Looking for grandfather's WWII records, not sure where to start:

All I knew when I started this journey was that he was in the Army in WWII. When my father passed away, I inherited a beat up German officer's sword (a panther, I believe), and a map detailing the 29th Division's movements from Omaha to Saint-Lô. There was also a pin with the distinctive blue/grey "Yin Yang" symbol. From these latter two, I assumed he was in the 29th. Anecdotally, a family story from years ago led me to believe that he was a combat engineer, but I have no evidence of that - other than a story that my uncle shared with me in the 80's.

Today, I joined the 29th Association and gained access to all of the Morning Reports, but his name isn't in their records.

I was able to find his service number with a National Archives search, so at this point I have:

  • Full name
  • Date of birth
  • Month/year of death
  • Service number

The only link I can find on usa.gov is for his DD-214 - is there any way to get his full record, or will the DD-214 tell me what unit he was attached to? Are there any online resources which will allow me to search for different units (regiments, battalions, companies, etc... I'm ex-Navy, so not sure how Army structure is laid out), and possibly get an idea of where he went and what he did?

Thanks!

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