-
Re: Seeking to decipher the abbreviations of certain WWII U.S. Army units
Elliot Schneider Nov 28, 2020 9:54 AM (in response to Lowell Silverman)1 person found this helpfulLowell,
Hope you had a good Thanksgiving. Here are some that I have seen from my morning report research.
AFHQ= Allied Forces Headquarters however it was also used as Airfield Headquarters I guess depending on the type of Morning reports you may be looking at.
PBS= Production Base Support
APU= Aircraft Preparation Unit
MRS= Medical Reception Station also used as Maritime Reconnaissance School
USGCC= U.S. Group Control Council, Germany
EG= Eastern Group
Hope this Helps,
Elliot Schneider
-
Re: Seeking to decipher the abbreviations of certain WWII U.S. Army units
Lowell Silverman Nov 28, 2020 5:40 PM (in response to Elliot Schneider)AFHQ is not a mystery...Allied Force Headquarters at the Royal Palace of Caserta was a mile up the road from my grandfather's unit. PBS is also not a mystery, it stood for Peninsular Base Section. It was the umbrella organization for a large number of rear echelon units in central Italy, including my grandfather's unit.
However, you definitely may be on the right track with MRS, USGCC, and EG. Thanks.
-
-
Re: Seeking to decipher the abbreviations of certain WWII U.S. Army units
joan stachnik Nov 28, 2020 11:48 AM (in response to Lowell Silverman)1 person found this helpfulLowell, I found the following references for three of the abbreviations, but I don't know if these fit in context for the morning reports. Wondering if "ovhd" or overhead is more of an administrative unit? Hope this is of some help. If I find anything else I will post. Also may I ask, how are you cataloging the the MRs? I have copies for my dad's unit and wanted to do some sort of summary or similar to make them easier to follow. thanks, joan
ovhd as Overhead (eg, 6713th Blood Transfusion Unit (Overhead) found in one reference; which was abbreviated as (ovhd) in the document. (https://history.amedd.army.mil/booksdocs/wwii/blood/default.htm ).
"In the case of Major CLIFFORD W. LORD (O-885548), AC, 2618tb Hq & HQ. Sq. (AF Ovhd) Mediterranean Air Transport Service..."(.https://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/Military_Law/pdf/ETO-BOR_Vol-34.pdf)
"By this date the center was fully organized, although the 6744th Medical Center (Overhead) was not formally activated until 10 February 1944. Consisting of four officers and 20 enlisted men, the medical center headquarters group was responsible for functions common to all the hospitals in the area, such as allocation of space, maintenance of roads and utilities, sanitation, security, transportation, civilian labor, and recreation. Included among the service units operating under the medical center organization were a finance disbursing section, an Army post office, a Quartermaster shower and sterilization unit, a laundry, a fire-fighting platoon, a message center, and a telephone switchboard. The center headquarters also controlled the staging area for medical units. Although it resembled the typical hospital center in its purposes, the Naples grouping was less centralized. It had no commanding officer in the proper sense of the word. Colonel Jeffress, former surgeon of the Atlantic Base Section, was responsible for administering the overhead functions, but the medical service as such, including the assignment of patients, was directly under the base surgeon. (https://history.amedd.army.mil/booksdocs/wwii/medsvcsinmedtrnmnrthrtrs/chapter9.htm)
U.S. Group Control Council, Germany (USGCC) (from:https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/260.html )
And I found "MRS" in a recent document as "medically related services", but again, not sure of the relevance to WWII documents.
-
Re: Seeking to decipher the abbreviations of certain WWII U.S. Army units
Lowell Silverman Nov 28, 2020 5:44 PM (in response to joan stachnik)Thanks. I'm still a little confused about what overhead means in the context of a unit. Like the portion of the unit intended to support the unit itself, as opposed to carrying out the unit's mission?
-
Re: Seeking to decipher the abbreviations of certain WWII U.S. Army units
Lowell Silverman Nov 29, 2020 11:43 AM (in response to joan stachnik)Oops, I didn’t answer your MR question. Since the primary goal of my research is to build an illustrated roster with short biographies of all known members of my grandfather’s unit, I decided the best way was make a pair of word documents (one officers, one enlisted since for most of the war they were on separate MRs) with an entry for each person. Every pertinent detail was added to the individual’s entry. I think I ended up with about 650 people, totaling about 150 pages.
Perhaps more ambitiously, someone did an Excel spreadsheet with a line for each entry in the 29th Infantry Division MRs. However, that format wouldn’t have met my needs, since now I can copy and paste what I’ve written and then simply add pre and post time with the unit details for each person.
-
Re: Seeking to decipher the abbreviations of certain WWII U.S. Army units
joan stachnik Nov 29, 2020 2:43 PM (in response to Lowell Silverman)Thanks Lowell, that is quite a project. Something to think about doing.
Regarding the "overhead" designation, I can only guess that it was administrative or some type of support unit. Wondering if it could be similar to a service company but on a larger scale? Although, of all the documents I've looked through regarding my dad's service, as well as some of my uncles, I never came across the term. I've listed a few more references to overhead units I found, along with the source. Hope this is of some help. joan
In reference to replacement depots in 1944:
"Administrative duties were performed by overhead units within the depots." (https://prism.ucalgary.ca/bitstream/handle/11023/1243/ucalgary_2013_benneweis_douglas.pdf;jsessionid=AF04EF26541B3471D81… )
In reference to de-segregation of the US Armed Forces post WWII:
"An overhead unit is a post housekeeping detail which performs the duties connected with the administration of an Army base." (https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/freedom-to-serve )
-
-