I’m having some trouble unraveling a bit of family history, and I figured that this teeming, writhing nest of unbridled brilliance would be a magnificent place to turn.
My grandfather served in the Army during World War One. I’m trying to figure out just what theatre he served in, and just what kind of stuff he may have seen and done. I know for certain only that at one point he was stationed in France and that he was an infantryman. I have only these two clues as to what unit he was in:
Three soldier’s New Testaments, each of which has handwritten in the front cover “Co.A. 106th Field Signal Battalion,” his name, and “January 1918.”
A division patch from the 90th infantry, red on an olive drab background.
Now here’s my confusion. The 90th infanty’s insignia in WWI was red on a white background, not an olive drab one, and I’m not sure if the patches were made with those same colors. Also, the only signal battalion I can find any mention of having served with the 90th division in WWI is the “90th Signal Battalion,” not the “106th Field Signal Battaion.” Furthermore, the 90th was also called the Texas-Oklahoma division, and gramps was living in Georgia. My research also has turned up the fact that the 106th Infantry Division wasn’t created until WWII, so I’m 90 percent sure that the “106” refers to a battalion number.
Can anyone out there make heads or tails of this? My clues seem to point to two different directions, and I’m at a loss what path to continue down. My father recently passed away, so these questions (which I wish I had posed to him before he died!) can’t be answered by questioning family members, only by piecing together what clues remain. It’s a rather fun detective game in a way, truth be told – I just need a bit of a push in the right direction.
I can possibly help w/ the patch. It was probably modified from red/white to red/O.D. for practical purposes. Not smart to have white/shiny bits on a uniform in a combat area, military insignia are frequently modified, in time of war, for this reason.
The 2nd Squadron Cavalry of the Georgia National Guard was was mustered into the U.S. Army in 1917. It was then reorganized into the 31st Headquarters, 106th Train Headquarters and Military Police and the 106th Field Signal Battalion. The The 106th Field Signal Battalion was then demobilized on 10 May 1919 at Camp Jackson, SC.
As far as the 90th Infantry, there doesn’t seem to be a link organizationally to the 106th Artillery. Since the 106th bas based in GA, I’m thinking that may have been his original unit, and he later transferred to the 90th Inf.
There is a military form DD-214 for every person who served in the military, and it includes a list of every base he was posted, theatre he served in, decorations he was awarded, etc. This should give you all the information you are looking for, or at least a good starting place for further research.
They have records back to about 1900, earlier ones (even Civil War and Revolutionary war soldiers) are at the National Archives in Washington, DC. (But the form number, and the info on it were a bit different back then – it’s only after about 1950 that all services consistently used the DD-214 form. But all the forms still have similar info. Just ask for the DD-214, they will send you the equivalent for for that time.)
Your grandfather got a copy when he was discharged, but he can always get another one from the Military Records Office in St. Louis, MO. If he is dead, his next-of-kin or the executor of his estate would be able to request a copy. See DD Form 214, Discharge Papers and Separation Documents | National Archives for info. They are pretty busy, so it can take 6 weeks to 6 months to get this form.
(And don’t be suckered into paying money to someone who claims to get you faster service – that’s a scam. They will just fill out the request form for you, and hand-deliver it to the St. Louis office, thus saving you 1 or 2 days postal delivery time. They do NOT have any influence with the records office to make them jump your request to the head of the line.)
If Grand’pa owned his home and his state allowed a real estate tax break for veterans, he may have filed his DD 214 or his discharge record with the county recorder of deeds. If so it will be indexed and you can either go look at it at the court house or get a copy of the recorded form at a reasonable price.
t-bonham and Spavined, this DD-214 business sounds interesting, and it sounds like it has all of the information I’m looking for. He did indeed own his own home, as well as his own business (a nursery). I live about six hours away from our old hometown, and won’t be back there until the end of the month. I wonder if they would photocopy such a record at the county recorder and mail it up here in the meantime. It’s not a terribly long wait even if they won’t, though.
In the first world war, unit patches were still quite informal. Colors (or even the shape of the badge) designated the Brigade, Regiment, Divisional Troops or whatnot. The patches were simplified for WWII
Who_Me?, I think you might have nailed it. The information on that page all fits geographically and chronologically. I’m still definitely going to see about getting his DD-214 to confirm, but your information looks quite promising.
Zsofia, I’ll take you up on that offer. I’ll get together what information I can and PM it to you tonight.
The DD214 does not include the history of assignments. For the Army, that would be the DA2 or DA2-1 (I don’t recall which). For the Navy, it was the Page 5.