Seeking information about my father's WWII service.

His name was John Wasulko, Serial Number 33033537. I know that he was discharged from the 63rd infantry division 353rd regiment I company, but he was transferred into that unit after the war was over. He also served in the 1175th combat engineers, but I cannot find any info on that unit. From the locations he has mentioned over the years, it appears that he was in VI corp, but I cannot get any closer than that as his record were destroyed in the St. Louis fire. He passed away in 1990. Does anyone have any help or advice to help us retrace his service?

  • Hello,

    I came across this forum post that may help.

    Source: www.6thcorpscombatengineers.com/.../showthread.php

    As he enlisted during March 1941, it is quite possible that was originally in a Coastal Artillery (CA) unit, e.g. 508th CA Regiment (AA) (Mobile), which transitioned to an AAA unit, e.g. 106th AAA Group, which later, as per above, transitioned its AAA gun battalions to engineer combat  battalions (ECBs).

    If you can share the locations that he mentioned (both in the USA and ETO), maybe that will assist in determining which unit(s) he may have served with.

    Dan

  • Thank you Dan,

    We believe that he was in North Africa, Corsica, Italy, Southern France, and Germany. We believe that he was with a group that liberated a satellite camp of Dachau but we are not sure which one. 

    Thanks for the help

    Jim

  • You are welcome.

    i revisited the site I linked above, and though I’m not sure how active it is, it may me worth visiting and posting there (if active). Link to main page below.

    After searching that site for the 1175th and 370th, I’ve found that others have conducted similar research as yours in the past. See links below. I would suggest using the search feature there to see what others may have found. 

    Main page:: www.6thcorpscombatengineers.com/.../index.php

    Similar research conducted on that site:

    http://www.6thcorpscombatengineers.com/forumnew/showthread.php?tid=2401&highlight=370th

    http://www.6thcorpscombatengineers.com/forumnew/showthread.php?tid=4638&highlight=370th

    http://www.6thcorpscombatengineers.com/forumnew/showthread.php?tid=3903&highlight=370th

    http://www.6thcorpscombatengineers.com/RichardFietz.htm

    Dan

  •  

    Thank you for posting your request on History Hub!

    Your inquiry mentioned that you had already contacted the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis, MO, and that you were informed that any records that may have been present at the NPRC at the time of the fire were presumably destroyed at that time. Unfortunately, there are no copies of personnel files that were destroyed in the NPRC fire.

    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 to search our records. If you have a copy of his discharge certificate, this information might be included therein.

    It is typically the case that infantry unit records in our custody do not include company- and battalion-level records. To be sure, individual companies and battalions can be (and frequently are) mentioned in regiment-level records.

    We have searched our available finding aids for the relevant series in the abovementioned record groups for records of the 353rd Infantry Regiment (part of the Eighty-Ninth U.S. Infantry Division) and located the following: 

    Record Group 407

    Entry (NM3) 427

    Boxes 11024-11025 (2 boxes)

    These records include a Unit History (1942-1945), After Action Reports (March 1945-May 1945), Unit Journals (January 1945-June 1945), Photographs (1942) and Press Clippings (August 1943).

    We have searched our available finding aids for the relevant series in the abovementioned record groups for records of the 1175th Engineer Group and located the following:

    Record Group 407

    Entry (NM3) 427

    Boxes 15724-15725 (2 boxes)

    These records include a Unit History (January 1945-pril 1945), Operations Reports (April 1945-May 1945), General Orders (1945) and S-2 (intelligence), S-3 (operations) and S-4 (supply and logistics) Journals (February 1945-April 1945).

    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)
    [25-01930-PBB]