Looking for info on 141st FA Bn Battery A

For Christmas, my husband got me some letters (some 200+) that a Cpl Sidney S Hemstreet Jr. from Waterford, NY wrote to his wife. He was in the 141st Field Artillery Battalion, Battery A. He describes a little bit of stuff, but due to censorship, I'm sure he couldn't say much.

The letters date from December 1944 to October 1945.
In December 44, he was in France.
About March 45, he was in Choumont (?) France.
By the summer of 45, he was in Germany.
After 7/10/45, he was moved to the 943rd FA Bn, Battery B

I am not even half way through the letters yet, but I am trying to look up information on his whereabouts, what he did, etc. I have a little bit of info, not much. By his letters, I know he fought on the front lines, stayed in a bombed out movie theater, also stayed in a bombed out building that still had electricity, became a driver after the transfer to Chaumont, France. I am only in March 1945 as far as reading, but would love to put together the pieces as I go.

I already know all the basic stuff you can find online about the 141st. I really want to take this further as I am really getting into the story from these letters. I thought of contacting the 141st, but I believe their website states they are overseas right now.

I am also afraid that since I am not family, no one will give me access to his records, which is something I am really interested in ascertaining.

I am already familiar with the 36th (vaguely) and the split of the 141st (just super basic stuff), but I don't know where to turn to get more info. I would love to have info on him as well as his battalion.

any help I could get would be so appreciated!

Lisa

 

Lisa, A quick search on the NARA site shows Mr. Hemstreet was born in 1913, lived in Saratoga County, New York and enlisted in Albany in 1943. His service # was 32746464. You can request his military records by filling out a form #180 either on line, or download the form and fill it out. These records are archived and public information per the Freedom of Information Act. Some of the records, like medical or other sensitive information is protected.
As for the 141st FA Bn, they were considered "Non-Divisional" and was attached to various divisions as needed.
I was just given a great website by slipdidget that can give a record of who they were attached to and when. I'll get back as soon as I learn to use the site.

 

Thank you so much for info so far. I will be sending the form off tomorrow.
BTW, you can only apply online if you are related to the veteran
Looking forward to hearing more about that website you talked about. Mr. Hemstreet does describe some things, but understandably has to be vague due to censors. He mentions quite frequently when writing his wife "...in that placed that you mentioned in your last letter..."

Also, to anyone else reading this thread, please feel free to add any other resources!

Lisa

 

Russo -

I am going to give this a shot anyway. According to the instructions on the information request form:

"3. Archival Records. Personnel records of military members who were discharged, retired, or died in service 62 or more years ago have been transferred to the legal custody of NARA and a referred to as "archival" records.

a. Release of Information: Archival records are open to the public. The Privacy Act of 1974 does not apply to archival records, therefore, written authorization from the veteran or next of kin is not required. However, in order to protect the privacy of the veteran, his/her family, and third parties named in the records, the personal privacy exemption of the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552 (b) (6) may still apply and preclude the release of some information.

b. Fees for Archival Records: Access to archival records is granted by offering copies of the records for a fee (44 U.S.C. 2116 (c)). You will be notified if there is a charge for photocopies of documents contained in the record you are requesting."

Okay, so what this is saying (correct me if I am wrong) that I can gain access to his records, but only limited information will be shared, probably only information that I already know, ha! Mr. Hemstreet was discharged in 1943 (as per a newspaper article I found), so that makes his discharge 67-68 years ago. The only thing I think I will come against is that I will probably have to pay a fee for the photocopy. Not necessarily a bad thing, so long as it is not a huge fee for information I already have. Would be cool to have a photocopy of the actual papers, though.

On a side note, those of you research fanatics who have direct family that served during WWII are exceedingly lucky to have a family member to research about (not that serving in World War II is a lucky thing). I had family in Germany that experienced the war, however, they have all passed on and no one wants to talk about it (understandably). As for American family in WWII, I have a paternal great uncle that was a merchant marine in WWII. I have tried researching him but there is serious lack of documentation, he passed long before I was born (1967) unmarried with no children, and all his siblings have passed. The only thing I can find out about him is his birth year based on family documentation and his death year based on his gravestone (which I visited 2 years ago). Other than that, both of my grandfathers were married with children and did not serve. I also have a maternal great uncle that attempted to serve - he enlisted with a false birth date, but shortly after, it was discovered that he was too young and was discharged. It is rumored within the family that he changed his name after he came of age and reenlisted, however, I am having a hard time here, too.

I only say "lucky" as researching a particular person with a particular history in World War II is just so exciting. I only wish I was a family member to make the searching much easier!

Lisa

 

Lisa, I thought I had that right, thanks for copying that. Lately the folks at NARA have been charging $20 for copies of separation papers and anything else. You can send in the request of what you want and they will send you information on what they can find and a quote of the cost before they do anything. You will be able to get everything that they don't feel is covered by the personal privacy exemption--and I guess that determination is up to them. You have 30 days to respond or the records are re-filed. I guess it depends on who you get at NARA, but I've paid $20 for one page and $50 for a ton of stuff (I used to get things free-but all good things come to an end). Your project sounds interesting and the the cost of actual documentation might be well worth it.