Received this letter a WHILE back, and am just getting around to posting it. Sorry. I seem to be saying that a lot as of late...

Here's the letter:

My father was with the 42nd Rainbow Division in WW II. He was captured and sent to Stalag XIII-C. While there he maintained a Duty Roster (similar to a DA 6) for Rm 11-15, with approximately 200 men.

 

One of the men listed, Andrew Hamilton, was in the 540th according to the National Archives database.

 

Would you like to receive a scan of the Duty Roster cover and the page containing Mr. Hamilton's name?

 

Sincerely,

 

Kathy Hemard

I am attaching the files she sent too.

Interesting. I didn't know that any of the 540th men were taken POW. I guess you would have to, but I never would have thought about a duty roster in a POW camp.

Ah, the things we keep learning on a daily basis. Never ceases to amaze us, huh?

Sgt. Hamilton made it back.

NARA ADD; File Unit: World War II Prisoners of War Data File, 12/7/1941 - 11/19/1946

in the Series: Records of World War II Prisoners of War, created 1942 - 1947, documenting the period 12/7/1941 - 11/19/1946. - Record Group 389(info)

Brief Scope: This series has information about U.S. military officers and soldiers and U.S. and some Allied civilians who were prisoners of war and internees.

Field Title Value Meaning

SERIAL NUMBER 33275045

NAME HAMILTON ANDREW J

GRADE, ALPHA SGT Sergeant

GRADE CODE 5 Captain or Asst. superintendent of nurses or Asst. director of nurses or Chief

dietitian or ysical therapy aides or Sergeant or Technician 4th Grade or Lieutenant

or Petty Officer, 3rd Class

SERVICE CODE 1 ARMY

ARM OR SERVICE Corps of Engineers

ARM OR SERVICE CODE 82 CE: CORPS OF ENGINEERS

DATE REPORT: DAY (DD) 01 01

DATE REPORT: MONTH (MM) 01 01

DATE REPORT: YEAR (Y) 5 1945

RACIAL GROUP CODE

STATE OF RESIDENCE

TYPE OF ORGANIZATION E24 Engineer Combat Battalion

PARENT UNIT NUMBER 0540 0540

PARENT UNIT TYPE 06 Group/Regiment/Commands/System

AREA 76 European Theatre: France

LATEST REPORT DATE: DAY (DD) 01 01

LATEST REPORT DATE: MONTH (MM) 06 06

LATEST REPORT DATE: YEAR (Y) 5 1945

SOURCE OF REPORT 1 Individual has been reported through sources considered official.

STATUS 8 Returned to Military Control, Liberated or Repatriated

DETAINING POWER 1 GERMANY

CAMP 023 Stalag 13C Hammelburg Om Main Bavaria 50-10

REP

POW TRANSPORT SHIPS

Yeah, that is wonderful news. It's always so sad to think of one of ours being held behind enemy lines. Praise the lord he made it home.

From Kat this morning...

Hi Marion,

 

That’s fun to see someone responded.

 

I’m sorry I didn’t say anything before.. I thought you knew about this website: http://aad.archives.gov/aad/series-list.jsp?cat=WR26

I wouldn’t have been able to find out where some of the men in the duty roster belonged without it.

 

Here is the link to Mr. Hamilton POW records:

http://aad.archives.gov/aad/record-detail.jsp?dt=466&mtch=1&cat=WR26&tf=F&q=andrew+j.+hamilton&bc=,sl,sd&rpp=10&pg=1&rid=71996

 

If you scroll down to “Parent Unit Number” it shows 0540. Unfortunately, the records only show the unit number, not the division, so it made it difficult for me to find some of the guys.

 

If you do an advanced search, type in the exact phrase box “0540” it will show you all the guys from the 540th who were POWs. http://aad.archives.gov/aad/display-partial-records.jsp?f=645&mtch=9&q=%220540%22&cat=WR26&dt=466&tf=F&bc=,sl,sd

 

 

From this website, you can also look at enlistment records: These are the results if you type in “Alexander J. Hamilton”.. It’s better to type names in quotes in order to limit the results. Also, if you have the serial number, you can type that into the search block without having to type the name. When I searched for Mr. Hamilton, I got 7 results, to narrow it down, I searched using the serial number on his POW: This is Mr. Hamilton’s enlistment records:

http://aad.archives.gov/aad/record-detail.jsp?dt=893&mtch=7&cat=WR26&tf=F&q=%22Hamilton%2C+Andrew+J.%22&bc=,sl,sd&rpp=10&pg=1&rid=3755370&rlst=7212485,3755326,3755370,3946839,4483193,5011066,5330228

 

Thanks for sharing that!

 

kat

Hi Marion,

 

When I got the duty roster, I created an excel spreadsheet containing all the names of the men in the roster. I noticed that the platoons formed within the stalag were based on their parent unit/division. It could be that the other men listed with SGT Hamilton were also associated with combat engineers/6th Corps. I can e-mail you the spreadsheet if you’re interested.

 

The attached is a really brief summary of what the POWs would have experienced at Stalag XIII-C, based on “Hold at All Cost”. You can share it on your website if you want.

 

As rough as these men had it, I read that the lower ranking soldiers were at stalags where they often had to do manual labor. Some of those stalags were ‘liberated’ by the Russians, our alleged allies. The Russians told the US POWs that it was safer for them to be taken to Russia. Some POWs decided to go with the Russians, where they were held captive in Russia for awhile. I heard of Howard Humble, whose father was taken to Russia and died. He is still trying to find out where his dad was buried.

 

Sincerely,

 

Kat

Hamilton - POW.pdf

Adding info. Thank you!

Dear Marion,

 

I looked at the link you sent me but didn’t find the excel duty roster spreadsheet. I‘m attaching the spreadsheet sorted by the unit number and by the stalag Platoon no. According to the National Archives POW records, Mr. Hamilton was in the 540th. Because the ‘platoons’ were comprised of soldiers from the unit/division, I wasn’t sure if you’d prefer that version.

 

Because the duty roster was written in pencil, it was difficult to read every entry. I tried to read every entry, especially when a name was erased.. I hate to think why it was erased.

 

The entry for Mr. Hamilton shows he had CDD a couple of times and then was OK. I don’t know what that means.

 

Mr. Kuszmickas was with the 157th.. from what I could tell he was with Corp of Engineers.. not sure if that was part of the 6th.

 

If you look in the 393 unit, you’ll find Paul Mikola. I think some POWs were sent to Bad Schandau, Germany. When I first read his entry, I thought he had been transferred to that town. After a closer look, I realized the entry was “Bad shoes” which is why he was apparently given “LD” which I assume means ‘light duty.’

 

Let me know if you have trouble accessing either of these files.

 

Sincerely,

 

kat

ROSTERUNIT.pdf

ROSTERplatoon.pdf

Hi Marion,

 

I got one of your e-mails that mentioned newly added material. I started browsing through your website and found the 157th After Action Reports.

 

When I sent you pages from my dad’s Duty Roster from Stalag XIII-C, I didn’t realize the 157th was with 6th Corp. As I looked up names on the Duty Roster, I found an article about Charles Sincavage from the 157th. In the article, he mentioned his buddy Kuzmickas. Both of these men were in Platoon 7, 4th Squad.

 

Here is the article on Mr. Sincavage: http://www.tnonline....arles-sincavage

 

I reached out to the reporter of that article and sent her some Stalag XIII-C info to give to Mr. Sincavage, she did an article on him getting the info: http://www.tnonline....eives-page-past

 

When I came across the 157th After Action Reports, I saw it gave a lot of detailed info on the 157th, including the day and location of Mr. Sincavage’s capture. I called Mr. Sincavage’s son and told him about your website. I e-mailed him links to your website, the after action reports, Mr. Whiting, etc. He was thrilled. I also mentioned that Mr. Kuzmickas was mentioned in the 42nd Rainbow Division book “Hold at All Cost”.. during the month long ‘death march’ from Stalag XIII-C to Stalag VII-A, he was a buddy of one of the Rainbow men.

 

In the section for the 157th After Action Reports on your website, there is a note to Stacy from Bill. Do you know how he was able to get the After Action reports. I’ve read the Rainbow Division Combat History but it doesn’t give the detail that After Action Reports. My dad was with Co. G, 232 infantry, 42nd. A lot of the company was captured on 5 Jan 45 but the men were stationed in 3 or 4 different villages. Many of the men and/or family members want to know where they were captured. Do you know where one can get copies of After Action reports.

 

I don’t know if there is a mention in your website about traveling via Google Earth. One of the places Mr. Sincavage’s went to in France was Voellerdingen. Here is a link to googleearth search of that location. Veterans and family members can travel through towns they or their loved ones visited.. Google Earth doesn’t seem to work in Germany:

 

http://maps.google.c...ved=0CBwQ8gEwAA

 

Thanks,

 

kat