Pic of my grandfather with his bring back Luger.

[BrianSFL]

Nice work! And that's a photo of a photo taken with my crappy cellphone camera. I'll post a high res picture as soon as possible with a real scanner or camera.

[BrianSFL]

Here's some more information I found out from his Enlisted Record and Report of Separation that was found by family members.

Grade: T-5

(Which I found info about here: )

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technician_Fifth_Grade

Arm or Service: QMC (Quartermaster?)

Component: AUS (U.S. Army)

Organization: HQ CO 52nd QM BASE DEPOT

Date of Separation: Dec 13th 1945

Place of Separation: Fort George G Meade Maryland

Date of Induction: 27th Oct 1941

Date of Enlistment: 27th Oct 1941

Military Specialty: Automotive Mechanic 014

Military Qualification: Sharpshooter 03 Rifle (I assume this is referring to M1903 Springfields?)

Battles and Campaigns: GO33WD45 NORTHERN FRANCE RHINELAND

Decorations and Citations: WW2 Victory Ribbon, Good Conduct Medal, American Defense Service Medal, American Theater Service Ribbon, European African Middle Eastern Theater Service Ribbon

Service Outside Continental U.S. and Return:

Departure - Destination - Date of Arrival

3 May 44 - Scotland - 14 May 44
28 Nov 45 - United States - 8 Dec 45

Continental Service: 2 years, 6 months, 11 days
Foreign Service: 1 year, 7 months, 6 days

Reason for Separation:

Convenience of the Government RR 1 1 (DEMOBILZATION AR 615 365 14 DEC 44

Remarks: Lapel Button Issued / No Days Lost Under AW 107 / ASR SCORE 73

The rest is just vaccinations, pay, etc.

[BrianSFL]

Received a letter from the archives today, unfortunately his OMPF (official military personnel file) was destroyed in the big archive fire of 1973. That bites. I'm sure that would have had a lot of interesting information. The only thing they say they have is the "Final Pay Voucher," so at least that's something, but it's not much more than what I already have. I think the most interesting tidbit it'll have is the last unit he was with.

[apis mellifera]

Originally Posted by BrianSFL

Received a letter from the archives today, unfortunately his OMPF (official military personnel file) was destroyed in the big archive fire of 1973. That bites. I'm sure that would have had a lot of interesting information. The only thing they say they have is the "Final Pay Voucher," so at least that's something, but it's not much more than what I already have. I think the most interesting tidbit it'll have is the last unit he was with.

If I can help, LMK. I just went down this same path with both of my grandfathers. Like yours, both of mine had no records on file. I was, however, able to get copies of their DD214. The Feds will offer you a copy of the final pay document or similar for $20. It will be a single page with information you already have. It may not be readable.

That said, your best bet to get a second-generation copy of their DD214 (and possibly other documents) is to first call the local Vet. Services office. They will likely have something on file; possibly a DD214 or a similar document. The real treasure is at the courthouse in the county the vet live in when discharged. They should have an original DD214 and the Honorable Discharge certificate. From what I could gather, vets where given these docs and required to put them on file at their local courthouse so they are first-gen copies, not copies of copies from the Feds. Usually the files the courthouse has are inverted (white on black rather than black on white). I guess that's how they were copies back then.

My grandfathers lived in the same state, but different counties. One courthouse mailed copies to me with nothing but my word that I was who I said I was. The other required the net of kin to appear in person.

With these documents, I was able to request replacement medals. So far, I have received them for one grandfather.

All this was free, save for the $20 the Feds charged each time for a single Xerox'ed page that was not readable.

That said, if you get stuck with an unreadable DD214 or are missing the Discharge certificate, I made templates in Photoshop and can replicate the type font they used as well as replicating the discharge officer's signature. Same goes for anyone else that wants a pristine DD214/DC for framing or display or just to have. No charge, of course.

[CoyoteM4]

That's AMAZING documentation you have on your Grandfather! My Grandma's brother Jimmy never made it back with his, that's part of the reason I'm looking for one now.

Thank you for sharing this piece of your family's history.

[BrianSFL]

Originally Posted by apis mellifera

If I can help, LMK. I just went down this same path with both of my grandfathers. Like yours, both of mine had no records on file. I was, however, able to get copies of their DD214. The Feds will offer you a copy of the final pay document or similar for $20. It will be a single page with information you already have. It may not be readable.

That said, your best bet to get a second-generation copy of their DD214 (and possibly other documents) is to first call the local Vet. Services office. They will likely have something on file; possibly a DD214 or a similar document. The real treasure is at the courthouse in the county the vet live in when discharged. They should have an original DD214 and the Honorable Discharge certificate. From what I could gather, vets where given these docs and required to put them on file at their local courthouse so they are first-gen copies, not copies of copies from the Feds. Usually the files the courthouse has are inverted (white on black rather than black on white). I guess that's how they were copies back then.

My grandfathers lived in the same state, but different counties. One courthouse mailed copies to me with nothing but my word that I was who I said I was. The other required the net of kin to appear in person.

With these documents, I was able to request replacement medals. So far, I have received them for one grandfather.

All this was free, save for the $20 the Feds charged each time for a single Xerox'ed page that was not readable.

That said, if you get stuck with an unreadable DD214 or are missing the Discharge certificate, I made templates in Photoshop and can replicate the type font they used as well as replicating the discharge officer's signature. Same goes for anyone else that wants a pristine DD214/DC for framing or display or just to have. No charge, of course.

Thanks for the information. I see you're in West Virginia. I'm fairly certain my grandfather's county would have been Kanawha.

[apis mellifera]

I live in Kanawha County. The local VA was very helpful and with a phone call, they emailed some documents directly to me.

[BrianSFL]

Interesting, I might look into that, although I'm not sure it (a DD-214) would give me any more information than I already have. My dad's family is from the Clendenin area.