Category: Uncategorized

Finding WWII Map Coordinates

It is possible to use a site I call the coordinates translator to find WWII map coordinates in Europe on a modern map. It takes a bit of work, but it can be a very useful tool: http://www.echodelta.net/mbs/eng-translator.php

You need to know which of the maps to look at, there are 9 options on the page: British Cassini, Irish Cassini, Nord de Guerre, French Lambert Zone 1, French Lambert Zone 2, French Lambert Zone 3, Italian Northern Grid, Italian Southern, Scandinavian Zone 3 and if you don’t have the 2 letter code in front of the numbers then you have to make an educated guess.

For example, attached is a page from the S3 journal for the 141st Inf Regt. for December 10-11, 1944. It has many map coordinates, we will take the first one -683493- which is for Company C. There is no letter code but the name of a town, Sigolahiem is mentioned further down so we can use that to help get us in the general area so we can choose the correct map.

S-3 Journal 141st Infantry Regiment December 10-11, 1944

If you google Sigolahiem and bring it up on a modern map, you can look for where it is in relation to one of the 3 French maps on the coordinator site. After looking at all 3 maps, we see that the Map- French Lambert Zone 2 – is the best choice and section “WK” seems to be closet. It takes some practice to be able to look at the modern map and figure out which of the grid maps on the site is the correct one.

Modern map of Sigloahiem

Once you have determined the correct map and 2 letter code you can type in the information, in this case WK683493, into the coordinates translator box and it converts it to a modern map . Often this takes trial and error, sometimes you choose the wrong 2 letter code, it helps to have a general idea of where the coordinates are located, a nearby town, river etc…

location of WWII map coordinate WK 683493

You can then zoom in, switch to satellite view if I want and get very close image of the exact location, in this case the location of Company C, 141st Infantry Regiment on December 10-11 1944

zoomed in location of WWII map point WK 683493

This will work for 4 digit codes as well, but you will always need to know the 2 letter code, plus which map to get the correct location.

Morning Reports:

When the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis caught fire in 1973 the destruction of 80% of all Army and Army Air Corps personnel records from 1912-1964 was a huge blow. People looking to research their relatives service are left with few resources to try and find details of service.

One of the items which can help reconstruct WWII era service is the Morning Report. In this blog post we explain what a Morning Report is and how to read it.

Company K, 142nd Infantry Regiment September 9, 1943

The Morning Report is the daily record of a unit. It includes soldiers by name and service number and includes information about anything which effects the individual soldiers of the unit. This includes being wounded or missing, being ill, going AWOL, being promoted or demoted in rank and being added or transferred away from the unit.

In the example above dated September 9, 1943 from Company K, 142nd Infantry Regiment we have 2 officers who were on duty (dy) and have been sent to the hospital (hosp) because they were severely injured (SW) in the line of duty (LD). Then there are 3 soldiers who were Killed in Action( a Staff Sgt and 2 privates). Next we have Private 1st Class Moore who went from duty to the hospital wounded in the line of duty severely with shrapnel on his right side. Finally we have PFC Johnson who had a severe gunshot wound to his nose.

Company C, 143rd Infantry Regiment, September 18, 1944

In this example from Company C, 143rd Infantry on September 18, 1944 we have a little bit different information. At the top there is PFC Adam Badabaugh, we also have his MOS or service classification in this case 745 which is a Rifleman. So PFC Badabaugh was assigned(asgd) to duty and joined (jd) as a Rifleman (745) to Company C.He had been transferred from Headquarters, 1st Battalion as of September 5, 1944. The other names on the card were all assigned and joined the unit as Rifleman from a replacement center as of September 18, 1944.

111th Medical Battalion Report for Company C, 143rd Infantry Regiment for August 25, 1944, page 1

There also can be documents from the Medical unit included in the reports. In this example from August 25, 1944 PFC Bob Puff has been sent to the hospital with a gunshot wound (GSW) which penetrated his left leg and PFC Swezey has a shell fragment wound ( SFW) which hit both his right arm and left shoulder. Lastly PFC Kelly took a gunshot wound to the left angle and thigh. The document also includes information on which evacuation hospital they were sent to.

Company C, 143rd Infantry Regiment December 25, 1944

There are also overview reports on the unit as a whole, this one from Christmas Day, 1944 shows that Company C, 143rd is located at grid coordinates WW0394, near Strasbourg, France and that on December 24th Company C was attacking enemy positions and took one enemy prisoner.

Company C 143rd Infantry Regiment August 1944

This list from early August includes information about which landing craft the unit was on and brief information about what they did each day.

The museum unfortunately does not have copies of Morning Reports. We have just a few example which 36th Division family members have shared with us. Morning Reports can be found at the St. Louis location of the National Archvies. https://www.archives.gov/personnel-records-center/military-personnel/morning-reports-and-unit-rosters-access You can go and copy them yourself or pay a researcher to do it for you. Reports are available for many units and time periods.

This site has a very helpful list of abbreviations which are commonly found on Morning Reports : http://103divwwii.usm.edu/assets/mr-abbreviations.pdf and this site: https://militaryyearbookproject.com/references/old-mos-codes/wwii-era/army-wwii-codes/army-mos-codes-wwii-era has WWII MOS codes.

If you have any comments or questions please email us at [email protected]

Colonel Oran Stovall

Museum Renovation

September 20 update: The museum front door is again open for business!

August 26 update: work is largely complete but a few small items are keeping us from being able to reopen the main doors. Currently we are looking at mid September. We will keep you updated.

July 16 update: We are still on track for having main doors back open soon.

We are in the home stretch. New doors went into today, June 25, 2019. We hope to be substantially complete in about 1 month.

New front door with canopy and lights
New Front Door
Looking out from new front doors

This month the museum has begun much anticipated renovations. The updates will include new loading docks, changes to the museum offices, new entrances and exits for the Hall of Honor and a brand new main entrance door.

This construction is scheduled to go on through the end of June although we hope that the bulk of it will be done by April.

During Construction the old main door is closed. The means that all visitors will have to come through the far North door of the building. see images below.

We apologize for the inconvenience and at some times the work will be very loud. We are doing our best to have as little impact as possible on the visitors. We will remain open during the entire process and cannot wait to show off all the wonderful changes which will not only improve the look of the museum but will provide much need health and safety updates.

Artifact Spotlight–Italian Coins

This small collection of coins was donated in 2001 and is part of the current museum staff’s ongoing effort to catalog previously unrecorded artifacts in the museum collection. The coins only had a donation date and that they were associated with a 36th Infantry Division soldier but they still have an interesting story to tell.

The top left coin is a 3 Grana coin dated 1810 and came from Naples, Italy.

The top right coin is a 3 Tornesi coin dated 1648 and came from the Neapolitan Republic.

The 2 bottom coins are both variations of the same Roman Republic coin and date from 200-100 BCE.

The front of the coins have Janus, the two faced god for whom January is named.

The back of the coins have a prow of a ship and this one has the visible letters ‘RD”, possibly for TVRD. The coin is a very thick bronze, 40mm. The other Roman Republic coin appears to be all copper.

The 3 older coins all have wear consistent with being buried. While we don’t know the exact story of these coins it is easy to image a 36th soldier resting in a field after the difficult landings at Salerno on September 9th 1943 and seeing something glint in the sunlight and picking up the 3 grana coin. Or during the long, wet winter of 1943/44 our soldier is digging a foxhole, trying to get a little cover from the constant artillery bombardment and finding one of the Roman coins buried in the dirt.

We don’t know why the soldier chose to keep these old coins; possibly as souvenirs to send home to a kid brother or sister or maybe his own young child, or maybe as a memento for his own collection or a sweetheart or wife back home. Did he feel a connection to those long ago Italians who had lived and maybe fought and died on the same soil? Was he injured? Did he make it back home or were these part of the effects sent back to the family of a fallen soldier. We will likely never know the answers to these questions but we can imagine the soldier and see him in films like “A Walk in the Sun” or “The Story of G.I. Joe” both of which were based on the 36th Infantry Division in WWII and we can remember his service and sacrifice told through the objects he left behind.

Over There- 1918

 

The Texas Military Forces museum  presents “Over There-1918” A Living History program of the “Great War” experience of the US soldier.

On Saturday November 20th and Sunday November 21st, 2021 the Texas Military Forces Museum will commemorate the 36th Infantry Division’s combat debut on the Western Front with a special WWI battle reenactment. Showtimes at 1:00 pm both days.

This event will allow visitors to see some of the most common weapons of the First World War in action including a fully restored and operational F17 tank, a French 75 mm artillery piece, a U.S. 3-inch field gun, an MG 08 “Maxim” machine gun, an Austrian Schwarzlose machine gun and a variety of rifles and other weapons.  American, German and French troops using period equipment and wearing correct uniforms will demonstrate the tactics employed by the victorious Allied powers during the brutal final month of combat in the Great War. We invite you to join us as we recall the service and sacrifice of American doughboys in the “War to End All Wars.”

 

Finding Clues in Old Photographs

People often do not realize how much information you can find in an old photograph. As you research your relative’s service keep this in mind.

The image above is of seated soldiers from WWII. On the front it nicely gives us a date of 9-1-43. When you look closer at the picture you see all the soldiers have patches for the Texas Defense Guard (TDG) this was a home guard ( which later became the Texas State Guard), and was comprised of men who were too old, too young for service, or for some other reason could not serve in the regular Armed Forces.
 

Looking closing at their collars and hats we see they are all wearing Marine Corps insignia (USMC). In addition behind the soldiers are 2 Marine Corps recruiting posters, which research reveals were produced in 1942/43. So this is a TDG “Marine” unit. During WWII the Defense Guard Marine unit was based in Houston, Texas.

 

Looking more closely at the individual soldiers we see that the 1st, 4th and 5th soldier from the left all have WWI victory ribbons on their uniform. The 1st soldier has a WWI victory medal with 2 bronze campaign stars and a number “2” during WWI there would have been campaign “bars” so this soldier has added WWII campaign stars to his WWI ribbon.

 
The second soldier from the left has on a cartridge belt with magazine pouch, all the other soldiers have standard belts.
 
The soldier in the center of the back row has a Medic/Red Cross patch on his lower left sleeve.
 
Many of the soldiers have visible rank patches ( mostly some grade of Sergeants)The soldier in the center front has a Lieutenant bar.
 
An finally not as useful but interesting on the side of the photograph are two motor oil cans “Conoco Motor Oil” and “Keystone”.
 

Someone did type information on the back of the photograph showing it was the 48th Bn, Marine unit from Houston with names. It must have been typed in late 1943 or after as they used the term “Texas State Guard” instead of “Texas Defense Guard”

 

So the next time you look at those old photographs get out the magnifying glass and take a real look- those small clues just might help you out in your search.

Texas and the Great War

On April 2, 1917 President Wilson asked Congress for a declaration of war against Germany and on April 6, 1917 war was declared. This week we will be highlighting aspects of the Texas Military Forces in the “Great War” as we begin this Centennial year. Check back daily as we add further details to this blog post.

Tuesday:

In February 1917 Maj. Gen. Frederick Funston, commanding general of the Southern District, died in San Antonio, and facilities at the Leon Springs Reservation were named Camp Funston in his honor. Another camp in Kansas was also named Funston, and since Funston was a native of Kansas, the Leon Springs Camp was redesignated Camp Stanley, after Brig. Gen. David S. Stanley, former commander of the Department of Texas. On May 8, 1917, the First Officers Training Camp was established just north of Anderson Hill at Camp Funston. The purpose of the FOTC was to provide in ninety days most of the junior officers for newly formed divisions. The trainees became known as “ninety-day wonders.” In the spring of 1917 a remount station was established at Leon Springs to process and maintain horses used by the mounted arms of the military services. From the TSHA Handbook of Texas History

Pictures of our Texas National Guard soldiers at Leon Springs in the Spring of 1917


Monday

World War I was a turning point for the United States, and for Texas. Even before the United States declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917, Texas was mobilized and already significantly engaged in war preparations and supplying the Allies. San Antonio was already touted as Military City USA . The Texas National Guard had been called out for the Punitive Expedition to pursue Pancho Villa in 1916-17. Texas businesses supplied oil, cattle, horses, cotton, and lumber to Europe. Many Texans had volunteered to come to the aid of the Allies (and some German Texans to the Axis) between 1914 and 1917. The British Royal Flying Corps had even operated three flying schools to train Canadian pilots at Camp Taliaferro in Fort Worth.
The earliest unit of the Texas National Guard which was mobilized for WWI was the 117th Supply Train which was attached to the 42nd Rainbow Division. This picture is of Corporal Walter Tips who served with the unit. His family were well known Austinites and the Tips building downtown is named for his grandfather.


Don’t forget to come by our first Mabry Mixer this Wednesday and learn more about America’s entry into WWI.

Cataloging Stories

We haven’t done a blog post in awhile and today while cataloging documents and artifacts from the WWI collection of Sgt. Levi Cox we came across an interesting story.

Sgt. Cox served with Company H, 142nd Infantry Regiment during the “Great War”, which later became known as WWI. Among the items from Sgt. Cox was a ship’s paper  from his journey home in May 1919 aboard the USS Pueblo.  This small booklet was given out to the soldiers on May 25, 1919. It includes the church schedule,  small inspirational paragraphs and the following story:


These two soldiers from the 142nd Infantry Regiment who had survived training, the flu epidemic, combat, and 8 months of occupation had perished on their way home. In searching through our WWI service cards there were a couple of interesting parallels between the soldiers:

  • both men were older, 32 for Hovey and 30 for Strong
  • both men had no immediate next of kin listed. Hovey had a friend and Strong had his brother-in-law

Harry Hovey had been born in Brownsville and was living in Mansfield in Tarrant County when he was drafted. Joseph Strong was born in Paris, Tx and was living in Brice in Hall County when he enlisted.

Levi Cox survived the war and kept letters written to his future wife and a small number of other souvenirs to remember his time spent in the “Great War”, a gas mask ( he was gassed during the war, his jacket, his discharge papers,his identification card, a pass to Paris to see the 36th Division play in the football final, and a souvenir map. That he saved this particular ships booklet which mentions the death of a likely friend ( Pvt. Strong who was in the same Company) indicates that the war, and the death of his comrades had impacted his life.

The T-Patch on his jacket is very interesting and likely made by an older French woman he was housed with during the occupation.

Levi Cox during training:

This is just one of many thousands of stories of Texas soldiers who served their county during WWI. As we approach the Centennial of the US involvement in the Great War we hope to bring you more of anecdotes.

Volunteers Needed

docentdesk

Looking to volunteer? Are you interested in Texas history or military history? Like talking with people? Do you have at least 4 hours a week of time to donate? Then the Texas Military Forces Museum is for you.

The Museum is looking for docents who can work at our front desk greeting visitors. We need people who can work one day a week ( Tuesday through Friday) anytime between 9:30 am to 4 pm. There is no previous experience required. Please contact the museum at [email protected] or 512- 782-5559 for more information.

seniortour