Question about unit assignment at enlistment vs discharge

First question, I hope I'm doing this right - please forgive any 'civilianization' of terms, it can be a little confusing to non-military folks new to this research.

I'm researching my dad's service in the US Army in WWII. I'll give a little outline, then explain my question.

Drafted: Nov. 1943
Arrived in Europe: Aug. 1944
Feb 1945: was in GFRC, wrote home and said "I'm in infantry now"
Sept-Oct 1945: with Sv Co 701st Tank Bn, back in England, based on addresses on letters
1st Discharge: Nov. 20, 1945 - on discharge paper, it said "Sv Co 701st Tank Bn"
Re-enlisted Nov. 21, 1945
Dec. 45-Mar 46 - back in States
Mar 46-Aug 47 - Germany (at least some of this time, maybe all, unsure)
Aug 47 - back in States
2nd Discharge: Mar 3, 1949 - on discharge paper it said "5th Recon Co 5th Inf Division"

My question is, is the unit listed on the discharge paper the one that he would have been assigned to when he first enlisted (or first assignment after draft), regardless of any subsequent transfers? Or is it the last one he was in at the time of discharge?

I'm trying to fill in where he got assigned after GFRC, between February 1945 and around June 1945, and whether this has any relation to having 5th Recon Co 5th Inf Division on his subsequent discharge paper, or if that's entirely unrelated.

I have requested his personnel file from the NPRC, but it will be months before I hear from them, if the file wasn't lost in the fire, so I'm trying to forge ahead with what information I can get in the meantime.

I hope my question made sense, and any clarification will be greatly appreciated.

 

I presume you already know that GFRC stands for Ground Forces Reinforcement Command - the individual replacement system. If you could post his discharge, it would save a series of Q&As.

Based on the Aug 44 arrival in ETO and his being in GFRC 6 months later, it seems likely one of two things happened: 1) he got sick or wounded during that period and was sent to a replacement depot after getting out of hospital, or, 2) he got to ETO as a replacement and his specialty was in surplus, so he was sent to GFRC for retraining in an infantry specialty (where replacements were always needed). In 1), he could have arrived in ETO either in a unit or as an individual replacement.

Hope the service record survived. And hopefully they will reopen before too much longer and get to your request. If the record was lost in the fire, you will have to hire a researcher or go to St. Louis yourself to research the morning reports. There's a good chance you will be able to retrace his steps.

Does your info give the replacement depot number he wrote from in Feb? Any dates/locations from docs other than discharge might help as we go along.

Good luck.

 

Service Company, 701st Tank Battalion was probably not in England September-October 1945, it was in Gotha, Germany in August. It returned to the New York POE on 24 December 1945, probably on the George W. Woodward, and was inactivated the next day at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey the same day. It is interesting he was discharged 20 November 1945, was he injured or sick?

The 5th Recon Company should be the 5th Recon Troop.

Neither likely have anything to do with whatever unit he served in between August 1944 and August 1945. Its unlikely you will find that from his service papers. Your best bet will be to work backwards through the morning reports from Sv Co, 701st Tk Bn.

 

Thanks for responding. I'm attaching two documents I have which I have been calling his discharge papers - I am not sure that is exactly what these are, or if there is something else, but this is all I have as far as 'official documents' go, and where I got the information from.

The only information I have about the GFRC specifically as it relates to my dad was the letter he wrote in February 1945, and the entire return address was just "G.F.R.C. APO 129." I found a document online that tells the city for different APO addresses at different times, and if it's accurate, that APO on that date would have been Compiegne, France. I don't know whether that is where he physically was, or just where they routed the GFRC mail.

Aside from the 'discharge documents,' the only documents I have are letters (12 from my dad, 15 from his mom to him) with addresses on them, which I have been using to try to trace his whereabouts - but they don't tell me anything about which unit or group he was serving with at the times in question.

 

Thank you for this information. My dad did return to the States in December 1945 according to his discharge paper (attached to a previous post) so this might coincide with the 701st's return. He was in the States for 3 months and returned to Europe in March 1946. The only reason I thought they were in England during Sept-Oct was due to the address on mail his mom sent him during that time (based on the APOs) but my information may be - well, obviously is - faulty.

I was also uncertain why he was discharged on Nov. 20, 1945 and re-enlisted on Nov. 21, 1945, and thought it was just paperwork. His Nov. 20 discharge says "Convenience of the Government to enlist in the Regular Army AR 615-365 & WD Cir 310 1945."

Forgive my incorrect designation on the 5th Recon Troop, on his 2nd discharge paper it said "5th Recon Co 5th Inf Division". I never know what is the proper term. Eventually I will probably learn a lot more!

 

It's possible, but unusual that they would ship back to the UK from Europe, before heading home. I haven't run into any units that did that.

Well, that's why. As a draftee, he was part of the AUS, the Army of the United States. At the end of the war though he decided to enlist in the RA, the Regular Army. To dod so he had to be administratively discharged from the AUS so that he could enlist in the RA. It was an administrative formality...soldiers liked to say that they were temporary civilians.

It wasn't you, it may have been the clerk who filled out his discharge, but it is also possible they renamed the Reconnaissance Troop as a Reconnaissance Company by then, I just don't recall.

 

AW107 concerns making up lost time. From my very limited understanding, it covers a lot of different circumstances, so you're right back to eagerly awaiting NARA getting back in bidness and hoping the service record survived. As before, if that doesn't work out, the morning reports can be used.

His discharge listed no campaign credits (Normandy, Rhineland, etc.). Unless that is an error of omission, I can only presume his entire time in ETO was in the rear. That seems inconsistent with his infantry mention.

I'll take a shot with a crackpot theory to reconcile this with the Compiegne mention. Don't rely on it as it is just a guess.

Perhaps he was assigned to the replacement depot staff. Compienge was home to the 16th Reinforcement Depot HQ as well as some operating elements.

If the letters say anything about training others, please advise.

 

I did not know that (about AUS and RA). Well, that's one mystery solved, thank you for that.

 

Yeah, those lost days were a little ... disconcerting. I had also read that it could be a lot of different reasons, some pretty trivial, but ... there were quite a lot of them. I, too, am hoping there's still a personnel file to shed some light.

I noticed the lack of campaign credits as well, but the few times I asked him about the war, his most common answer was "I just drove a Jeep" and a few times he said he "drove Generals around." I always assumed he was just downplaying (or joking, he was like that), but maybe he really wasn't. Though he was a Private, I wouldn't have thought they'd have access to Generals.

There was no mention in his letters of training anyone, but then not one letter of his ever mentioned anything specific he was doing. He talked about the weather and then would ask about things at home, that's it. I don't have all his letters, though, only about 10 were saved and given to me. Some of the letters from his mom say things like "I wish you'd tell me where you are and what you're doing." Apparently he never did.

Thanks for the insights, I appreciate it.

 

It might have helped if I looked at the discharge documents first.

So he was discharged from the AUS and re-enlisted in the RA at Southampton, England, while a part of Service Company, 701st Tank Bn. The 701st did not return to the US until a month later, on 24 December, while he returned to the US 23 December. Such discrepancies are fairly common, so I think we can assume that on 25 November 1945 he and the 701st Tank Bn were staging at Southampton, readying to return to the States.

He also was discharged with 198 days "owed" to AW 107, but when he was discharged from the RA that was reduced to 103 days, so he "caught up" on 95 days. He was also honorably discharged, so whatever he did under AW 107 was not heinous and happened right as he arrived in the ETOUSA...198 days after 14 August 1944 is 28 February 1945, which is when he let people at home know fro the Repple Depple that he was "infantry now". I suspect he did something dumb, like got drunk and fell out a window and injured himself badly enough that he was unable to serve for 198 days. However, he could not make that time up with a unit that was returning home to discharge, so he accepted the alternative, sign up for an RA hitch. After serving a full three years additionally the remaining 103 days were forgiven and he was granted an honorable discharge.

He did not serve in the 5th ID in Europe during his RA hitch, since the 5th ID was inactivated 20 September 1946. He joined it after returning from Europe, because it was reactivated 15 July 1947, a month before he returned to the US on 12 August 1947 (BTW, he departed on 11 August so he flew back).

Best evidence is that he joined Sv Co, 701st Tank Bn sometime in March 1945 (although it may have been a different one, given the "I'm in the infantry now" comment) and returned with them to the US 24 December 1945. He returned to Europe in March 1946, but there is no indication of what unit he served in then.

 

Block 4 of 2nd discharge shows RA Unasgd " Regular Army Unassigned". He may have been attached to a unit,but who knows.

 

That is his Branch...he was not assigned to any of the Combat Arms or Technical Services, he was "Branch Immaterial". His unit assignment on discharge was the 5th Recon Company (they had changed designations by that time from the old Recon Troop). Note he was also still just a Private, Basic Privates did not have a Branch assigned always, that apparently usually occurred when they made PFC. I'm afraid it is another indicator he completed his service honorably, but under a bit of a cloud.

 

Thank you for all of this information. It's really helpful, gives me some jumping off points for further research. In the 50s and 60s my dad was known to be pretty fond of his beer (he quit drinking, and smoking, when I was very young, never took either up again), so I wouldn't be surprised if alcohol was involved in some of that cloud. Also wouldn't be uncommon, from what I've read. Well, I'll keep digging anyway.

 

Your best bet to solve the mystery will be to trace him backwards from his discharge in November 1945. The Morning Reports of Sv Co, 701st Tk Bn will show when he was received as a replacement and from which RD. The Morning Reports of the RD then will show which hospital (most likely) or disciplinary center (less likely) he was received from and that in turn will eventually reveal the why. Sadly that will have to wait until post covid.

 

Interesting. ERC is the abbreviation for Enlisted Reserve Corps - "major subdivision of the Army of the United States; organization of enlisted men who have been given reserve status and may be called to active service in a national emergency. Abbrev: ERC"
TM 20-205 Dictionary of Army Terms 1944