Dear Lisa:
Glad to hear from you and happy that you've found out more information in the interim.
First off your father's unit was an independent unit like my father's and therefore was not part of a division. So you can stop driving yourself crazy looking for further information regarding this. These independent units were often referred to as "bastard" units. Some times they were attached to corps, divisions, or other regiments, etc.,
The patch with the 6 was VI Corps, the patch with steps was 7th Army, the patch with the number 5 beneath it was 5th Army. So it looks like your dad's unit pretty much followed the basic footsteps that my dad's unit took through Europe. My father's unit, the 540th were pretty much always a part of VI Corps. They were 7th Army in Sicily, 5th Army in Italy and with the 7th Army again for France and until the end of the war.
Do not feel discouraged by his discharge papers. Errors were a common occurrence and my father's were no exception. Errors can be corrected, but be prepared for a long haul.
However, let's take care of first things first. You need to contact the Army Corps of Engineer's and request his unit's records. This really varies from unit to unit and there is no telling how much information their is on the 344th, but it's worth a try. For instance I was able to acquire a lot of information on my dad, along with a complete history, photos, rosters of commendation, roster of casualties, etc. It was quite a gold mine for me.
Next you need to get in touch with NARA in College Park, Maryland. There will be fees for materials requested here, unlike the Army Corps of Engineers. You will need to provide them with your dad's unit number. Tell them you are requested any documentation that they have on the 344th General Service. It's generally better if you can give them as much as possible, so also tell them he served in the European Theatre of Operations and was of VI Corps, the 5th and 7th Armies. They will look through their records and if all goes well, will provide you with a list of the pertaining docs. I will give you the link so you can see all that is involved.
http://www.archives.gov/dc-metro/college-p...park/index.html
When I received the 540th list of docs from NARA, there were too many for them to copy for me. There is a limit on how much they are able to copy themselves, therefore my two choices were; go there myself and copy them, or hire a private researcher or research student from one of the universities to do it for me. I finally got in touch with a private researcher and gave her the list of records. She is working this week to give me an estimate of cost.
You can contact NARA in St Louis. They keep morning and unit reports there. These were not burned in the fire, only service records were, so they are available for perusal. I still have to send away for these yet myself. Ah, one thing at a time. Here is the page for this.
http://www.archives.gov/st-louis/military-...it-rosters.html
If you contact all three of these, then you should be sitting on a quite a stack of info on your dad's unit. Let me know if you have anymore questions regarding any of my suggestions.
I am also giving you the link to the Research Section on my forum. This will give you other resources at your disposal.
Have you contacted this man yet?
344th Engr Regt, H &S Co
Mr. Robert Gilch 919-968-3335
740 Williams Cir
Chapel Hill, NC 27516-1526
NRR '96
I hope I covered most of your questions. If I missed something I apologize and will be happy to go over anything with you in your follow-up email.
Warmest regards,
Marion
Proud Daughter of Walter (Monday) Poniedzialek
540th Engineer Combat Regiment, 2833rd Bn, H&S Co, 4th Platoon
There's "No Bridge Too Far"
