Seeking explanation of WWII Troop Ship Passenger List Codes

Question

Seeking explanation of USS General C. C. Ballou (AP-157) WWII Troop Ship Passenger List Code. My father left Calcutta on this ship and arrived in New York City on 6 November 1945.&#160; He had served in various capacities in the CBI Theater.&#160; In the scan from the "Incoming Passenger Manifests and Alien Crew Lists," port of New York from 5 November 1945 to 6 November 1945, he is listed on the page titled, "U.S. Army Patients -- Class 4."&#160; I am trying to find out what that designation means, along with the codes by his name "1D/B" and "MD."&#160; My guess is that "MD" might refer to "Medical Detachment" as, at times, he did serve as a medic.&#160; Is there a resource that I can use to decipher these codes?

Donald Hall · Answer

If he's listed as a patient, he wasn't in the medical detachment--which, in any case, would be listed as "XXXth Hospital Ship Platoon" or "XXXth Hospital Ship Company." "MD" in World War II typically stands for "Medical Department--appropriate if he was a medic. You can confirm by seeing if others are listed as IN or INF, QM or QMC, etc.

Are you sure it doesn't say DNB? Perhaps sloppy handwriting? That would be "Disease/non-battle," meaning he was either ill, or had been injured in something other than combat--falling off a chair, vehicle accident, something like that.

Rachael Salyer · Answer

Dear Ms. Sondey, &#160; Thank you for posting your request on History Hub! &#160; If you have not done so already, we suggest that you request a copy of your father&#8217;s Official Military Personnel File (OMPF) , which may include more detailed medical information related to the codes on the troop ship passenger list. 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 and for officers of the U.S. Army who were separated from the service after June 1917 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 their next of kin also may use eVetRecs to request records. See eVetRecs Help for instructions. For more information see Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF), Archival Records Requests . &#160; Next, we searched the National Archives Catalog and located the series Logbooks of U.S. Navy Ships and Stations, 1941-1983 in the Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel (Record Group 24) that includes the deck logs of the USS General C.C. Ballou (AP-157) for November 1945 that may contain some relevant information. For more information about the non-digitized deck logs, please contact the National Archives at College Park - Textual Reference (RDT2) via email at archives2reference@nara.gov . &#160; We also located 13 series related to medical statistics and to health and hospitalization data during World War II in the Records of the Office of the Surgeon General (Army) (Record Group 112) that may include information about medical codes and designations. These records have not been digitized. Please contact RDT2 at archives2reference@nara.gov for access to these and similar records. &#160; 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.&#160; Please check NARA&#8217;s web page about COVID-19 updates for the latest information. &#160; Plus, the National Library of Medicine (NLM) Digital Collections includes a &ldquo;Weekly Health Report / Current Disease and Hospitalization Data for the Army in the Continental United States&#8221; from the Medical Department for 1944, and according to the Supplementary Health Report: Convalescent and Reconditioning Data (see page 37) within that Weekly Health Report, Class 4 refers to bedridden patients. In addition, the Army Medical Department publication Physical standards in World War II (see page 97) is available via the NLM Digital Collections. It outlines several codes that were used to facilitate assignment of individuals at reception centers and replacement training centers for potential return to service. It is possible that these or similar designations are the codes that you found on the troop ship passenger list, but we cannot be certain that they are the same codes. You may wish to review additional resources available online from the NLM, and we suggest that you contact them directly for additional information. &#160; Finally, we also suggest that you contact the U.S. Army Center of Military History and the US Army Medical Museum for further assistance. &#160; We hope this is helpful. Best of luck with your family research!

Donald Hall · Answer

The Army Medical Department Museum (actually you'd be contacting the Army Medical Department Center for History & Heritage, under which the museum falls) is the best bet of the suggestions they gave you to answer your specific question. They most likely have the Technical Bulletin or Circular Letter that explains what the codes are. You don't want to go wading through OTSG records on your own trying to figure it out. Their file organization system is not for teh faint of heart . . .

Seeking explanation of WWII Troop Ship Passenger List Codes

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