3 Replies Latest reply on Jan 29, 2021 1:36 PM by Elliot Schneider

    Seeking actual date of great uncle's death

    Amy Fuller Newbie
    Amy Fuller Jan 28, 2021 9:38 PM

      My Great-Uncle died during the Normandy invasion in June 1944.  My grandfather was a kid when he lost his brother and would just always say that he "died storming the beaches of Normandy".  It wasn't until I was married and and brought my husband to our family plot while visiting relatives.  He pointed out that the headstone has his date of death listed as June 14, 1944.  My husband, an avid history buff, said he felt like either the folklore handed down by the family, or the information recorded by the Army, weren't accurate.  I'm curious, if this was something that is considered "normal" in the time of battle?  Could he have died on June 6th and his body only discovered and tagged on June 14th?  Or some other scenario.... I have the course of his Infantry Regiment from training in the US to England and then to France.  I have his service record number and have found his draft card, hospital admission card file, his name on a roster of WWII dead, and so on. I would like to find out more about the circumstances under which he died.  Is that possible?  Was he wounded on D-Day, and then died on the 14th.  Or did he make it through the initial invasion to die somewhere else in France?  Is this information that his service record will show?   I finally had some time to sit down and complete the forms requesting his service record from the NPRC in St. Louis.  Well, that was in April 2020 and still nothing.  I appreciate any feedback to help me uncover some additional information until my records request can be processed.

        • Re: Seeking actual date of great uncle's death
          Elliot Schneider Pioneer
          Elliot Schneider Jan 29, 2021 7:00 AM (in response to Amy Fuller)

          Amy,

           

          Sound like you are off to a great start in tacking down information pertaining to you relative. D-Day was a bloody battle so D-day the way it was planned had several D-Day the actual day and then like several other series of events which the military called it like this D+1, D+2, D+3, and so forth so why yes he could have been apart of the initial assault it is also possible that he was apart of group that landed after the actual D-Day event on the 6th.

           

          I noticed that you submitted a request for records as you stated on April 2020, just to let you know that NPRC had advised not to send requests due to their operations during the pandemic. Currently the continue to only service "Emergency Requests" pertaining to burials, homeless, and medical. All other requests were put on hold even at the time you requested NPRC was operating in this mode.

           

           

          Do you have unit information that you could share?

           

           

           

           

          Lastly, you can try to request the following:

           

          Burial case files (later called the Individual Deceased Personnel File or IDPF) from 1915-WWII are in the custody of the National Archives at St. Louis (RL-SL), P.O. Box 38757, St. Louis, MO 63138-1002. For access to these records, please contact RL-SL via email at stl.archives@nara.gov.

           

          For WWII-1976, the National Archives at St. Louis (RL-SL) currently holds the Army Individual Deceased Personnel Files for men with surnames A-L. They have not yet received the records of veterans with surnames M-Z. In order to request those records please write to U.S. Army Human Resources Command, Casualty & Memorial Affairs Operations Division, ATTN: AHRC-PDC, 1600 Spearhead Division Avenue, Department 450, Fort Knox, KY 40122-5405.

           

           

          Please know that most staff is not working and are limited based on the pandemic and operations of the NPRC had been changed to comply with recommendations for health safety. So you may want to wait until normal operations start again.

           

           

          Hope this helps,

           

          Elliot Schneider

            • Re: Seeking actual date of great uncle's death
              Amy Fuller Newbie
              Amy Fuller Jan 29, 2021 11:34 AM (in response to Elliot Schneider)

              Hi,

               

              I completely understand that my request will not be fulfilled for some time.

               

              Yes, I have a lot of into.  On his military grave stone request it reads PVT 22 INF 4 DIV.  I found this:

              The regiment assaulted Utah Beach on 6 June 1944, as part of VII Corps in the D-Day Invasion, and arrived in the vicinity of Ravenoville, Normandy, by the end of D-day. It then participated in the Cherbourg Peninsula operation while attached to 2d Armored Division from 19 July through 2 August 1944.

               

              Hi name is Ruben (Reuben) Coy Reynolds and his service number is 34039051.  His enlistment date was March 15, 1941.  He was born on April 9, 1912.

               

              I have a printout through Ancestry that is a list of WW11 Dead... and there are numbers on his line item, but I don't know what they mean. 

               

              I would appreciate any feedback that you can offer.

               

              Thank you,

              Amy

                • Re: Seeking actual date of great uncle's death
                  Elliot Schneider Pioneer
                  Elliot Schneider Jan 29, 2021 1:36 PM (in response to Amy Fuller)

                  Amy,

                   

                  I was able track down some additional information. I would request those IDPFs that I mentioned earlier in my previous post when things open back up.

                   

                  Just for reference Infantry Regiments typically have three battalion that make up 1st BN, 2nd BN, and 3rd BN each of those battalions have companies. So it would look something like this 1st BN, Co A,B,C, and D is (weapons)  2nd BN, Co E, F, G and H (weapons) 3rd BN, Co I, K, L, and M (Weapons).

                   

                  Additionally your Great-Uncle was attached to Company G of the 22nd Infantry Regiment which makes him in the 2nd BN, Co. G, 22nd INF.

                   

                  Here is some other information pertains to how the unit was divided and what areas they covered please see link below. http://1-22infantry.org/history/dday.htm

                   

                   

                  Typically, from a Medical ww2 standpoint typically a solider who received GSW, or any other life threating injuries that did not die almost immediately were typically evacuated to the rear and put on a hospital ship. Then when they were received and evaluated for injuries any type of life saving surgeries usually usually did not happen for between 24-48 hours due to the amount of combat wounds in those days.

                   

                  There is a possibility that he was sent to a hospital ship and passed several days later from his wounds that he received possibly on the 14th. Do you know if the family ever received any type of War Department Telegram which could have additional information.

                   

                   

                  Hope this helps,

                   

                  Elliot Schneider