Raymond T. Thrasher 503

Hello,

I'm Chad, I'm trying to find out more about my great grandfather. I have his old army cap from when he was in the army I also have a pair of wool gloves/face mask...Inside the cap it says Thrasher 503....

As far as I know from what my grandmother was able to recall he was with Pattons army? Could anyone point me in the right direction? What was the 503? My grandmother told me stories about him being around artillery and it giving him nose bleeds or ears or something? I can't really recall. I apologize for not having more information but thats all I could find was the Thrasher 503 and knowing he was with pattons army and was sometime between 44-45

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

 

Try looking here: Find Any Military Record Instantly - The Complete Government Database

then: Finding History of a Family Member's Participation in World War 2

 

So I maybe he wasn't with patton's army but I do know he joined 6/20/1944 and shipped around christmas of 44, he went through chaterouxe france, he was infantry. i found his service record online. well partial service record....his serial number is 34836528, his place of enlistment was ft. mcpherson ga.

 

So I know this has been awhile, but I found out through my great grandfathers unit insignia pin i have, he was in the 19th field artillery battalion, its now 19th field artillery regiment, but was designated battalion in 1940's. Inside his cap it says 503, now granted he may have picked that cap up off someone else or got it by mistake. Can anyone point me to some information on what the 19th field artillery bn did in ww2? I've googled it for hours and can't seem to find much of anything on it. any help would be greatly appreciate, thank you. here is a picture of him on the left drunk in france with his friend.

 

thank you so much! it is greatly appreciated, i am trying to put together alot of this stuff for not only myself but for the rest of my family. we have all wondered what he did in the war and where he went. I have his dog tog, some french money from ww2, his unit pin, his cap, also some cold weather gear, wool fingerless gloves / face mask that has redcross on it. the unit insignia is the shield with a red diamond, a red stripe, and red bird on it. you can google that 19th field artillery and can see a picture of it. his hat says 503, you mentioned that the regiments were broken up, perhaps he was assigned to 503rd PIR or something after they were broken up? anywho thank you for all your help.

 

The 19th Field Artillery Battalion was a component of the 5th Infantry Division. I am not so sure the 503 necessarily refers to a unit number. It might be easier for us if you could post a photo of it so we can see it in context.

 

I will try and get a picture, unfortunately I moved and put alot of stuff in storage, thank you all for your help and any additional information is greatly appreciated.

 

I understand, maybe the 503 meant something else. ive looked up the 19th's unit insignia and it is the exact same one I have of his. I've tried for almost 3 years to get more information about him but to no avail. I'm usually stonewalled with paperwork from the government or can't find anything about his unit online. If I request his service records from the national archives will that be his complete entire service record or only his date of enlistment, etc? Will it show what units he was with, where he served, etc? I also just found out today when I went to his grave stone it says "Tec 4 WW2" http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pv&GRid=100602289&PIpi=71030403 <---this is his headstone at his grave. that is equivalent to sergeant correct?

 

"Tec 4" means "Technician 4th Grade". They were the same pay grade as "buck" sergeants (three stripes) yes, but lacked the authority to issue orders, etc.

 

Dang, beaten to the punch there!

 

Thank you very much I will try and contact them. Yes I knew they lacked the command authority. What sort of special skills are you speaking of?

 

Here is a PDF of what the Eisenhower Presidential Library has on the 5th Division in their Army unit records collection. There do appear to be some Division Artillery AARs in the collection.

They also have a file on the 19th FA Battalion, but there is no description of the contents.

View attachment 19031

 

hey guys. been awhile since i've updated this. i found out from my grandmother that my grandfather left for England around christmas of 43. She said he could never stand to listen to the song "White Christmas" by Bing Crosby because it reminded him of leaving for the war around Christmas. I found out that he was with the 5th ID which was taken under command by Patton eventually.

I had asked about the 503 in his cap and I said I would upload pictures. So I finally got around to going to the storage unit today and pulled out some of his stuff. It isn't in these pictures but he also has a EAME Campaign ribbon with a star. below are the attached pictures with wool gloves from Red Cross and his dress cap? it has a red lining around the edges

 

Some new pics I found. The first picture is of my great grandfather, great grandmother and my grandmother. I notice he has 2 ribbons, 1 looks like it has a star on it but can't tell. I also don't know if this was after the war or before. The reason is, he is wearing what looks like a 16th armored patch, but 16th armored didnt deploy to france until 1945. i believe? I have his EAME and it has 2 stars. So Im thinking this was before he was deployed. Also he is wearing a PFC rank, he was a Tec-4 before he got out in 45. If anyone can shed light on the insignia that would be great. I don't understand why he would have a 16th armored patch if I have his artillery pin for 19th field artillery as well as his green cover with red lining signifying artillery. The bottom 2 photos are post cards he mailed home showing where he stayed. the bottom picture says, lyons-la-foret (Eure) - Les 3 Moulins or Les trois moulins. I've tried finding pictures of the place online but Idk if the building even still exists. I would like to go visit it one day. anyway, thanks for all the help.