I picked this up a few days ago. I was told it shouldn't be to hard to ID. Im looking for a list of majors or Lt Colonels who served in the 36th engineer combat regiment. Here are a few photos of the jacket. If anyone can help me, it is greatly appreciated.
Looking at the ribbon rack my guess is that he didn't spend the whole war with them but joined later in the war.
- He has 4 bronze campaign stars and the 36th did 10 campaigns. If he had been there the whole time, he should something like 2 silver stars or at least 1 silver and several bronze.
- Also, he has the American Campaign ribbon (between BSM and Middle east, Med, and European campaign medal). That would indicate having spent more time in the US then the guys who had been there since the beginning.
- He also has the European Occupation medal. A lot of guys (like my grandfather) who had been with the unit since Operation Torch had enough points to go home right away and didn't hang out long enough to get the occupation medal.
Interestingly, he also has the French Croix de Guerre WWII Ribbon. It took me a while to track that one down as I wasn't familiar with it and it isn't on many of the ribbon posters. Not much you can ascertain from that by itself.
I can't help more than that - if that's helpful at all!
And welcome aboard!! Glad you found our site!
I noticed that the uniform has a Distinguished Unit Citation ribbon above the right pocket. It is now referred to as the Presidential Unit Citation. I know very little about that ribbon but I have found that it is not common and might be a clue. This is more of a question than an answer as I have been trying to find information on this award myself. Welcome to Marion's website.
Glen Blasingim
Unfortunately, as a unit citation, it really doesn't help narrow the search. The only way it would help is if he DIDN'T have it meaning he would have joined the unit after it was awarded. If a specific company was awarded the PUC, then that would help, but I thought the whole regiment was given the award. Marion? (I tried to look at the PDFs on the main VI Corps site, but my work computer wouldn't open them!)
Ah, its three o'clock in the morning and I couldn't sleep, so here I am. Yawn!
I will send the image to Captain John Fallon and see what he thinks.
For those not aware, you can look up a lot of info on the 36th's history page and that might fill in some blanks, but of course it won't answer the question of who it belonged to, right away.
http://www.6thcorpscombatengineers.com/36th.htm
Thanks to everyone who jumped in to offer answers. Let's see what else we can discover.
Recently, several of our guys were awarded the Croix de Guerre and in fact, Tony Stefanelli just received one at our latest reunion.
I remember a post on the forum from long ago from a Russ Cloer, he also received a Croix de Guerre during the war. Russ was in the 3rd Inf Div, if memory serves me correctly. So they were handed out during the war, and you can still get one today by applying for it.
http://www.6thcorpscombatengineers.com/engforum/index.php?showtopic=1330
Ah, from the stripes we can tell he was overseas for two years.
I sent the photos to Captain John Fallon of the 36th and this is what he said.
The four campaign stars could have come from any campaigns., The Silver and Bronze Star with a oakleaf would indicate a lot of combat but the jacket itself tells another story. It has an officsr's insignia but the ornaments are not aligned so somebody other than an officer put them on.
There's also the patch on the left shoulder. It is this one:
Here is what this this web site says: The shoulder sleeve insignia was originally approved for the Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Forces on 13 December 1944. It was redesignated for Headquarters, U.S. Forces, European Theater and revised to change the background color from black to dark blue on 2 August 1945. It was redesignated for the European Command on 23 June 1947. The insignia was redesignated for United States Army Europe on 7 November 1952. It was amended to include the specific shade of orange in the description on 22 July 1970. It was cancelled effective 16 July 2009. The insignia was reinstated for United States Army Europe on 7 July 2009, revoking the cancellation.
Once again - evidence of being in the occupation. Since you keep your "combat patch" when you go to another unit, having the 36th patch does't necessarily mean he was in the 36th when he left the service. It just means that he served in the 36th in combat. I'm afraid I don't know much about the AEF HQ - where they were after the war. I bet engineers were in big demand removing obstacles and mines. I bet a lot of German POWs did a lot of mineclearing.