Beloved Father was never one to speak of his experiences during WWII other than an occasional funny story, and none of us ever pried into this part of his life. Perhaps it didn't occur to us or perhaps it was simply how we were brought up. One didn't question your parents on much and digging into their past never seemed an option.
Beloved Father has now been over the rainbow for almost twenty years. I had a thought while on the computer one evening and looked into how easy (or difficult) it might be to get hold of his service records. My idea was simply to see what units he served in and what path he took. From what I think I know he came up through North Africa and into Italy. I believe he served mostly in the supply side of the war but I don't know that for a fact. Baby Sis was able to supply me with his service number; why she knew this I haven't the foggiest.
Hopefully my initial inquiry will yield some solid results and some sleuthing may get underway. If it doesn't, my search could be over before it starts. If that's the case, a new challenge may be set before me. I hope I'm up to the chase.
The service side would be correct as he was in the Q-Corps (Quartermaster), and I believe he made it to Staff Sgt.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Sainted Mother, he was Staff Sgt. and busted several times for various hijinks, including the beer truck incident. I had his service number because it was recorded in our Family Bible. Gotta love when Sainted Mother recorded things - she did it up right!
ReplyDeleteI remember that someone in his unit in Africa was an engineer for Hershey, but nobody believed him. To prove his point, he built some sort of machine that he had made for Hershey. They had to believe him after that.
Ar least one of the times he was busted in rank they re-instated it the next day because he was the only one that knew how to do something they had to get done that day.
I also know that he was at the Depot in Columbus, because he would take duty for friends so that they could get home to visit family. He lived in Columbus so it wasn't a big deal to him to have leave. He also said that they kept some tanks up on blocks with the engines running full=time in case they needed to get away in a hurry. Sounded weird to me, but that's what he said.
Sainted Mother also said he was one of the only one that the uniform fit, as he was the height and weight it was designed for!
ReplyDeleteNorth of 50 should have the wooden box that some of his momentos (how is that word spelled?)were in - unless of course Stache has it? It might contain a few more hints as to where he served overseas.
All I know for sure is that he wouldn't spend the night at Scout campouts because he spent all the nights he needed to in a tent in the service. He would either drive home or sleep in his car. Okay boys - is that true? I don't remember as I wasn't old enough, but I do remember hearing it. What's the skinny on that statement?