Hi, my Grandfather Ernest Raymond, army serial # 31317260 served with the 733rd FA Bt from Feb 18, 1943 thru the end of the war and from family stories after the war and the 733rd returned to the US he stayed in Oberaudorf, Germany and his parents got a Presidential Order to find him and return him home. Well he passed in 2005 and now all these ?'s I have are not easily answered so I requested his OMPF file and just received it and it raised more questions than it answered but it did have a letter from my Great Grandmother asking the Army to find him but the documents say on 9-30-1945 he was listed as PFC with Co D, 191st Tank Battalion, APO 403 and another paper says 11-5-1945 PFC, Headquarters Co, 118th Infantry, APO 513 but other pages says the commanding officers in both those said they could not find him on certain ship/sailing lists. On a discharge paper I have of his it says he departed Europe for the US on 12-14-45 and arrived on 1-14-1946 and was honorably discharged at Ft Devens in Massachusetts on 1-18-1946. So my question is after the war was he assigned for short times to both the 191st Tank Bt and later to the 118th Infantry before returning home because I had never seen any mention of those 2 before, all other records only mention the 733rd FA Bt? Another thing that is interesting is the 118th Infantry returned to the US on 1-14-46 the same day as he did. Thank You Adam R. St. Pierre
Adam, It was not unusual for a soldier to have been assigned to different units after the war.This was to build points.Soldiers who had spent more time in theater and had earned certain awards,had more points and went home first.At the bottom of his discharge papers there will be a number showing his points.My father was assigned to two different units to build points prior to coming home. Scan and post his discharge papers.There are many here that can interpret the entries. Bob
Thanks, I'm trying to get my scanner hooked back up but for now I didn't find a spot that listed points, there was mustering out pay, decorations and citations, length of service, immunization dates, occupations. Adam
Adam, Do a quick search.The system was not perfect and was adjusted.At 68 points ,he may have been considered part of the liquidation forces.Breaking down the machines of war after the conflict. Bob
As has been discussed, after the war in the ETO ended, there was a lot of reshuffling of unit assignments. Much of it was driven by the points system. Soldiers with high points were assigned to units returning to the USA so that they could be discharged. Soldiers with lower points were assigned either to units leaving the ETO for the PTO, or to units staying in the ETO for Occupation duty. An ASR score of 68 was not particularly high, so I think your grandfather was assigned to the 191st Tank Bn for Occupation duty. Sometime after the war ended in the PTO, he was transferred to the 118th Infantry to be sent back to the USA to be discharged.