Hi Rich,
Thanks for your quick and detailed response! Going to the St. Louis
records center is not out of the question. I'll have to check into that.
I'm only a few hours away.
You were right about my looking for information about a relative -
Master Sergeant Arnold Boyd, my father. He was career army but almost
never talked about the war in Europe, preferring to tell stories about
his five years in the Panama Canal Zone prior to WW II or his time in
Hawaii waiting to invade Japan. In fact, no one in my family realized
that he was directly involved in D-Day and the Normandy and Northern
France Campaigns as far as I've been able to find out. He passed away in
1965. I was able to get copies of all his enlistment/discharge records a
few months ago from the archives (the duplicates you mentioned), and was
totally surprised to see ribbons listed for those campaigns.
That led me to research the 294th Joint Assault Signal Company and
related groups. They took a pretty good beating at Omaha Beach, but
still managed to establish radio communications, call in support fire,
intercept German voice communications for intelligence purposes, and
subsequently jam almost all German radio communications. Until that
time, I hadn't realized that the Signal Corps filled so many of the
roles that were assumed a very few years later by the Army Security
Agency, my own branch.
The other thing that was so interesting was the fact the Army, Navy and
Air Corps could function so well as a single unit. All those months of
training together must have paid off. It doesn't always work that way,
but maybe that's an example of why they were called The Greatest
Generation.
I've always been a bit of WW II history buff but hadn't thought about
looking a Usenet group until this came up. Think I'll stick around for
awhile!
Walt
Post by RichPost by Walt BoydIs there someplace online that contains lists of unit or troop rosters?
In particular, I'm looking for a unit roster and duty assignments for
the 294th Joint Assault Signal Company on D-Day.
Thanks! -Walt
Walt, the only source for such data are the Company Morning Reports,
filed at the US National Personnel Records Center, National Archives
and Records Administration, St. Louis, MO. You should be able to
access their website by googling those keywords. Unfortunately, they
have limited facilities there and cannot do a records search for you,
which leaves you with either making an appointment (which I believe is
still required) and going there yourself or hiring a professional
researcher to do so, which can be expensive.
Were you looking for a personal relative in the unit? If so and if
they are deceased and you are a recognized next of kin you couod
access their personnel record through a request to NPRC.
Unfortunately, if they were enlisted there is a good chance their
records were destroyed in the fire there during the 1970s. However,
IIRC some of the lost files have been recreated through duplicates
held by other agencies.
Sorry I couldn't give you better news, but good luck in your search.
Rich