Posted on 11/11/2019 10:01:40 AM PST by Retain Mike
Try the National WW II Museum. They send me emails every so often.
Excellent post—every word!
United States Army in World War II
United States Army in World War II is the official history of the ground forces of the United States Army during World War II. The 78-volume work was originally published beginning in 1946.
The work describes and to a degree evaluates the ground operations of the Army in 21 volumes. Additional volumes address grand strategy; recruitment, organization, and training; the service forces; the technical services; and special studies; again almost exclusively those of the ground forces. Three additional volumes provide a pictorial account. (Air operations, logistics, and training are presented in a separate seven-volume series, The Army Air Forces in World War II.)
Different authors or teams wrote most of the accounts, though some authors wrote more than one. Most of the authors were serving or retired officers though enlisted personnel and professional historians also contributed.
The volumes devoted to operations are grouped by theater and campaign. (See the list of titles below.) Battles are described at a unit level appropriate to the size of the engagement. In some cases authors detail the actions of units as small as an infantry company, though most battles are presented at the battalion or regimental level. Many accounts of individual heroism are included, especially actions which resulted in the award of the Medal of Honor.
Each volume includes some photographs. Operations volumes include small maps within the text and larger fold-out maps attached inside the back cover. All operations volumes include bibliographical notes, a glossary, a list of code names, and a list of military map symbols. Some include additional features such as a table of equivalent U.S. and German, Italian, or Japanese ranks.
More than two-thirds of the volumes of the history are devoted to subjects other than actual operations. (See the list of titles below.) These provide information which is not appropriate for a purely operational history but is important for an understanding of the Army’s activities as a whole during the war.
Publication history The works were first published by the Historical Division, Department of the Army, later called the Office of the Chief of Military History and later still the Center of Military History.
They are in a large format, 7¼” x 10”, with green cloth covers and no dust jackets. The cover has only the eagle insignia of the Army; the title, author, and other data are on the spine.
Many volumes have been reprinted by the Center of Military History in the same format beginning in the 1980s, and all are available as PDF downloads.
The operations-oriented volumes and some others were reprinted by The National Historical Society during the 1990s in a 50th Anniversary Commemorative Edition series. They are 7” x 9” with a hard cover (without a dust jacket) whose face is a black-and-white photograph with the title superimposed. They omitted the original editions’ fold-out maps but instead printed them in two separate atlases.
Two volumes, "Cross Channel Attack" and "The Ardennes: Battle of the Bulge", were reprinted in the 1990s by Konecky & Konecky in a large 8½” by 11” format. They, too, omitted the fold-out maps. Other publishing houses have also reprinted selected volumes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army_in_World_War_II
There are people who tend the histories of all those divisions. If I knew which division & regiment, I could probably easily find the information for you.
Now that is amazing.
This is great. Keep it up.
My son joined the Marines and served as an infantryman. He had the privilege of being welcomed to the Corps by a family friend who landed the by LVT the first day on Tarawa. By the way, my son made it home and is now an investigator with the Federal Protective Service.
He was with the 517th Parachute Infantry.
Okay, thanks. I’ll do that.
517th Parachute Regimental Combat Team
> 517th Parachute Infantry Regiment
> 460th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion
> 596th Parachute Combat Engineer Company
https://www.517prct.org/
The 517th Parachute Infantry Regiment (517th PIR) was an airborne infantry regiment of the United States Army, formed during World War II. At times the regiment was attached to the 17th Airborne Division, 82nd Airborne Division and later, the 13th Airborne Division.During most of their combat, the unit was an independent combined force of 17th Airborne troops called the 517th Parachute Regimental Combat Team or 517th PRCT /517th PCT /517th RCT.
The unit was formed in early 1943 and trained at Camp Toccoa, Georgia. The 517th saw heavy fighting in the Italian Campaign in June 1944, before being transferred to take part in Operation Dragoon in August 1944, in Southern France, which happened to be their first combat jump. Following the liberation of France, the 517th was attached to the 82nd Airborne Division and fought with it in Belgium, during the Battle of the Bulge. Following the end of the war, the 517th was assigned to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where the unit was inactivated on 25 February 1946.
Operation Dragoon
The 517th was one of three parachute infantry regiments assigned to the First Airborne Task Force, which was charged with the assault on Southern France. The assault was set for 0800 on 15 August 1944, however, the 517th dropped early at 0328 on the 15th. This marked the unit's first combat jump. After three days of heavy fighting around the towns of Le Muy, Les Arcs, La Motte and Draguignan, German resistance ceased. For their participation in Operation Dragoon and the subsequent liberation of France, the 517th PIR was awarded the French Croix de Guerre by the Provisional Government of the French Republic.
Battle of the Bulge
The 517th was attached to the XVIII Airborne Corps following the liberation of France, along with the 82nd, 101st, and 13th Airborne Divisions. Elements of the 517th participated in counter-attacks near the Belgian towns of Soy, Sur-Les-Hys, Hotton, and Manhay, pushing the German offensive past its starting point. The 517th suffered heavy casualties in the ferocious fighting during the battle, during which 1st Battalion, 517th received the Presidential Unit Citation for its successful assault on Soy and Hotton.
Last days of World War II
The 517th Parachute Regimental Combat Team accumulated over 150 combat days during five campaigns on battlefields in Italy, France, Belgium and Germany.
The battalion casualty rate was 81.9 percent. The team suffered 1,576 casualties and had 247 men killed in action.
PFC Melvin E. Biddle B/1/517th PIR was awarded the Medal of Honor for heroic actions during the Soy-Hotton engagement.
On 15 February 1945, elements of the RCT were assigned to the 13th Airborne Division. The 13th was inactivated in February 1946.
In addition to the one Medal of Honor, troopers of the 517th PRCT earned 6 Distinguished Service Crosses, 131 Silver Stars, 631 Bronze Stars, 1,576 Purple Hearts, 5 Legion of Merits, 4 Soldier's Medals, 2 Air Medals and 17 French Croix de Guerres.
Notable soldiers
From the website link I posted [an inner page]:
Note: This web site is not directly supported by the 517 Parachute Regimental Combat Team Association. It is only our unofficial tribute. If you have business with, or want to contact the 517 PRCT Association, please contact:
517 PRCT Association c/o K. Allan Johnson 215 Mission Rd. Hacketstown NJ 07840
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We'll have to remember that these guys are in their nineties, if they're still alive. I'll check on Kaare Allan Johnson to see if he's a 517th PIR vet, or a descendant.
Note: This page is not supported or maintained by the 517 Parachute Regimental Combat Team Association. It is only our unofficial tribute. While the officers of the 517PRCT Association are aware of this site and, hopefully, appreciate the tribute to the group, please bear in mind that they are not responsible for its contents. Also, if you have any official business requests, you must contact them directly, not through this site. See: 517PRCT Association info.
We don't expect this information to replace the group's normal communications, such as The Thunderbolt, but just wanted to have a place to put some information and items of interest, where everyone with a web connection could find them. This site is for 517th veterans, friends, and relatives, including our good friends throughout Europe. We hope this site can provide some regularly updated information, pictures, and stories to share with you.
Some of the information on this site includes links to other sites. If it is already out there, we only included a direct link to those sites. In other cases, we have included photos and stories sent directly to us.
If you have any corrections, or have found anything we've missed, please let us know. Mostly, we would just like to see your stories and pictures. The easiest method is to use the Guestbook to submit your own comments and stories. If you have any photos, news clippings, letters, or anything that could be posted to the photos or reunion pages, see if you can find someone who can scan them in for you, and e-mail them to us at webmaster@517prct.org. If you cannot scan them, contact us and we'll find a way.
Good gosh, thanks for the info. I see that I should have the bio scanned. I’ve also contacted the WWII museum and am awaiting their reply as well.
Thanks for the lead. The Museum responded and I’ll soon send them the manuscript.
Wow. I am so happy that worked out.
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