37th Infantry Division, 129th Infantry 1943-1945

Lou,

Wow. That would be quite a task, but I must admit that it has crossed my mind. The book is 250 pages long, which is a lot longer than my attention span. I thought it would be good to at least get the "In Memoriam" section and maybe the "Roster of Personnel" posted first.

 

Yeah, I have one for another unit that is only about 100 pages long. That is one I will probably tackle before this one.

I decided to go with the rosters because folks usually want to see the name of their relative mentioned. The reality is that most guys aren't mentioned by name in unit narratives. The rosters, with a few exceptions, usually have every member's name listed.

 

BestOFortuna

Im sorry it took awhile to get back to you. The letter is dated 20 March 1945.

 

Just in case anyone is interested, there is a copy of The 129th Infantry in WWII Regimental History on eBay. It is the original publication and looks to be in pretty good condition based on the photos.

For the record, I am not associated with this listing in any way. I just happened across it today.

 

I have finally found a picture of my great uncle Sgt. Edwin C. Ziemann along with a couple news paper clippings that were with his picture. View attachment 17380

 

Thanks for sharing the articles about your great uncle. Did you get them through a family member? Or maybe researching the local newspaper archives? Either way, I'm glad to see you were able to find a picture of him.

 

You guys are more then welcome. Its been along time coming to find his picture. I had went thru the ND state historical society on finding this information. By the way I like them medals and unit patches that you have put together on the bottom of your posts. How did you go about doing that?

 

Thanks for sharing the photo and article, arwalcker. Even today, the words of the telegram are painful to read.

He probably crossed paths with Wes Slaymaker, they both seem to have arrived at Camp Forrest in February 1942.
Wesley Slaymaker Letters Home, 1941-1946

In this thread I offered to provide such graphics, http://www.ww2f.com/counter-battery-fire/57017-signature-banners-virtual-ribbon-sets.html
If you would like one for your great uncle, shoot me a PM.


Previous in this thread, the subject of National Guard units having soldiers not from their home states came up.

I'll relate what I suspect and leave it to others to add or detract (isn't that what forums are for).

The units of the National Guard were called into federal service starting in September of 1940 (about three divisions each month for six months, but that schedule slipped some). At the same time the Regular Army was expanded to nine infantry divisions and a peacetime draft was started.

Since the NG units would only serve for one year initially (later extended), they could not take draftees from states other than their home states. However after Pearl Harbor, and since everyone was now serving for the duration plus six months, draftees from any state could be sent to any unit.

After Pearl Harbor, there were two routes for a soldier to get to the unit he would serve with overseas. Following the pre-war practice, many individuals were sent directly from their state Reception Center to their final unit to receive their basic and specialty training. The second route was to go from the RC to an Infantry (or Armor or Artillery or Cavalry...) Replacement Training Center and then through a series of Replacement Depots (here and overseas) and then to their final unit. IRTC's included Camps Wolfers, Blanding and Wheeler.


At some point after the National Guard was formalized (WWI perhaps), the states were allocated one or more infantry regiments numbered from 101 to 186. As far as I know the states still control these numbers even if the unit is in-active. I mention this because at some point a state archive may have had control of the records of the units from their state. So it may be worth searching sources in Illinois (state archives, historical societies, Illinois National Guard archives and such) for information on the 129th Infantry.

The link between NG divisions and the states has changed since WWII (changed several times probably), except some cases like 37th ID (Buckeye) and 28th ID (Keystone).

 

(redundant reply deleted)**

Good suggestion regarding checking with the state historical societies, E. Also, interesting info on how the NG divisions were called up.

 

View attachment 17803 Hello! Here is my connection to this message board! I'm interested in my grandfather's details! Thanks

 

Thanks for posting, GringaLCS. I responded to your other post already, so check that out. I will follow up on that thread. Thanks for posting the pic of your grandfather's marker. He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal and the Purple Heart. I think it's great that you are taking an interest in his WWII service. We need to make sure that the future generations never forget the sacrifices made for our Freedom & Liberty by a quickly disappearing generation of heroes like your grandfather.

 

Awww! So nice of you to say that! I did not know what the letters stood for on his marker. The Bronze Star Medal & Purple Heart may have been passed on to my (irresponsible) uncles decades ago and are probably lost. Too bad. But it is engraved here! Thanks again.

I would salute - if I knew how!

 

No worries, Gringa. I don't do it for the salutes, though I take them when I can!

I should say that the Bronze Star Medal may have been a "conversion". That is to say, he may have been awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB) during the War and, on that basis, was later awarded the Bronze Star Medal. Here is a brief explanation of the CIB/CMB Conversion.

Your grandfather's medals would likely be similar to those of my great uncle, Glenn. His is the top banner in my signature line. Some of the details would be different depending on whether he joined the 129th before or after the landing at Lingayen Gulf in the Philippines.

 

Question for you Tommy or anyone who should happen to know. Would there be after action reports for Feb. 15th 1945? If so how could a person go about getting them. Thanks in advance!

 

There should be... somewhere! When I was scrounging thru the files at the Eisenhower Library last February, I did come across a journal for the 129th that covered Jan 1945 and on. Unfortunately, I did not make copies of Feb 1945 as my time there was limited and had limited goals. I to hope to make another trip there, but I'm not sure when that might be. You can contact them and request a copy for a fee if it is something you would like sooner rather than later.

Is there something in particular you are looking for?

 

Thanks Tommy! Im just looking for more information on the day my great uncle was killed. If there would be any first hand accounts from the men who were with my great uncle when he was wounded. Things of that nature.

 

I can tell you that you won't find first hand accounts in the official reports. That's not to say that they won't be interesting to read, but it's not going to specifically mention your great uncle. At most, it may indicate where M Company was on the date he was wounded.

Usually first hand accounts are written (or given orally) by individual soldiers sometime after the war. Some have been professionally published. Just in general, they are rare. When you are looking for a particular regiment, they are even more scarce. I can think of one book by a 129th veteran that is likely to be available online. There's another that at least existed at one time, but I have never seen it available for purchase. I don't recall the titles or authors at this time, but I can dig them up if you're interested.

You could try searching the Veterans History Project. There are a few 129th veterans listed there. I wouldn't expect to find any detailed accounts of the type you seek, but it may be interesting to hear their story in their own words.