1173 Engineer Combat Group - Researching my great grandather

[Brendan]

Hello all,

My name is Brendan and I am the great grandson of Wilbur B. McAllister, a combat engineer who served in WW2.  Having heard stories of his service from my childhood I have always been interested in knowing more.  Unfortunately, I never had the chance to meet my grandfather and what I quickly learned from family is that he never spoke a word about his service and would typically leave the room if such conversation came up.  This left a large blank space as to his experience in WW2.  My goal from the start has been to uncover more about his service, primarily to share with my grandfather so he can finally know what his dad did in the war.

Before I was born, my great grandfathers uniforms were donated to a local historical society.  As the story always went, the uniforms and 'a medal with a star' were donated. Unfortunately after several months of display outside of a case, with easy public access, the 'medal with a star' was stolen.  As years passed and the historical society moved, all hope seemingly was lost that the uniforms had been preserved.  After months talking with the historical society... 3 uniforms from my great grandfather have been found and they have been the source of more questions than answers.

As for information, I am attaching a few pieces to start with.  Some of the uniform and some of paperwork found in storage. I have not been able to reclaim the uniforms at this time, so I am working solely with photos they provided. 

A brief overview of information I have so far is..

• He served in Europe with the 1173 Engineer Combat Group as an officer.
  
• 3 uniforms have been located.
  
  • One early jacket (field jacket?) displays a First Army patch and a VIII (8 Corp) patch. Hash marks are present on sleeve. No other pins, patches, etc.
    
  • One dress jacket displays engineer collar pins, 3rd army patch, hash marks on sleeve, ribbon rack of WWII Victory Medal, American Campaign Medal, European-african-middle eastern campaign medal with 4 bronze campaign service stars, American Defense Service Medal & Silver Star.
    
  • One tan dress uniform. Displays First Army Patch on one shoulder and 3rd Army Patch on the other. Hash marks and ribbon rack representing all medals listed previously. I had been told this uniform is what he wore while heavily involved in retired officer activity.  
    
  • Military Certificate of Service from 1946 only lists 2 campaigns and doesn't mention the silver star. 
    

What I am currently trying to determine is what campaigns did he take part in and what are the circumstances of the silver star.  I sent out a request for records last year, only to hear the ever so common 'the records were destroyed in the fire'.  I sent a separate request recently requesting history of medals.  Any information would be EXTREMELY helpful. All my research of engineers has been a huge learning experience and I know there are many differences that come with researching their service.  

Thank you all!