Hi, I'm from Germany and I have a duffel bag (hope this is what they are called) that I inherited from my grandfather. He was a soldier in El Alamein and a prisoner of war somewhere around Lake Michigan. There's a name and some numbers on the fabric: James Reaves 33641274 and U.S. RM-333 (a)-29 Since he came back after the war ended, I think this was a duffel bag no longer in use wich was given to him to transport his belongings back to Germany. The other possibility is that he simply stole it which wouldn't be that far fetched I'd love to find out, who this bag belonged to or at least, in wich force or company he served. I've attached some pictures of the bag. Maybe someone can help me. The greatest thing for me of course would be to tell the family of this soldier that I have his duffel bag. Thank you!
James Reaves enlistment record: Field Title Value Meaning ARMY SERIAL NUMBER 33641274 33641274 NAME REAVES#JAMES############ REAVES#JAMES############ RESIDENCE: STATE 33 VIRGINIA RESIDENCE: COUNTY 003 ALBEMARLE PLACE OF ENLISTMENT 5174 SHELBYVILLE INDIANA DATE OF ENLISTMENT DAY 01 01 DATE OF ENLISTMENT MONTH 12 12 DATE OF ENLISTMENT YEAR 45 45 GRADE: ALPHA DESIGNATION CPL# Corporal GRADE: CODE 6 Corporal BRANCH: ALPHA DESIGNATION FA# Field Artillery BRANCH: CODE 30 Field Artillery FIELD USE AS DESIRED # # TERM OF ENLISTMENT 3 Enlistment for Hawaiian Department LONGEVITY ### ### SOURCE OF ARMY PERSONNEL 6 Enlisted Man, Philippine Scout or recall to AD of an enlisted man who had been transferred to the ERC NATIVITY 33 VIRGINIA YEAR OF BIRTH 24 24 RACE AND CITIZENSHIP 2 Negro, citizen EDUCATION 2 2 years of high school CIVILIAN OCCUPATION 590 Undefined Code MARITAL STATUS 6 Single, without dependents COMPONENT OF THE ARMY 1 Regular Army (including Officers, Nurses, Warrant Officers, and Enlisted Men) CARD NUMBER # # BOX NUMBER 0688 0688 FILM REEL NUMBER 1.205 1.205
For reference, WWII Enlistment records can be found here: NARA - AAD - List of Series - Wars/ International Relations: World War II