Help with Morning Reports 320th Regt Co. K

Not sure if I am posting in correct place. I a new to this.................I was interested in understanding morning reports I have on my father, John W Ryan 35th Inf Divn., 320th regiment, Co K -------------- If I post the details of these 5 entries, can anyone help me understand them?

Thanks, Anne

 

Anne,

There are a bunch of people here that are very good at doing what you ask. Post you request under this category, but your own thread. Title it "Help understanding morning reports, post the reports, and stand by to be amazed.

 

Ok thanks....how do i start my own thread?

 

http://www.ww2f.com/forum/34-military-service-records-genealogical-research/

In the upper right is a black box labeled "Start New Topic".

 

thanks......I found it, but can't load the reports...............I have 7 pages........it would not go through because file was too big...Then I tried to scan and attach just one page....still would not let it go through.....

Could it be because the morning reports are two on a page with a black background...does the black background uses too many kb's or something?......If so, perhaps if I made a copy, cut off the black and recopied it, might it be small enough to go through?....Of course each generation of copying would be harder to read, right?

Any ideas?

 

If the forum file allowance isn't big enough you'll need a photo sharing service. Photobucket http://photobucket.com/browse
is a free service. There are a variety out there.

 

can't seem to get it to accept my signup ...tried 3 times.....any other ideas for a service to do this? is there a way to do this in google?

 

PM sent.

 

Okay. Here is the first MR dated 27 Dec 1944:

View attachment 22775

The serial number, name, and grade are self-explanatory. The number after the name is a number code indicating the individual's Military Occupational Specialty. In the case of your father, his is 745 or Rifleman. The next line down indicates his race as "white". I believe MCO means "Main Civilian Occupation". I don't have anything on the code 010.

The highlighted portion on the second page should read as: "Above 32 enlisted men assigned and joined from 14th Replacement Depot APO 583 US Army [page?] 2 Special Order 230".

Hopefully someone else will fill in what I missed.

 

MR dated 1 Jan 1945:

View attachment 22777


The line below your father's name should be read as: "Above 4 enlisted men duty to slightly sick, dropped from assignment".

 

MR for 9 Jan 1945:

View attachment 22782


Interestingly, this indicates your father's MOS as 636 rather than 745. On a quick search, I found one source indicating 636 was the MOS code for Intelligence Observer. I wonder if that is a clerical error. For now, take it with a grain of salt.

Moving on down: "Above 6 enlisted men slightly sick (line of duty). Dropped from assignment to Returned to Duty [page?] 2 Special Order 8 Headquarters 35th Infantry Division".

 

MR for 12 Jan 1945:

View attachment 22783


This one supports the clerical error theory. His MOS is back to 745. The rest should read as: "Duty to slightly sick (line of duty) lost to 65th Field Hospital per Section 2 Circular 69 Headquarters ETOUSA (European Theater of Operations United States Army) dated 13 June 1944".

Basically, this is recording his leaving the Company and going to the 65th Field Hospital. Unfortunately, it doesn't explain what his sickness was other than it was in the "line of duty". Since this was in the middle of one of the coldest winters in Europe, a good guess is that it is weather related.

 

MR from 10 Feb 1945:

View attachment 22785


"Above 5 enlisted men slightly sick (line of duty) dropped from assignment to Returned to Duty effective 8 Feb 1945 [page?] 2 Special Order 28 Headquarters 35th Infantry Division".

This is recording his return to Company K from his hospital stay.

 

New topic created for member Anne Serritella.

 

The handwritten codes on the right side of the Morning Reports have come up in a previous discussion. I haven't found that topic, but my recollection is that we did not make a definite determination as to what the codes mean. They are probably codes indicating the specific roster status of the individual(s) in question.

 

Very good work TD, I told her she'd be amazed. I'm sure she is.

 

Thanks for responding !

So, we still don't have a key for the MCO codes (010 specifically)........Any ideas about what these type of codes were at all?

Is a MOS and MCO number the same thing?

About the 745 rifleman, and 636 Intelligence observer................Did they ever switch a person from one job to another, back and forth as needed to serve a present need, or once a rifleman, always a rifleman?

And the code column certainly has to mean something................Seems the Army should certainly have that information.....how to access it ???

 

http://www.327engineer.com/MorningReports/MorningRportsIntro.htm
Lists MCO as main civilian occupation.

http://aad.archives.gov/aad/popup-codelist.jsp?cl_id=3323&dt=893&c_id=24986
Does not actually list an occupation for MCO 010.

Unfortunately I can't seem to find TM 12-426 (Civilian Occupational Classification of Enlisted Personnel) online.

 

hmm... had to be a whole lot more MCO numbers than were on that list. It mentions a record group number 64 The archives website at the root of your link seems to be a whole other ball of wax to understand.....but possibly lots of info to be mined here ???? Any idea where to start?

My dad was a tool engineer at his death at age 59. Don't know what his occupation was going in the service, but was some sort of tool making trade I think... Interesting coincidence that they number machinist as 475 and rifleman as 745

 

On p.4 of the following is the explanation that the MCO code is the first three digits of the Civilian Occupation Code from the 1939 Dictionary of Occupational Titles:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCUQFjABahUKEwi65ZLdsYDHAhXSEpIKHV5kBW4&url=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia.nara.gov%2Felectronic-records%2Frg-064%2Fasnf%2F100.1ND_NC.pdf&ei=Xc24VfrCMdKlyATeyJXwBg&usg=AFQjCNFdFO4mZEk8-DxtKttWmIJOPwyyJw&sig2=g6Mwoo6YB1du07Aol_Y0UQ&bvm=bv.98717601,d.aWw

Page xxxvi here shows '010' as Mining and Petroleum Engineering Occupations:

http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015007295887;view=1up;seq=38