I Company, 85th Mt Infantry

I am researching information on my granddad.

He was Tec4 Benson, Ervin E 38444186 and served and was wounded in Italy. He was drafted in Arkansas and returned there after the war. I have a V-Mail that he had sent to my grandmother in 45'. His unit is listed as I Co, 85th Mt Inf. Based on some of his unit patches I found, I learned that he was in the 10th Mountain Div. I contacted their archivist at the Denver Public library and learned that he was wounded around April 23rd, 1945, and was picked up on the rolls of the 10th Mt Cav Rcn Trp on 2 July 45. He went back to Colorado with them after the war and eventually was discharged and returned home to Paragould, Arkansas.

I have his Purple Heart, but nothing else regarding his service. I have submitted a request to the National Archives, but due to the fire they might not have anything to attempt to reconstruct.

If anyone has info that might help please fell free to post and let everyone know.
Thanks,
Jeff

 

I also found out my grandfathers records were in the 1973 fire.

I suggest trying to find his discharge record locally. I found my grandfathers at both the funeral home that conducted his funeral and the local veterans affairs office. In the letter I got from the National Archives saying his records were damaged. They suggested calling the local recorders office of the county where he lived or a former employer. I started by calling the local recorders office they then connected me to the veterans affairs office.

Just a heads up, The veterans affairs here made me get written consent from my grandmother before releasing a copy to me.

Welcome to the forum, Good luck with your research!

 

Thanks for the responses. I will try the Greene County Recorder and Arkansas State Veterans Affairs. He passed away at the VA hospital in Popular Bluff Missouri, so I may try to see if they have any non-medical record info that them might release to me.

I am not certain what unit he went to war with, I only have limited info after he was assigned to I company 85th Mt Inf.

Again, thanks for the suggestions.

 

No problem, Glad I could help

I have received so much assistance from this forum. The least I can do is give back by helping other members to the best of my ability.

 

Looking through the info I got from the archivist, it looks like my granddad was transferred to the 85th Mt Inf after his injury. So now I need to attempt to see who he was with when he got injured. If I recall, I think that he was shot in France, (I remember grandma being very sensitive to his time in France, she thought that he may have made some lady friends there).

I wish I had more info, but he passed away when I was eight and my grandmother didn't speak much about his Army days.

 

I show that Ervin was transferred into 10th Mountain as a combat replacement at the end of hostilities, and was transferred from 85th Inf to 10th Mountain Mounted Reconnisance Troop in July of 1945. For more details & to see what info the 10th Mountain archime has on Ervin (listed as Irvin in some of the documents), contact Dennis Hagen at Denver Public Library (DHagen@denverlibrary.org). He can do a search and may be able to tell you where he came from and when he as discharged. My records show he returned to Camp Carson in 1945 and was discharged from there, but I don't have the details Dennis will have.

 

I finally got my grandfathers discharge paper, it is a very poor copy of copy and so on and so forth.

I did manage to see some of the info about him. He was a cook for about half of his time in the 85th Mt Inf. He then spent about a year as infantry and received his Combat Infantryman's badge. He was awarded the EAME medal with two campaign stars. One for the North Apennines and one for the Po Valley. He received a Purple heart some time in April of 1945 from what I can read. He was also awarded a Good Conduct medal.

TenthA86, I apologize for the delay in responding, I did contact Mr Hagen and he was able to find some info on him as well. Overall I wish I could find more, but I have a few pictures of him while he was in... I just have to find them again.

As a side note, I had told Mr Hagen that I would give him copies of whatever I managed to locate on my granddad. Once I can make it a mostly legible copy I will get those to him.

Thanks again for everyone's suggestions and help.

 

A brief update. After several months and several Freedom of Information requests the National Archives responded and said that they had found some of my granddad's record. So I have sent them the money and am waiting to see what may show up.

Thanks again for everyone's help.

 

Well I got a copy of his record from the archives, it was in the fire! You can see the charred edges of the pages. Very cool. Now I have to make a copy and send them to Mr Hagen. It is not too much info, but it takes time to go over it and absorb it. It is incredible to be able to sit and go through it all. I also got a copy of his Army Medical Record via a freedom of info request to the VA. Based on a cursory review of the medical records, my grandmother was justified in her thinking he had been visiting with the 'ladies'.

Since he passed away when I was eight, I never had the opportunity to know him as an adult, but having these records allow me some insight into at least his time in the Army.

I am in the process of getting all my records from the Archives/USMC so that my kids can have the same info about me.