Reference Documents

• Honorable Discharge Record: Enlisted Record and Report of Separation

• Separation Qualification Record

• Red Bull Shoulder Sleeve Insignia 

Marv's Unit

One of the biggest problems I've had is figuring out what unit Marv was attached to.  Summarized belown is what I know and what I used to determine his unit while overseas.
 

• Marv was assigned to the U.S. Army, 34th Infantry Division, "Red Bull," according to his Red Bull shoulder sleeve insignia.

​

• During his time overseas, Marv was a Private Infantry Lineman (Military Occupational Specialty code 641), according to his Separation Qualification Record.​  Below is the job description (source: Military Records Online).

FIELD LINEMAN (641),  

Category: Communications

Field Wire Chief

Field Wire NCO

Lineman

​

Works as member of team in laying, maintaining, and taking up the wire or cable of a telephone or telegraph communication system.

Runs wire along the ground by guiding it from a wire reel of a wire truck. Fastens wire to poles, stakes, or trees, and carries it across roads or other obstructions by burying it in a shallow ditch or suspending it from trees, telephone poles, or lance poles. Locates and determines the cause of line trouble such as opens, shorts, and grounds by testing wire at intervals. Makes appropriate repair, such as splicing breaks and cutting out defective wire and splicing.

May operate a portable field telephone switchboard. May establish telegraph circuits by superimposing them on existing telephone circuits, using repeater coils. May drive telephone repair truck.

Equipment used includes wire cutters, pliers, wire, insulators, climbers, lineman's belt, wrench, hammers, reel carts and reels, friction tape, loading coils, field telephones, switchboard, and repeating coils.

​

SUGGESTED SUBSTITUTES
238 Lineman, Telephone and Telegraph
650 Telephone Switchboard Operator

​

[Official Manual: Army TM 12-427 Military Occupational Classification of Enlisted Personnel, published July 12, 1944, page 82.]

​

• Marv was wounded in action on December 8, 1943, in Italy, according to his Honorable Discharge Record.

​

• Marv was in the Naples-Foggia Campaign, according to his Honorable Discharge Record.

​

• Marv was a replacement troop.
   

  • According to a letter to his parents dated August 16, 1943, Marv was stationed in Camp Shenango, Pennsylvania, before he went overseas.  Camp Shenano (later renamed Camp Reynolds) was a WW II Military Personnel Replacement Depot.  A replacement depot is a military unit containing reserves or replacements for troops in front-line formations.
     

  • According to his Honorable Discharge Record, Marv arrived overseas after the 34th Division entered Italy. He departed for the "European Theater of Operations" on Sept. 21, 1943, and arrived on Sept. 28, 1943.  The 151st Field Artillery Battalion, 34th Division, landed in the Italian mainland invasion at Salerno on September 9, 1943, while the rest of the division followed on September. 25, 1943.
     

  • According to the "The Personnel Replacment System in the United States Army, by Leonard L. Lerwill, August 1954. , Marv might have been considered a "Loss Replacement."  Excerpt:
    
    The Dictionary of United States Army Military Terms defines a replacement as an "individual assigned or destined for assignment to fill a vacancy in an organization."  Under the terms of this definition, everyone who enters the military service comes in as a replacement.  Many become replacements several times during their military careers. Those who fill units being formed, or who go to units that have not previously received men to fill the vacancies involved, are designated "filler replacements"; those who fill places vacated by others are known as "loss replacements."  The term "replacement system" is comparatively new, not having been used before World War I; but the problem is old because military forces have always required replacements.  
    
    The extent of the requirements for replacements became apparent as military operations increased.  It was not enough to replace men lost in battle; the replacement system must replace men absent because of sickness, furloughs, or disciplinary confinement.

​

• Marv was probably assigned as a replacement troop in the 135th Infantry, 34th Division.  At one point, I thought he might have been assigned as a replacment troop in a subunit of the 34th Signal Company, which was a support unit of the 34th Division.  However, further research shows that a lineman can be part of a unit other than a signal unit.  And since Marv's patch was of the 34th Division and not a Signal Corps or Signal Battalion patch,  I've gone back to my original guess that he was assigned to the 135th Infantry Regiment.  I've also conculded that Marv was likely wounded on Mount Pantano as part of the 135th Infantry. Below are thoughts on how I've come to these conclusions.  

  • Rationale.  Of the 34th Division's three infantry regiments (133rd, 135th, and 165th), only the 135th Infantry Regiment was engaged in battle on Dec. 8, 1943, the date that Marv was wounded. 
     

  • 168th Infantry Regiment.  Beginning Nov. 29, 1943, the 168th Regimental Combat Teams were engaged in attacking the enemy for Mount Pantano.  However, all elements of the 168th were relieved by the 135th Infantry in the afternoon of Dec. 4. There is no evidence that the 168th was engaged in battle from the time they were relieved on Dec 4. through at least Dec. 8. 
     

    • Therefore, I have ruled out that Marv was assigned to the 168th Infantry, 34th Division.
       

  • 133rd Infantry Regiment. Beginning Nov. 29, 1943, the 133rd Regimental Combat teams were engaged in attacking the enemy in an areas north of Mount Pantano.  Enemy counteraction checked the advance of the 133rd.  The regiment's only further gain before it was relieved on Dec. 9 was Hill 1180, on the southern slopes of Mount Marrone, which Company L took on the night of Dec. 2/3.  There is no evidence that the 133rd was engaged in battle from the time they took Mount Marron on Dec. 2/3 until they were relieved on Dec. 9.
      

    • Therefore, I have ruled out that Marv was assigned to the 133rd Infantry, 34th Division.​
       

  • 135th Infantry Regiment.  According to a military map entitled "Attack of the 34th Division 29 November - 3 December 1943" (Map  No. 11) and descriptions of those attacks, 135th Regimental Combat Teams were not engaged in battle from Nov. 29 to Dec. 3,1943.  During this time, the 135th was located east of 168th Infantry Regimental Combat Teams that were engaged in attacks around MountPantano and located southeast of 133rd Infantry Regimental Combat Teams that were engaged in attacks north of Mount Pantano.  In the afternoon of December 4, the 135th Infantry came up to relieve all elements of the 168th infantry on Mount Pantano.  From December 5 to 9, the troops of the 34th Division were occupied in consolidating positions and patrolling. Enemy activity was confined to intermittent interdictory and harassing fire from artillery and mortars. Artillery concentrations hit in the Mount Pantano area late on the 6th and again on the night of 7/8 December 7/8, when the 135th Infantry received heavy enemy shelling every four or five minutes. During December 8 and 9, relief of the entire 34th Division was begun by the 2d Moroccan Infantry Division, commanded by Maj. Gen. A. M. F. Dody, which had landed at Naples from November 21 to 30. General Dody formally assumed command of the north sector of the VI Corps front on Decembe 10, and a fresh division of eager troops, trained in mountain fighting, was ready for the next phase of the attack.
     

    • Therefore, I have concluded that it's possible Marv was assigned to the 135th Infantry as it was the infantry that was likeliest engaged in battle on Dec. 8, 1943.  
       

    • At one point, I thought that because Marv was an Infantry Lineman, perhaps he was not part of the 135th Infantry Regiment.  An Infantry Division was comprised of rifle squads and weapons sections.   Therefore it seemed unlikely that a lineman was part of an Infantry Regiment and more likely that a lineman was part of a Signal Company, one of the units that supported an Infantry Division.   (For a specific example of how an Infantry Division was organized click here.)  But I came across an account of a lineman who was not part of a signal company.  He was assigned to the 141st Field Artillery Battalion, and his military occupation specialty was Telephone Operator Wireman (code 238).  So I think it's reasonable that the same held true for Marv.  (For details, scroll down to "Travel Route and Unit Assignment.")
       

  • Support Unit: 34th Signal Company.  The 34th Signal Company was one of seven Support Units under the 34th Division.  According to the booklet "WW2 History of the 34th 'Red Bull' Infantry Division," part of which is published on custermen.com, support units of the 34th Infantry Division included the 34th Signal Company.   (During WW II, a Signal Company was identified with the same name as the division that it supported.) 
     

    • I have not been able to determine if Infantry Linemen were organizationally part of a Signal Corps or an Infantry Division.  However, based on the job description of Infantry Lineman (641) and based on descriptions of the subunits of an Infantry Regiment (rifle squads and weapons sections), it seemed  more likely that an Infantry Lineman part of a Signal Corps (and therefore part of a Signal Company).   But I've since changed my mind.
       

  • Signal Corps Replacements.  The following excerpts from "The Signal Corps: The Outcome (Mid-1943 Through 1945" by George Raynor Thompson and Dixie R. Harr, Center of Military History, U.S. Army, Washington, D.C., 1991, provide  evidence that even though Marv did not attend a Wire School, he could have been assigned to 34th Signal Company as a replacement soldier.  Additional excerpts are presented that describe what the Signal Corps was like around the time Marv was in the Italian Campaign.
     

    • A company or a battalion could be made up of any combination of units from among headquarters; reporting platoon; radar operating, plotting board, radar maintenance, message center, radio, wire, telegraphic, ground observer radio, and telephone teams; and medical and mess personnel. (Page 24)
       

    • Throughout the campaigns in Sicily and Italy the scarcity of signal troops at all levels worried the field commanders.  As a matter of fact, few signal companies in NATOUSA were reorganized under the new tables. Fifth Army's signal officer, Brig. Gen. Richard B. radio intelligence company, said flatly that division in the theater could not be provided with satisfactory signal service under the prescribed organization, which he described ad “totally inadequate.  Division signal companies, he reported in November 1943, were operating under the 1942 tables and, he added, “. . . in nearly every case even this strength had had to be increased.  (Page 22)
       

    • Sicily Campaign:  Many of the signal units lacked combat experience.  Most of the men of the 1st, 3d, and 9th Signal Companies, the 71st and 72d Signal Companies (Special), the 286th Signal Company (Composite), the 53d Signal Battalion, and the 128th Signal Radio Intelligence Company had seen service in North Africa.  The other signal units involved with had come directly from the United States or had served in the communications zone during the Tunisia Campaign.  What was worse, about 25 percent of the men in many of the units were replacement who had had no signal specialist training at all.  (Pages 31-32)
      [Note: The above gives credence to my conclusion that although Marv did not attend a Wire School, as far as I know, he still could have been a replacement in a Signal Company.]
       

    • Italian Campaign:  The fierce Italian campaign was just beginning in that autumn of 1943, to continue long and sharp up the whole length of the peninsula.  By the time the Volturno phase began on 12-13 October, more signal troops had arrived.  The 71st Signal Company (Special) and the remaining troops of the 63d Signal Battalion went to work operating the message center, code room, switchboard, and radios of the Fifth Army command post.  The 51st Signal Battalion crossed from Sicily and was assigned to signal operations in the Fifth Army rear echelon. The 229th Signal Operation Company was assigned to install and operate the message center and switch- board at Maddaloni, the switchboard at Avellino, and the carrier installations at Portici and Salerno.  The 212th Signal Depot Company went to Santa Maria to open Signal Depot No. 65.
      [Note: If, as I've guessed, Marv departed from the U.S. to Oran, Algeria (he arrived overseas on Sept. 28, 1943) for some initial training and from there traveled by ship to Italy landing in the Gulf of Salerno, northeast of Paestum (as did the 34th Division follow-up troops on Sept. 21, 1943), it's possible that he was part of the signal troops that arrived by the time the Volturno phase began on October 12-13, as described above.  The 34th Division crossed the Volturno River for the first time beginning on the night of October 12/13 near the area of Squille, Italy.]

      
      The rehabilitation of existing wire systems soon put a heavy strain on the limited number of signal troops. Except for one fortunate find, an underground cable along the railroad from Paestum to Pontecargano, practically all wire facilities had been thoroughly wrecked by the retreating Germans.  "There are no wire lines left by the Boche," General Moran wrote Colonel Tully at AFHQ on 31 October. "Everything had to be constructed.  We are doing all right on poles, crossarms, and insulators, but there isn’t a foot of copper other than what we can salvage in short lengths…”
      
      Serious losses were indeed sustained. In that winter of 1943-44, in the teeth of strenuous opposition, linemen waded and swam across the mountain torrents in order to establish communications.  Field reports described the procedure. Signal Corps crewmen tied a length of  wire or cable around a volunteer’s waist, bade him good lick, and tried to cover his crossing with fire support.  Once over, the swimmer had to dig in and withstand whatever resistance the enemy provide, then set up for business, when the gunfire lessened, so that communications might be established with the forward units.  In support of VI Corps in the fighting at the Volturno, wire-stringing crews had to accomplish their task several times.
      [Note: Somehow I doubt that one of the swimmers war Marv.]
      
      In the Calore sector along, three crossings were necessary in order to keep the 45th Division in touch with corps headquarters.  The difficulty, of course, rose principally from the fact that there were no bridges over which the reel carts and jeeps could roll, or from the fact that the engineer-built bridges were in priority use by the infantry.  Ordinarily, the crews went approximately three hundred yards upstream from the main crossing, where, as in the 34th Division sector, there was only a light pontoon bridge.  This, the river, and the single, narrow, one-way road of approach were all under heavy attack from the air.  A mitigation, though, was the appearance of improved spiral-four cable, which immediately became invaluable in these Volturno crossings.  Captured German cable supplemented the allowance, and thus during the first night attempt each battalion had enough cable to string two sets on each boat trip. The lines went quickly out of use under enemy fire, however, and with daylight the German machine gunners controlled the banks. Radio took over, and meanwhile the men grimly repaired the cables. By late afternoon, telephone communication was open again.  (Pages 49 - 53)
      [Note: As part of the 34th Division, Marv would have been involved in all three of the division's Volturno River Crossings: Oct 12/13, Oct 18-20, and  Nov. 204, 1943.]
       

    • Example of a WW II Lineman, Don R. Marsh.  This online diary describes Don Marsh's experience in being transferred to a Field Wire School, which involved learning about pole climbing, different types of wire from small handheld reels of Infantry combat wire to the large jeep-truck reels, use of basic field telephone, how to repair wire, and climb poles.  "The six week course ended and I was given the Army Military Occupation Specialty number MOS 641, Field Linement" (Marv was also a Field Lineman, 641).  Don was transferred by train to Shenango Personnel Replacement Depot (Marv was also at Camp Shenango).  Although Marv never mentioned that he attended any type of Wire School, sometimes soldiers were not trained before they were put in a combat situation that involved being a lineman.  (See Signal Corps Replacement on this page.)

      • Note: This gives further credence to my conclusion that a lineman did not have to be assigned to a signal unit.
         

    • Example of a WW II Lineman, Don Ginter.  This online story recalls Don Ginter's World War II combat support roles, including being a lineman.  "Back at Fort Sill he transferred to 2nd Battalion, 18th Field Artillery where he was assigned to a staff position as a field lineman.  That career field included schooling as a switchboard operator, something he completed at Fort Sill."  

      • Note: This gives further credence to my conclusion that a lineman did not have to be assigned to a signal unit.
         

    • Example of a WWII Lineman, Boyce Neil Carter. The online story decribes the military experience of a soldier who was assigned to the 141st Field Artillery Regiment and whose military occupation specialty was Telephone Operator Wireman (code 238.)  For more details, scroll down to "Travel Route and Unit Assignment." 

      • Note: This gives further credence to my conclusion that a lineman did not have to be assigned to a signal unit.​
         

    • Example of a WW II Signal Battalion, 56th Signal Battalion.  The website includes information that shows that a Signal Battalion was assigned to support combat troops.  "On D-Day, 6 June 1944, assigned to Fifth U.S. Corps, the [56th [B]attalion participated in initial amphibious landings on Omaha Beach, Normandy, France. During this period from 6 June 1944 through 8 May 1945, the 56th Signal Battalion supported combat operations in: France (from 6 June – 6 September 1944,) Belgium (from 9-11 September 1944,) Luxembourg (from 15-23 September 1944,) Belgium (from 4 October 1944 – 26 February 1945,) Germany (from 8 March – 7 May 1945,) and Czechoslovakia (from 8 May unti Victory in Europe Day 1945.."

      • Note: I'm still trying to find out if a Signal Company had lower levels of organization, such as Section, Squad, Team, as did an Infantry Regiment.]

​

​