Hello Randy,Ralph,
I noticed that too. That could be the case since he joined in March 1943 and the 292nd was formed in November of 1943.
Perhaps the picture is from boot camp graduation before he joined the 292nd ?
I just found the national archives webpage for requesting veterans records: http://www.archives.gov/veterans/military-service-records/index.html
I'm going to see if I can get a copy of his personnel file. Maybe that will give me a better picture of how he came to be in the 292nd.
Kent
Kent,
If the NPRC still has your father's complete personnel file, it will most certainly answer any questions you may have about his service. Don't know if you have read on the website about the infamous fire of July 1973 that occurred there. Roughly 85% of all the Army and Army Air Forces personnel files stored there at the time were destroyed. Not to discourage you, just be prepared that they may not have anything left of your father's file. You definitely should try though,some files survived intact and pieces of some files were recovered. The only thing they had on my grandfather's file was a copy of his final pay voucher, it wasn't much but was still pretty cool to have.
Randy