Seeking father's OSS & military records

Question

My Dad was an OSS Intelligence Officer, (9302) which morphed into counterintelligence after the war ended. I have very little information regarding his assignments or duties for obvious reasons. He did keep a diary and made limited notations and entries. He joined the 15th Army Group HQ on December 27 sharing an apartment in Siena, Italy. From his diaries, he was in Siena and on January 30 1945, a roommate, Bob Amerine moved in, then in early February moved to Florence. He makes a note that on February 2, there was a party for Colonel Smith. On February 12, General Marshall visited, there was a parade of sorts.... On March 3, 1945, he mentions interrogating a PW but no other information. He had dinner on a few occasions at Grecco's which I could not locate... thinking it was a now defunct restaurant.

Here is an excerpt from an extended interview conducted with my Dad in 1990:

FJL Interview::: We were stationed in Florence then we moved the HQ at end of war to Salzburg then into Vienna as occupation forces in Austria - at the minute war ended, Intelligence ceased to exist, became Counterintelligence. My responsibility along with another agent at OSS John Hine, the two of us were responsible for the denazification of Austria… HQ at US occupation forces of Austria… set out to give commands to the OSS troops around Austria that were established had to designate based on Potsdam agreement, who should be arrested, this was done on an organizational chart, very complicated, if we had computers in those days it would be simple, I devised card OSS units when arrested someone, would interrogate, found out who was predecessor was, particular job, who followed, who was the boss, and who was under him so to get complete Nazi organization from time of Anschluss in 1938 to present time. In Vienna, same set up as Berlin, four power English, French American Russian… made life difficult… Russians were terrible stole trains as they came into town…. Russians surrounded territory … left came back Feb 46

He received his promotion to 1st Lt at a ceremony from General Mark Clark on 1945-04-20. Where can I find additional information on locations and duties? Thanks so much.

Rachael Salyer · Answer

Dear Mr. Lowell, &#160; Thank you for posting your request on History Hub! &#160; We searched the National Archives Catalog and located the series Personnel Files of the Office of Strategic Services, 1942-ca. 1962 in the Records of the Office of Strategic Services (Record Group 226). We used the &ldquo;Search within this Series&#8221; feature to search for anyone with the family name Lowell, but we were unable to locate any records for this name. We also searched the name index finding aid to the series, but again, we were unable to locate a file for anyone with the last name Lowell. We also searched the broader Personal Name Index to the OSS records, and we located two entries for the family name Lowell there, including &ldquo;Lowell, Col&#8221; and &ldquo;Lowell, Paul R.&#8221; These files are located in boxes 132 and 392 of the series Central Files, 1941-1946 in Record Group 226, respectively. The records have not been digitized. For access to and information about the files, please contact the National Archives at College Park - Textual Reference (RDT2) at archives2reference@nara.gov . &#160; Next, we located the series The Fifteenth Army Group History, 12/16/1944-5/2/1945 in the Records of Headquarters, European Theater of Operations, United States Army (World War II) (Record Group 498) that may be of interest to you. Further, we located 5 file units of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force in the Records of Allied Operational and Occupation Headquarters, World War II (Record Group 331) that pertain to the 15th Army Group. The series World War II Operations Reports, 1940 - 1948 in the Records of the Adjutant General&#8217;s Office, 1917-1985 (Record Group 407) may contain some information about the activities of the 15th Army Group. These records have not been digitized. Please contact RDT2 for more information about them.&#160; &#160; In addition, we located the file 58 file units related to the 15th Army Group in the series Moving Images Relating to Military Activities, 1947 - 1964 in the Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Officer (Record Group 111). Some of these records have been digitized and may be viewed online via the National Archives Catalog. Please contact the National Archives at College Park - Motion Pictures (RDSM) at mopix@nara.gov with any questions you might have about these records. &#160; Plus, the series Photographs of Fifth Army, II Corps Activities in Northern Italy, 1944-1945 also includes some photographs related to the 15th Army Group. These records have not been digitized. Please contact the National Archives at College Park - Still Pictures (RDSS) at stillpix@nara.gov for additional assistance with these records. &#160; Finally, if you have not done so already, we suggest that you request a copy of your father&#8217;s Official Military Personnel File (OMPF). OMPFs and individual medical reports for enlisted men of the U.S. Army who were separated from the service after October 1912 and prior to 1958 and for officers of the U.S. Army who were separated from the service after June 1917 and prior to 1958 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&#160; 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; Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and pursuant to guidance received from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), NARA has adjusted its normal operations to balance the need of completing its mission-critical work while also adhering to the recommended social distancing for the safety of NARA staff. As a result of this re-prioritization of activities, you may experience a delay in receiving an initial acknowledgement as well as a substantive response to your reference request from RDT2, RDSM, and RDSS. Also, the NPRC closed again as of November 7, 2020 until further notice. NPRC will respond only to requests involving burials, medical emergencies, and homeless veterans.&#160; If your request is urgent, please see Emergency Requests and Deadlines or emergency requests may be faxed to (314) 801-0764.&#160; Please check archives.gov/veterans for updates to the NPRC operating hours and status. We apologize for any inconvenience. &#160; We hope this is helpful. Best of luck with your family research! &#160;

Elliot Schneider · Answer

Jim,

Please copy and paste this into your web browser may give you more clues as too what he actually did during the war and what CIC main function was. Also I'm fairly certain and sure according to most of the things listed in the journal that the Army CIC individuals and the OSS Agents probably shared information across the board.

https://fas.org/irp/agency/army/cic-wwii.pdf

Please see a list of 9300 series MOS during WW2

9300 Military intelligence officer

9301 "Intelligence staff officer, combat (G-2, A-2, S-2)"

9302 Counterintelligence officer

9303 Foreign liaison intelligence officer

9305 Psychological warfare officer

9306 Foreign languages propaganda officer

9307 Intelligence officer

9310 Inspector general

9311 Intelligence and security officer

9312 Reconnaissance officer

9314 "Chemical intelligence officer, field"

9316 Prisoner of war interrogation officer

9318 Order of battle specialist

9320 Investigations officer

9322 Criminal investigations officer

9323 Records searching officer

9330 Translations officer

9332 Interpreter

9335 Censorship officer

9340 Enemy equipment identification officer

15th Army Group was activated in 1943 in Algiers, North Africa, to plan the invasion of Sicily codenamed Operation Husky. Its main forces for this job were the British Eighth Army and the U.S. Seventh Army. Following the capture of Sicily the group became responsible for the invasion of mainland Italy for which the U.S. Seventh Army was replaced by U.S. Fifth Army. In January 1944 the army group was re-designated successively Allied forces in Italy and then Allied Central Mediterranean Force. In March 1944 it was renamed Allied Armies in Italy. Throughout this period the army group was under command of British General Harold Alexander. By late 1944 the army group had pushed northward through Italy, capturing Rome, and driving the retreating Axis forces into Northern Italy. In December, American Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark became the new commander and the army group was renamed 15th Army Group once again. The Axis forces in Italy were finally defeated in the army group's Spring 1945 offensive in Italy, their surrender taking place in May.