Help Identifying Grandfather's Unit via Photos

Well, I had recalled the date incorrectly. It was 15 June 1945 that they were at Mannheim:



These pages are from the Continental Advance Section (CONAD) Command Reports.

 

Ok, thanks so much for the info!

Just an update to everyone who posed in this thread, my mom has been digging through anything that could be related to my grandpa's time in ww2, and she seems to have found some things. I will be at their house this weekend, and I will take pictures of anything else that might give more detail of his time in Germany.

 

My 2 cents. The Mannheim photo shows him in his Class A uniform, so I suspect it is a shot from a presentation ceremony for the plaque. Trees are bare, but no snow on the ground and he is not wearing gloves or an overcoat or even a cover, so that makes it likely very early spring 1946...call it March. With two years of overseas service at that time, he arrived in Europe sometime between c. November 1943 and March 1944 (if it was before November 1943 he would have another six-month stripe). My suspicion is he was an infantry replacement in the 36th ID in Italy...possibly about the time of the Rapido debacle, then served with the 36th until it rotated home at the end of the war in December 1945. I doubt that any man with two years of combat service had points low enough not to rotate home, so the other alternative is he was offered a commission as a lieutenant to stay in as part of the Army of occupation and was put in command of the 1323d. Fold3 shows Francis W Szymkowiak as enlisting 4 February 1943 in Buffalo, New York. Is that him? If so, enlistment in February and arrival in theater around November 1943 as a replacement is pretty reasonable, especially if he was assigned originally to another division that was raided for replacements, which was common in the fall of 1943 and winter of 1943/1944.

 

Yes my grandfather enlisted in Buffalo!

Also, it seems to make sense that he took a commission to stay in the army. My mom thinks that would be in character for him.

My mom found a bunch of paperwork from him and I will take some pictures of it tomorrow night and share it.

Slipdigit, I am really excited to hear that you have a contact in Mannheim! Hopefully they will have some insight.

Thanks again to you all! This has been a very exciting last week or so for my family.