woodrow greene barnette mecklenburg & iredell county north carolina (nicknames bill or barney)
>NEW ... He was 2826 BN ...last correspondence was from Memmingen Germany
(Note The Obvious Difference in My GrandFathers Appearance between the two Photos...Hardened At Least)
New Here...glad I found it!
I am Woodrow Barnette from the Charlotte, NC area. My grandfather was Woodrow Greene Barnette ...huntersville,N.C. and was with I believe to be the 36th Engineers...I have attached the only two photos I have of him that show the patch. Hard to find info on why he would have had a medic arm band in the one photo?
He did mention some things about combat in Italy and actually fighting germans but other than that
He NEVER discussed anything with any of us about his war experiences and passed away in his early sixties...around 1973. I do know that he was called Bill & Barney as nicknames .... I just really wish I knew more. It's almost as if he is pushing me to find it and some peace with it for the both of us.......
I would be honored to hear anything at all regarding folks knowledge of him...his involvement etc based on his uniform and the one photo with the medic patch.
Also, how do we dig up documentation on everything from his enlistment to training to deployment to discharge?
Welcome aboard!
I, too, am a grandson of seahorse. My grandfather served in the 540th (eventually as CO of the first Bn.) He didn't talk about his experiences either, although he didn't die until 2004.
The community here is great and you will see that there are several regulars that don't spend much time away from the computers, as you will see. The talk varies from personal experiences (thank you Rocky and others) to crack-pot jokes (I will mention no names!) It has been a great way for me to talk about my interests in WWII as well as learn more about my grandfather and what he did.
So anyway. . . enjoy your stay and keep posting!
Hey Woodrow, great to have you on board! Our Seahorse family continues to grow by leaps and bounds. Four years ago this month, I had no contact with any of the VI Corps veterans. None! But a scant few months later, I was beginning to make contact with a couple of members from the 540th, then one from the 36th, then eventually the 48th and 39th. What a feeling that was. I will never forget it.
As far as enlistment, that may be difficult to find the actual papers. Those may have been lost to the trash heaps of time, but it is possible to get a hold of his discharge papers. There are one of two ways to do this, and I will refer you to the research section of our forum, for sake of not having to repeat the details, but try contacting NARA is St. Louis first (sometimes this is dead-end), but you can also try contacting his local state Veterans Admin, for if he ever took advantage of his medical benefits, they will have a copy of his papers. This is how I received my dads. Please see appropriate links within the Research Section.
You can read all about the seahorses on the main site. Look through the history pages, the photos pages and the memoirs section for plenty of information. I will also send you the link for a sneak preview of my documentary. I am just finishing up the first section of my project, and you can view the first 24 minutes. Please note the quality on the WEB, is not as good viewing the actual documentary, for I had to sacrifice some quality (size, rendering quality) in order to make the file a manageable for uploading and downloading.
I added you to the official VI Corps Vets and family list, but please also add yourself to the general newsletter list (the link will be included in my email to you).
I look forward to talking with you. Please don't hesitate to ask any questions pertaining to "our guys".
Warmly,
Welcome to the the greatest forum in the whole wide world, 
(Thank you Marion.) i`m sure we can get you started on the path to trace your grandfathers story.
First thing to do if you have no documents or records of his service is to look on the NARA AAD (Access to Archival Databases) http://aad.archives.gov/aad/index.jsp and look for his Electronic Army Serial Number Merged File, ca. 1938 - 1946 (Enlistment Records)http://aad.archives.gov/aad/series-list.jsp?cat=WR26 That will give you his Army serial number & enlistment date with some other info. Having the serial number helps <sometimes> in getting records from the national records center in St Louis. Then you can file a records request online at E-Vet records, or you mail or fax a SF -180 request form that you can also get online.
There are 2 listings on AAD for Barnette:
"BARNETTE#WOODROW#G " from MECKLEMBURG county and
"BARNETTE#WOODROW#W" from IREDELL county , maybe you have another relative?
Let us know whatever help you need, and and enjoy your quest.