Hello,

First of all, I apologize for my English as it is not my first language.

I'm from Belgium and I'm trying to find a soldier during World War II. He briefly lived with my grandmother during the war (in 1944) in Combain-au-Pont. She and her sister found a long-lost letter from him, dating from may 1945. They wrote him a letter after he left and this was the answer. They never translated it though. I did it for them and they asked me if I could try to find him or what happened to him after the war. The problem is that I don't have any idea how to do that with the informations I have.

Here's the envelope (the letter doesn't contain anything relevant, except maybe for the date (12 may 1945) and that it was sent from Germany):

Don't pay attention to the "Delbert américain 1945" on the center, it's something my grandmother wrote (="Delbert american 1945").

I was able to read his identification number (35645737 or 35645137), his company (291st Engineer combat battalion) and that it was the Third US Army (APO #403). I have no idea what is the last line (E.F.O. ?)

I looked in the research section, and it seems that I could theorically obtain a copy of his discharge document ? But I'm not a family member and I don't know what state he was from.

Should I also try to contact the Army Corps of Engineers Office of History ? I suppose he was an engineer if he was in the 291st Engineer combat battalion ?

I also thought about contacting the embassy to try and find him today, if he is still alive ? I have absolutely no idea how to find someone in the United States with just their name...

I hope someone here can help me, at least to steer me in the right direction.

Thanks in advance !

Hi,

I'm sure you will be getting more help from others here including Marion who started and owns the website.

I can help a little. The EFO is in fact ETO (European Theatre of Operation) and you have his name DELBERT. R. CLINE. and Army Number.

We have what we call our "bible" - THE CORPS OF ENGINEERS: THE WAR AGAINST GERMANY, which has a lot of mentions of the 291st plus maps, see: https://archive.org/details/corpsofengineers00beck which you can read online. Go to the index for 291st to find relevant pages.

I hope you are successful in your research,

Colin.

Hi and welcome. Your English is fine!

Unfortunately, you can only obtain discharge information if you are a direct descendant of the family. You have to be a son or daughter, granddaughter, etc.

We can try and find a family member here in the states. Sometimes it does work and we get lucky.

Let me see what I can discover.

All the best!

We have what we call our "bible" - THE CORPS OF ENGINEERS: THE WAR AGAINST GERMANY, which has a lot of mentions of the 291st plus maps, see: https://archive.org/details/corpsofengineers00beck which you can read online. Go to the index for 291st to find relevant pages.

Thank you for the book !

Hi and welcome. Your English is fine!

 

Unfortunately, you can only obtain discharge information if you are a direct descendant of the family. You have to be a son or daughter, granddaughter, etc.

 

We can try and find a family member here in the states. Sometimes it does work and we get lucky.

 

Let me see what I can discover.

 

All the best!

Thank you very much for your help ! I'm looking forward to hearing from you ! If there is anything more I can do, please let me know.

Hello Bard,

Found Pvt Delbert Cline in the NARA enlistment records. It shows he was from West Virginia, born 1924. I was surprised to see his enlistment date as being 14 Oct 1945. I think maybe this document is for a voluntary reenlistment instead of his original draft enlistment. Don't know for sure, don't recall coming across one like this before. If I come by any more info I'll be sure to pass it along, good luck with your search.

Field Title Value Meaning ARMY SERIAL NUMBER 35645737 35645737 NAME CLINE#DELBERT#L######### CLINE#DELBERT#L######### RESIDENCE: STATE 54 WEST VIRGINIA RESIDENCE: COUNTY 047 MC DOWELL PLACE OF ENLISTMENT 3275 MEDIA PENNSYLVANIA DATE OF ENLISTMENT DAY 14 14 DATE OF ENLISTMENT MONTH 10 10 DATE OF ENLISTMENT YEAR 45 45 GRADE: ALPHA DESIGNATION PFC# Private First Class GRADE: CODE 7 Private First Class BRANCH: ALPHA DESIGNATION AMD Undefined Code BRANCH: CODE 12 Undefined Code FIELD USE AS DESIRED # # TERM OF ENLISTMENT 3 Enlistment for Hawaiian Department LONGEVITY ### ### SOURCE OF ARMY PERSONNEL 6 Enlisted Man, Philippine Scout or recall to AD of an enlisted man who had been transferred to the ERC NATIVITY 54 WEST VIRGINIA YEAR OF BIRTH 24 24 RACE AND CITIZENSHIP 1 White, citizen EDUCATION 0 Grammar school CIVILIAN OCCUPATION 590 Undefined Code MARITAL STATUS 6 Single, without dependents COMPONENT OF THE ARMY 1 Regular Army (including Officers, Nurses, Warrant Officers, and Enlisted Men) CARD NUMBER 1 1 BOX NUMBER 0971 0971 FILM REEL NUMBER 5.33# 5.33#

Looks like the copying and pasting of this record did not out come as shown on NARA site. Click on the following link to see it not so jumbled together. https://aad.archives.gov/aad/record-detail.jsp?dt=893&mtch=1&cat=all&tf=F&q=35645737&bc=&rpp=10&pg=1&rid=5907438

Thank you very much for your help ! I will try to see if I can use this to find a bit more about him, now that I know where he was from (if it's him).