Connecting to World War II

 

While cleaning out an old drawer at the farmhouse my grandfather built, I ran across this picture of my grandfather (on left) apparently taken during his service in World War II. Many years ago, when I was doing military research into a number of other ancestors, mostly Civil War and World War I era, I had requested my grandfather's military records as well. However, I was disappointed when they responded that there were none to send to me as they had all been destroyed by a fire in 1973.

My grandfather never really talked about the war at all. I seem to remember him once saying he had driven a truck in Africa but that was the sum total of what I remember. So I decided I needed to do a little more digging and see what I could turn up. At that time, my torn rotator cuff muscle was keeping me from sleeping for long periods of time so I had plenty of time to kill in the wee hours of the morning while others were still sleeping.

The first clue I turned up was on Ancestry where there was a copy of what is called a "bonus file." It was a form that my grandfather had filled out for World War II Service Compensation. I don't know the details behind the compensation but it shows that he was paid $500 for his service. Mostly it contains personal details of his life to distinguish him from others but on one line, it asks for the military organization that he served on during World War II and on that line it was typed:

HQ BTRY 5TH AAA AW GP

What it meant was unknown to me for the most part. On another part of the form, it was checked that he had served in the army over one of the other military branches and I surmised that HQ BTRY stood for Headquarters Battery, a term I had heard before but didn't really understand. I needed to research the rest. It took awhile but I finally figured out that all the acronyms stood for:

Headquarters Battery 5th Army Antiaircraft Automatic Weapons Group

Further research says that the headquarters battery is a group of people who are either performing maintenance or food service/supply duties for the rest of the people in the AAA AW group. I don't know which of those duties my grandfather performed but from some sites, it suggests that he was most likely cross trained in both along with any duties associated with operation of the antiaircraft artillery weapons as well. 

With that known, I set my sights on trying to figure out where he had served between March 1942 when he enlisted and September of 1945 when he was discharged 3-1/2 years later. That took a fair amount of work until I figured out that the 5th in those letters above referred to 5th Army and not 5th Infantry, 5th Battalion, 5th Artillery, etc. The 5th Army was formed in Africa and was comprised of veterans of Operation Torch which was the initial operation to retake northern African from the Axis along with new recruits such as my grandfather. They were prepared and made the first landfall on continental Europe of the war in Italy.

That last sentence through me for a loop because I always thought that D-Day on 6 June 1944 and the beaches of Normandy were the first steps onto continental Europe. As it turns out, Operation Avalanche, which happened nine months earlier on 9 September 1943 were the first steps into Europe and my grandfather's Antiaircraft Artillery Group were in the initial wave. 

With my interest piqued, I was on the hunt like Paul Harvey seeking out the Rest of the Story. I found a book on Amazon about that chapter of World War II that seems to be quite well reviewed though is not on the 5th Army specifically. I also found an old pamphlet on Ebay though that specifically covers the 5th Army Antiaircraft Artillery unit specifically during this particular part of the war. Both are now on order and I can't wait to read through them and learn more about this time in my grandfather's life that has always been a mystery to me. 

After writing this post and going through more things from the farmhouse, I came across and old cigar box full of keepsakes that included these patches and war medal that belonged to my grandfather. Starting at the top and going clockwise around the medal is the 3rd Infantry Division patch, the 5th Army patch, Sergeant stripes, Antiaircraft Artillery patch, Advance Section of the Communication Zone (ADSEC) patch and 7th Army Division patch. In the center is his medal for good conduct.