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
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.
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
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
