WWII US Army Medical Corps WWII overseas

My Dad was a patriot. I am VERY proud of his service as surgery tech  in WWII. He was in France, Belgium, and England for sure. I would love to find information of any kind . Can someone give me direction? I wish I had listened better to his stories when I was growing up!

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    Thank you for posting your request on History Hub!

     

    The Textual Reference Archives II Branch (RR2RR) has custody of the Records of the Adjutant General's Office, 1917- (Record Group 407) and the Records of U.S. Army Operational, Tactical, and Support Organizations (World War II and Thereafter) (Record Group 338).  Military unit files among these records consist mostly of historical reports, after action reports, unit journals, and general orders. These records do not include personnel information, nor do we have a name index to these records.

     

    General orders, as referenced above, do include information about the official bestowal of medals on individual service personnel. However, these records are arranged by unit, thereunder by date and thereunder by general order number. We would need this information in order to search our records. If you have a copy of his discharge certificate, this information might be included therein.

     

    If you do not know the unit to which your father was assigned during his wartime service, your first task should be to request a copy of his official military personnel file. Military service personnel files and individual medical reports for the period in which you are interested are in the custody of the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis. You should complete a GSA Standard Form 180 and mail to the Military Personnel Records, National Personnel Records Center, 1 Archives Drive, St. Louis, MO  63138-1002. You may also apply online. Please be aware that there was a fire at the Records Center in 1973 and some records were destroyed.

     

    We invite you to continue the conversation with community members on History Hub, but should you have follow up questions for the staff at Archives II, please email us at archives2reference@nara.gov so that we can assist you further. 

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

     

    Sincerely,

     

    Textual Reference Archives II Branch (RR2RR)


    [23-65576-PBB]

     

  • This website gives outstanding descriptions of the Army Medical Department in the European Theater of Operations.

    https://www.med-dept.com/

    If you do some exploring, you'll see that the folks who put it together have some good general descriptions of how the system worked, what the different types of units did, and how they interacted.

    They've also done a good job of collecting (and digesting) various unit histories, if you would happen to know what unit your dad was in.

    Don't spend a lot of time reading about battalion level medical services. As a surgical technician, he would have been assigned to a divisional medical battalion, a hospital, or an auxiliary surgical group.

    Hope that helps.

  • Thank you so much for the information.  I do know he served with Company "M", 116 Infantry Regiment, 29th Division in France.  Entered February-1943 and separated March-1946.  I found that he received two purple hearts and the bronze star. I found this info from some papers my sister had.  So it's a start.

  • Thank you for the information.  I will check it out.  I do know he was with Company "M", 116 Infantry Regiment, 29th Division in France.  My sister found his separation papers.  We know he received two purple hearts and a bronze star.