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Seeking information about the 528th Field Artillery Battalion

Christine Damato

I'm researching my grandfather's WWII military service, and I'm trying to find information about the unit he was with.

He was a lineman in the 528th Field artillery battalion, Hq & Hq battery.  He arrived  in Liverpool Europe with the unit on

November 13 1944 and  left for the USA on Aug 6 1945 on the Pierre Soule troopship, from Le Havre.

Does anyone have any information on this unit or battery that you can share with me?

Thank you,

Christine

  • 0

    Dear Ms. Damato,

     

    Thank you for posting your request on History Hub!

     

    We searched the National Archives Catalog and located the World War II Operations Reports, 1940-1948 in the Records of the Adjutant General's Office, 1917 - 1985 (Record Group 407) that includes a history (1944-46), after action report (Feb. 8-May 1945), and general orders (1944-46) of the 528th Field Artillery Battalion during WWII in Box 16175; and another series titled Unit Histories, 1943 - 1967 in the Records of U.S. Army Operational, Tactical, and Support Organizations (World War II and Thereafter) (Record Group 338) that includes 2 file units of the Unit History for 528th Field Artillery Battalion during the 1940s. For more information about these non-digitized records, please contact the National Archives at College Park - Textual Reference (RDT2) via email at archives2reference@nara.gov.

     

    You may experience a delay in receiving an initial acknowledgment as well as a substantive response to your reference request from RDT2. We apologize for this inconvenience and appreciate your understanding and patience as we balance mission-critical work and the safety of our staff during the pandemic. Please check NARA’s web page about COVID-19 updates for the latest information.

     

    If you have not done so already, we also suggest that you request a copy of his Official Military Personnel File (OMPF). OMPFs and individual medical reports for enlisted men of the U.S. Army who were separated from the service after October 1912 and before 1960 are in the custody of NARA's National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis. In many cases where personnel records were destroyed in the 1973 fire, proof of service can be provided from other records such as morning reports, payrolls, and military orders, and a certificate of military service will be issued. Please complete a GSA Standard Form 180 and mail it to NARA's National Personnel Records Center, (Military Personnel Records), 1 Archives Drive, St. Louis, MO 63138-1002. Veterans and next of kin of deceased veterans also may use eVetRecs to request records. See eVetRecs Help for instructions. For more information see Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF), Archival Records Requests.

     

    Please be aware that NPRC is prioritizing the requests for separation documents needed by veterans and their dependents to prove eligibility for a variety of benefits. NPRC expects to eliminate this portion of the backlog by fall 2022, and restore their pre-pandemic response times of under ten days for these requests later this fall. It will take considerably longer to eliminate the backlog on other types of requests, such as genealogical requests for complete copies of records. For more information, please refer to Onsite Operations at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis.

     

    U.S. Army Transport Service passenger lists of military personnel and their dependents from 1941 to 1946 are still in the legal custody of the Army. For access to these records, please contact Joyce Luton, Director, Army Records Management Directorate, 9301 Chapek Road, Building 1458, Fort Belvoir, VA  22060.  The telephone number is (571) 515-0213.  The email address is joyce.luton2.civ@mail.mil.  Please request the name of the facility, transfer numbers, and box numbers.

     

    Next, you may wish to search the U.S. Army Center of Military History website for additional information and/or resources about the 528th Field Artillery Battalion.

     

    We hope this is helpful. Best of luck with your family research!

     

  • 0

    Hi, Christine. Just saw your post. My father was the First Sergeant of Hq. & Hq. Battery, 528th Field Artillery, 37th Division, from around late 1943 or early 1944. Dad kept an itinerary of his travels from Camp Hood, TX, to Europe. It matches what you have posted. 

    He was from Sidney, Ohio, and part of the Ohio National Guard beginning in 1940. When WW II broke out, he was sent, along with the rest of the 528th, to Camp Shelby, MS. From there, the 528th was sent to Camp Bowie, TX, and then to Camp Hood, (now Ft. Hood). On Oct. 21, 1944, the 528th was sent to Liverpool, England. His itinerary lays it all out and is attached here.


    I have quite a few of his papers and will look to see if I can’t find anything that mentioned your grandfather. He kept a few logs on who was assigned to k.p. (mess hall duty), guard duty, etc. I’m also attaching a web link that speaks to the fighting in the Ruhr Valley, or Pocket) in Germany where they were.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruhr_pocket

    II’ll post anymore info. I find here later on.


    WW II Itinerary of 1st. Sgt. Robert D Torrence, pg. 2

    1944. Robert D. Torrence, 1st Sergeant, Hq. & Hq. Battery, 528th Field Artillery, Pg. 1

  • 0 in reply to Robert Torrence

    Hi Robert, wow thanks so much for responding to my post! I've been running into brick walls trying to get information on his military service. I've been looking for the name of the ship he left for England on, and now thanks to you I know it was the SS Argentina!!!

    The only other source I could find online was here: https://sites.google.com/site/wwiius528thfabn/battery-b-in-eto?pli=1   His grandfather was in the 528th unit too, and he has some good information, except his grandfather was in the B battery of the unit.

    If you do come across my grandfather Peter's name in your Dad's unit histories, or personal papers, please let me know.  [Moderator Note:  Email removed.  See How To: Contact Another User ]

    Thanks so much!!

    Christine

  • 0

    Hi, Christine. Sorry to be so .one getting back to you. My wife had surgery last week and I have not had time to get back to you. A couple of things:

    I was talking to my younger brother a couple of days ago about you and your grandfather. He has, among other things, a log book of our dad’s entitled “Men Present for Duty”. Your grandfathers name appears at least twice in it. He took a photo of the two pages (and zoomed in on one of the two) and texted them to me. I seem to be unable to attach them here so if you provide your e-mail address through your profile as I have, I can start sending things to you.

    e -mail address that you shared with me in you last post was deleted by the administrator so I have added my e-mail address to “Shared e-mail Address” in my Profile and then clicked on your page to “Follow”. We should be able to communicate directly once you have done the same.

    Just for some background, I was an Army paratrooper with the 101st Airborne Division from 1961 to 1962 as an enlisted man. My younger brother was an a helicopter pilot, Vietnam veteran and retired after serving 22 years as a Lieutenant Colonel. We are very interested in our father’s service so it is wonderful to us that you and I have connected.

    i Have a footlocker full of dad’s papers and memorabilia and I will find time to look through it this weekend. I’m sure I’ll find more about your grandfather and will share it with you. In the meantime, here is a photo of my dad.

    Y ouri I look forward to hearing back from you.

  • 0 in reply to Robert Torrence

    Hi Robert, good to hear from you!  I added my email to my profile so hopefully we can email each other.

    I’m excited that we made contact and that you found something on my grandfather!  Have you ever searched old newspapers for stuff on you Dad!  Newspapers.com has some Ohio newspapers digitized

    and I found a few mentions of your Dad, and I think I found your birth announcement!  I clipped them and you should be able to go to the website and see them!

    here is a picture of my grandfather Peter.

    take care,

    Christine

  • 0 in reply to Christine Damato

    Hi Christine and Robert,

    I've really enjoyed reading this thread!

    I I just recently learned that my Grandfather was also assigned to the 528th FA, Service Battery, in February 1944. He was enlisted March 1941 and served with various Coastal Artillery units prior to his assignment with the 528th.

    His records were lost in the 1975 OPM fire in Saint Louis, so it has been a lifelong journey for me to find out more about his service. 

    I was very excited to learn that he served at Camp Hood, where I served more than half a century later (much grown and changed, no doubt!). He passed before I was born, so I've only had the few family stories as passed down, up until recently.

    I used Golden Arrow Research and he sent me some rosters and unit history, that I'd like to share. The Battalion reports track with what you posted, Robert, and I would not be surprised if it turns out that his itinerary was the basis for those reports (NCO's being the backbone of the Army then as now).

    Robert, if you have anything about him I'd love to see/hear it. His name was Giovanni DiPietro, he was a Tec5 and apparently a cook.

    Here's a screenshot of the HHB/528th Duty roster 21FEB44:

    This is excerpted from orders assigning personnel to the 528th FA from 5th HQ & HQ Det. Sp Trs, XIII Corps, Camp Pickett, VA, to report 6MAR44:

    Cheers,

    Mike

  • 0 in reply to MikeRust

    Hi Mike, my grandfather Peter D'amato from New Haven CT also served with the 528th.  I too hired Golden Arrow research to locate the unit history of the unit!  I shared it with Robert.  Do you have any other unit histories, from Camp Pickett VA, or any others you can share? My grandfather was in the 240th Coast artillery unit in Fort Levett, Portland Maine, and than the 47th unit, Camp Pendleton, and than Camp Pickett.

    Thanks,

    Christine

  • 0 in reply to MikeRust

    Hi Mike,

    I've recently started digging into my grandfather's WWII history with the 528th and after reading your reply, I think I have a picture of your grandfather from the summer of 1944. My grandfather thankfully wrote everyone's name on the back, and he shows a "Buddy" DiPietro - Cook. I don't have the original photo right now but have a phone pic of it which I'll attach. I'm hoping others might have additional info on my grandfather, Robert W Perse. Thanks!

  • 0 in reply to nhelmick

    Hi, do you have information on your grandfather's military training information, like what camps he did his training before he was placed with the 528th?  My grandfather Peter DAmato was at Fort Levett Maine, Camp Pickett and Camp Pendleton Virginia before being sent to Camp Hood Texas.

    Thanks,

    Christine

  • 0 in reply to Christine Damato

    Hi Christine,

    Unfortunately we haven't gathered his military records yet, but we hope to go to the archives this year. All I have is a return address on a letter to his mom. It was from "Regl. Hq. Battery - 47 CA, Camp Pendleton, VA". So from the 47th Coast Artillery.

    He was from Toledo, Ohio, enlisted in November 1942 with his brother. I don't have all the photos with me, but I did look at all the pictures I have of them and didn't see your grandfather listed unfortunately. I don't think there are many more photos from the military but I'll certainly check them for his information the next time I see them.

    Our family is also traveling to Wales in July where we'll get to visit his first "home" outside of Llanybydder at Highmead. We'll also get to visit Aberystwyth on the sea, a place he wrote about several times and kept a few postcards. Apparently due to a lack of equipment (I think), they had a liberal pass policy when they landed in Wales, so he'd taken a few trips there which he discussed in his letters. In a letter to his mother written New Year's Eve 1944, he tells of a Christmas meal he was invited to eat at a Welsh family home in Aberystwyth with a fellow soldier. He even included their family name and address, so we're trying to track down the family - we've seen a few obituaries of course, but still trying to find surviving family.

    I'll be sure to update to this page when I have more of his military records. Thanks for writing!