I'm looking for a timeline of the arrival of US troops in England in 1942--and where they were stationed. (I'm vaguely interested in the whole UK, but am focusing on Englandl.) I know that on January 26, 1942, the 34th Infantry Division arrived in Belfast, but after that I'm drawing a blank! Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!
From Feb '44 to May "44 the Mobile Broadcasting,Publicity and Psychological Warfare Detachments were in Clevendon,Wales UK,training for D-Day.These detachments were formally activated as the 72nd Publicity Service Battalion in March '44. I know it is later than you requested.but still info that may be useful.
A lot of units landed in Greenock, Scotland and then travelled South. Found this on hospitals- WW2 Military Hospitals | WW2 US Medical Research Centre Also a list from the D-Day museum of US units in the UK in 1944. http://www.ddaymuseum.co.uk/documents/US-units-May-44.doc
Not necessarily specific, but try Rich Relations by David Reynolds to get a sense of which units went where.
Thanks for the links! And Rich Relations looks fascinating. The cultural stuff in particular. I guess I naively expected that there'd be a website or resource that would chronologically list which troops had been stationed where. Or something! Maybe I'm approaching this from the wrong direction? I'm interested specifically in when (and if!) US detachments were stationed in Canterbury in '42, and, if so, who they were. Is there anywhere I might look up 'Canterbury' and then see if anyone was stationed there in '42? Thanks again.
I don't think there is a comprehensive list of what arrived in chronological order and what detachments were based where. On 31 May 1944 there were 1,526,965 Americans in the UK. Ground Forces 620,504 Air Forces 426,819 Services of Supply 459,511 Headquarters, ETO, and Others 20,131 Very few parts of the UK did not have some servicemen based somewhere nearby. However most were in the south west - though much of the 8th Air force was in East Anglia. This was for logistic and operational reasons. Logistically it made sense for the US Ground Forces to deploy in the west of England to simplify communications. The British were fighting a war and the South East was the side closed to the Germans and the direction of any threat from air attack or raids. To illustrate the complexity of the information. Here are some examples:- Hilsea in Portsmouth was home to a significant US Army supply depot. Under General Depot G-65 came 1 Special Services Company, 51 Ordnance Group, 53 Army Postal Unit, 91 Finance Distribution Section, 120 Chemical Procurement Company, 193 Chemical Depot Company, 196 Quartermaster Battalion, 208 Army Postal Unit, 245 Quartermaster Battalion, 284 Quartermaster Refrigeration Company, 298 Ordnance Company, 321 Ordnance Battalion, 346 Quartermaster Depot Company, 350 Ordnance Battalion, 532 Quartermaster Salvage Repair Company, 555 Army Postal Unit, 604 Ordnance Base Armament Maintenance Battalion, 784 Base Depot Company, 864 Ordnance Heavy Auto Maintenance Company, 1212 Engineer Firefighting Platoon, 3040 Quartermaster Bakery, 3267 and 3269 Quartermaster Service Companies and 4232 Quartermaster Sterilization Company. Clearly, Hilsea was a significant Ordnance and Quartermaster Depot, which supported US units in the Portsmouth area. It must have consisted of thousands of men, none of whom were infantrymen, artillerymen or tank men. It was a similar situation at airfields. Stoney Cross airfield, in the New Forest in Hampshire, hosted the 367 Fighter Bomber Group Headquarters and 392, 393 and 394 Fighter Bomber Squadrons of the US Army Air Forces.These Squadrons operated P-38 Lightnings and during D-Day and the three days after flew nine missions. But aside from these rather more glamorous units, the station was also home to 17 Station Complement Squadron, 32 Mobile Reclamation and Repair Squadron, 217 Medical Dispensary, 327 Service Group, 807 Chemical Company, 1113 Signal Company, 1180 Quartermaster Company, 1292 Military Police Company 1830 Ordnance Company and 2200 Quartermaster Truck Company. To keep aircraft in the air, the men operating them needed engineering, signal, logistics, transport and ordnance support. And once you have that many men on an air base, you are bound to need medical and provost services to keep them healthy and well-behaved! And Stoney Cross was a particularly small and remote place Your best bet might be local records in Kent and any local WW2 heritage societies. You could try US records, but it will be difficult to track down individual detachments - e.g. radio teams deployed to support the deception operation Fortitude simulatign the deployment of 1st US Army Group to threaten the Pas de Calais.
Not sure if this helps as It relates to US Airforces, this site will at least tell you when and where various air forces were stationed from 1942 onwards. WW2 UK Airfields of the Eighth USAAF
Thanks, Sheldrake! I was _definitely_ being naive. And that's a great site about the 8th AAF, with all the dates and history. Let me ask one more thing. All I need is opinions this time! If you read about a bunch of GIs in Kent in May '42, would you immediately be dubious? "What were they doing _there_?" Or would that sound reasonable, given the ubiquity of US servicemen in the UK at the time?
Maybe worth checking the newspaper archives at FindMyPast or the British Newspaper Archives. They have the same collections. FMP has the added advantage of having a 14 day free trial (ensure you untick the autorenew box so they don't charge you when the 14 days have expired). The other advantages of FMP over the BNA site is, FMP have freebee weekends occasionally, but the collections they allow you to access vary everytime the offer is open. You can also view records you saved on FMP, where as BNA don't once your subscription has expired. If you use BNA make sure you download the material you want to keep to your computer. Home | Search the archive | British Newspaper Archive Trace your Family Tree Online | Genealogy & Ancestry from Findmypast | findmypast.com There is also the National Archives in Kew, London Discovery | The National Archives If you were to find anything here go to our sister website WW2talk and you will find members there you frequent Kew and can copy any material you identify far more cheaply than requesting copies directly from Kew. Another site that can aid you is Rootschat. It's amazing what the members can find out for you locally Kent : Page 1 RootsChat.Com And as much as I dislike it, Facebook have some great local groups. I've just had some great help to identify the barracks my aunt was billeted in during WW2. The MOD couldn't find her army service record, but with Facebooks help, I've now deduced where she was based between 1943-1946. Also check the Imperial War Museum collection here Imperial War Museums All the best - Maria
If I remember correctly, you are looking for your father that you never met? If I was in your position, I would submit DNA to one of those companies that matches you with family. It's a wild card, but worth a shot, IMO.