

SSG Shannon Hilker

Also next to her Campaign's it says for both "GO 33 WD 1945", her name was Mary Morgenroth and her MOS says Nurse General Duty 3449.

SSG Shannon Hilker

I uploaded the DD214 in question to a photo album in my profile, hopefully that helps.

SSG Shannon Hilker

I'm sorry I should of read the FAQ's first here is the DD 214 hopefully this helps with what I am trying to accomplish.
SSG Hilker
DD214.jpg

I kinda got off topic trying to figure out how to post the DD 214 here is my original post and what I am trying to accomplish, the DD 214 is my post above this one.

If you would like to read a good book that will give you some idea of what your wife's grandmother did, read And If I Perish. It is a very good book and and is about nurses in Italy during the war.

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Best Regards,
JW

ColdTrigger--The GO 33 is the general order to authorize the campaign medals, and of course the year, 1945-but I have never run into "WD" before. It stands for the outfit that she was assigned to when she earned these medals but I can't find what it stands for. I was hoping she was attached to particular Army unit, like the 91st Infantry, or some medical detachment. Aparently the WACS were assigned to their own WACS unit and placed by the Army where they were needed. Sorry.

WD is War Department

__________________
Best Regards,
JW

I appreciate the feedback, so based on the the info I have with her DD 214 can I assume its not possible to find what unit she was attached to?

V/R
SSG Shannon Hilker

Unfortunately, probably not.

__________________
Best Regards,
JW