Trying to reconcile military record with other sources.

I am kind of puzzled by some of the items I have found in my father’s WWII service record.

For privacy reasons I have redacted some information in the records sent to me and used “JW” where his name is used. If this information absolutely would make a difference to finding more information I may consider providing it since this person is long deceased.

Apart from forms 100 (Separation Qualification Record) and 53-98, I also have various items from newspapers and his college bulletins where he was in the ORC (now known as ROTC). The newspaper articles mention his parents and home address, so I know this is the same person.

Here’s a basic chronology:

1941 03 27 College yearbook announcing appointment to 1LT in ROTC.

1941 summer Graduated from college with “AB” degree (maybe the same as a BA today and some other sources use the term BA).

1941 06 13 Town newspaper. Various members who are in the “ROTC cavalry unit”and having a farewell party. JW is among those who “received their pilot’s licenses after taking the C.A.A. air course.” “He has received deferment until August … after which he will be stationed at Fort Meyers, Va.”
According to a 1940 college yearbook, CAA involved 72 hours of ground work and 55 hours flying time. A 1942 yearbook talks about a Civilian Pilot Training program and that students are given credit for this when joining the army or navy. The curriculum for this sounds a lot like USAAF primary flight school level material.

1941 08 13 Town newspaper #1. JW “is the latest reserve officer … to be ordered to active army duty by Brig. Gen Francis B. Wilby, commanding officer of the First Corps Area. [JW], has been assigned to Fort Riley, Kansas."
- I guess they changed their minds about sending him to VA.

1941 08 13 Town newspaper #2. JW “a reserve officer, has been ordered to active Army duty by Brig. Gen. Francis B. Wilby, commanding officer of the 1st Corps Area. Lieut [JW] has been assigned to Fort Riley, Kan.”

1941 08 14 Date of Entry (WD53-98 line 26)

1942 03 __ College bulletin. “The following is a list of Alumni and students who have successively completed the elementary C.P.T. [Civilian Pilot Training which in 1941 was kind of intended to be pre-army AAF training] course at the College.” JW

1942 05 01 Town newspaper #1:
“Lieut. [JW] at Randolph Field
Second Lieut. [JW] has started a nine-weeks’ intensive course of basic military aviation training as a member of Class 42-G at Randolph Field, Texas, the “west Point of the Air”.
Lieut. [JW] … received his commission in the cavalry in June, 1941, and took his primary flight training at Chickasha, Okla.”
- Oh well, despite having CPT and being told it would count as credit, they still made him do primary. Or maybe just part of it? Could one take breaks between the 3 segments of pilot training?

1942 05 01 Town newspaper #2:
“At Randolph Field, Tex., learning to be flyers: Second Lieut. JW who already holds
a cavalry commission.”

1942 12 25 (arrival 1943 Jan. 2) service outside US in American Theater. Also mentioned in the muster roll for the ship Joseph T Dickman sailing Dec. 27, 1942, destination Pacific via the Panama Canal.

1943 08 15 (arrival 1943 Sep. 1) return to US.

1943 08 20 Newspaper:
“LT. JW IS PROMOTED IN PARATROOPS
The promotion of First Lieutenant [JW] … from the grade of second lieutenant is announced in orders issued by the Caribbean Defense Command through Headquarters, Panama Canal Department. Lieut. [JW] is a rifle platoon leader of a parachute unit of the Sixth Air Force in this area. … He was a member of the R.O.T.C. … After being commissioned a second Lieutenant in June, 1941, he received his flight training at Bonfils Flying School and Randolph and Kelly Fields in Texas. He also holds a C.A.A. private pilot’s license. He arrived in the Caribbean area in January, 1943….”
- Bonfils was a commercial business that taught primary flying skills before adding on the things you'd need as a military pilot. I am not sure why they sent him there if he already had a civilian license.

1943 10 26 Newspaper.
“Lieut. [JW] of the Army Air Forces is enjoying his first furlough in two years with his parents … he joined the service in August of that year [1941] and received his training at Kelly Field and Randolph Field, Tex. Since then he has stationed in the Caribbean area.”

Service Schools Attended:
“INF SCH FT BEN GA 25 JUL 44 CAV SCH FT RIELY [sic] KAN 7 OCT 44 AAF PILOT TRAN SCH LUKE FLD AZ 27 JUN 45”
which I interpret to mean:
1944 Jul. 25 Infantry School, Ft. Benning, GA
1944 Oct. 07 Cavalry School, Ft. Riley, KS
1945 Jun. 27 AAF Pilot Training School, Luke Field, AZ
but maybe the dates are graduation dates rather than start dates?

1945 Sep. 2 ASR Score

1946 Jun. 12 Separation/date of relief from active duty.

The images I am posting is all the information the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) sent to me. Form 100 is clearly missing a second page (their customer service line insists there isn’t a second page), parts of which you can see ghosted in reverse on the page they did send. Here’s what I can discern from what I can see that isn’t obscured by the text on the page they did send:

MILITARY EDUCATION
14. NAME OR TYPE OF SCHOOL - COURSE OR CURRICULUM
The Infantry School, Mot[or]##De## 2 Weeks Theory of Internal
combustion engine, ################################etc. and practical
application th#######################1/2###/4#########1 1/2 ton and 2 1/2
ton truck.##############School, Officers Pack C######,##Weeks, animal
Management #[horsesh]eoing, packin[g####loads. ##########
AAF Pi[lot Train]ing Schools, ##############30 Weeks, P######ing
(nav[igation,] meteorology, Ai##############Radio Code et################
AAF[ Intern]al Affairs School, ###########unseling, 2 Weeks,######el-
ing ###argess.

Things in [ ] are where I guessed at words.
There’s clearly information there that is not anywhere else in his documentation and I am puzzled that they didn’t send me the second page of the form so I have the complete WD 100.

Infantry School I am guessing overlaps with cavalry school and it mentions dealing with motor vehicles, specifically various size trucks. However there’ also traditional cavalry items such as animal training, perhaps an officer’s pack-something course, maybe for riding, and something I can only think of being horseshoeing. I know from research that although armored vehicles were fast becoming the new cavalry, it wasn’t until ’46 or so that mounted training was abandoned altogether.

Pilot Training School for 30 weeks was about standard for 3x9 weeks. However, his college bulletin says that for students graduating from the pilot program, “Both Army and Navy recognize its worth, and give credit to civilian pilot training students.” I am not clear if that actually happened.

The final item is AAF _al Affairs School. I can’t find any web mention of an Affairs School online, nor is it mentioned in his service schools unless it is part of one of the others. If I had to guess, there’s something about counseling.

I note that if you add up his assignment time from WD100 it’s 3 years and 9 months. Box 34 from WD53-98 says he served 4 years and 1 month. Then if he started service on Aug 14, 1941 and was discharged on Jun 12, 1946 he was actually in the service for 4 years and 10 months. I don’t know how to explain all these differences. Maybe part of the time being in school is not being on assignment? What explains 9 months difference between box 34 and his start and stop dates? Maybe this has something to do with the ASR date? Maybe the Sept 2, 1945 date that was calculated was the end of his service time even though he wasn’t separated until 9 months later? Is furlough time subtracted out?

I am puzzled by his starting off as cavalry for a few months, then training as a pilot, then somewhere in there being trained as a paratrooper (though none of his training actually mentions that). All that has to be squeezed in between his signing up August ’41 and being sent to Panama in December ’42. He was only in Panama for 8 months but apparently served as a Parachute Infantry Officer for a year and a half. He was back in the US in Sept of ’43 and on furlough in Oct. ’43. After that his activities and dates are even less certain and puzzling. His service school list in box 34 has a 1944 date for attending Infantry School at Ft. Benning. Presumably this is where he learned to parachute, but wouldn’t that have had to have been before he went to Panama in ’42? What was he doing at Infantry School in ’44? Then on Oct. 7, 1944 there’s another tie point for him at Ft. Riley at Cavalry School again? Finally in ’45 it appears he’s back in the air force, now at Luke Field in Arizona. His form 100 just has a bland mention of his basic piloting skills so I am guessing he wasn’t so advanced as to be an instructor.It just doesn’t make sense to me that the army had somebody arrive with piloting skills, put them in the cavalry for a while, then put them into piloting, then took them out and put them in the infantry as a paratrooper and maybe even the cavalry again for a while, then finally as a pilot again.

Were you effectively discharged when they calculated your ASR, but then they could not fully discharge you for another year or so?

Final assignment was Army Air Force Base Unit 3028.

I have to admit, he got off lucky and likely never saw any fighting action. The Panama Canal was a critical spot but any action was actually at sea and not land.