Chosen Families #3: Soldiers of the 44th Infantry Division
My newest research project for the Chosen Families Project is a set of military photographs from WWII. What was so intriguing to me was how many names were listed on the back of this photograph, 20 to be exact. The other noted some other information about their experience in the service. Upon finding the two congruent photographs, and seeing the 20 names of these servicemen, I knew it was my task to research them.
The first photograph in the series is of a 20 group of soldiers in uniform. They are listed by the identifying party from left to right, both standing and kneeling.
Standing is (in order listed):
Back of photograph with names listed accordingly
Albert Tomey
Roland Surprenant
Clyde Stuerer
Julius Braun
Lyle Bohne
Ed Stewart
Walt Buechler
Austin Neugent
Charles Swan
Peter Rubestone
Ed Smeltekop
Kneeling (in order listed):
Louis Humpolak
James Webster
Phil Ramunno
Nels Karlson
Henry Petrecah
Ed Olson
Henry Chyzy
Jim Thompson
Dosio Sasti
The next photograph I recovered in the series had the same photographing marking and similar handwriting on the back. These photographs themselves are also the same size as one another. It features men in uniform lined up accordingly in a barracks area.
It reads:
“Going on parade with our platoon. (1) Mine is the third or last squad in line”
In terms of WWII research, I knew it was vital to apply the historical context and understand what certain military terms mean so that way it would help me as a researcher. The back of this photograph gave me somewhat of a clue to what branch of the military they were in as well based on the barracks and uniforms. Having other relatives in the military, it seemed like they were soldiers likely in the army. A platoon in the WWII context is defined as “a unit of small size, between a company and a squad or section, and in the combat arms is the smallest unit commanded by an officer. In a rifle company, there are three platoons, each led by a lieutenant.” This makes sense, since multiple squads are mentioned.
The next key thing was to take the names written on the back, and see what would come of them. My goal was to put them in context with one another, i.e a common place that they would’ve served with one another in order to more likely confirm the records based on the names. I organized each of the men’s names in a spreadsheet, keeping in mind their names written shorthand and full names that could appear on records. Key details I recorded included their date and place of enlisted, and their military service numbers. If applicable I tried finding their ranks, branch of service, company, regiment, division, and vital information as well. The chart I created is listed down below. These records were found through a combination of mainly the U.S World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946 records collection, as well as other collections for their vital records, including sources such as burial and/or social security death records.
You can access the document with the table here: Full Chart Of Research
From the research of the 20 individuals I was able to identify 14 out of 20 of them**. To note**, the individuals I did identify I am mostly sure about, although with common names and things, these conclusions are not 100% definite. I also could not find records for Ed Stewart, Peter Rubestone[?], Henry Petrecah[?], Phil Ramunno[?],Ed Olson, and Dosio[?] Sasti[?]. I noticed some commonalities between the individuals as I organized the names together. Most of them had enlisted at Camp Grant in Illinois, and had enlisted late February 1942 or in early March of 1942. The records of the men I did find showed they all enlisted in the same Branch of the Army, “Branch Immaterial - Warrant Officers, USA”. This notation is pretty general, and is what they put on everyone's Enlistment Record, unless they went in as Commissioned Officers. Camp Grant was a U.S. Army facility located near Rockford, Illinois and had been named after general Ulysses S. Grant. Camp Grant covered an area of 5,600 acres during World War I and 3,200 acres during World War II, and was in operation from 1917 to 1946. Some of the men also enlisted in Fort Benjamin Harrison, in Indiana, which although had closed in 1991, has a significant military presence.
In order to look into more of their specific enlistment activities, I decided to see what I could find in other record sources. Some of the members with research had arrival records upon their return to the United States on the ships Queen Elizabeth and George Washington in Jul and October 1945. Using the July 20, 1945 arrival record for Clyde F Steurer as an example, it shows their unit, and also lists their rank aside to their military number, which I was able to correspond to Clyde’s enlistment record.
With what I could find, only a select had this portion of service available. This includes:
Clyde Steurer : 71st Infantry Dept. Hg Co. 2nd Bn
Lyle Frederick Bohne : 324 Infantry Co. F.
Austin Neugent : Co. C. 104th Engineers
Louis Carl Humpolak : 744th Ord. , Light Maintenance Co.
Henry A Chyzy : Co. B. 104 Eng. C. Bn.
Insignia of 44th Infantry Division
Now the question becomes what do these units have in common with one another; what I found is that these units derive from the 44th Infantry Division. The 44th Infantry Division was a unit of the Army National Guard from 1920 to 1945. Upon activation into federal service on 15 September 1940, they trained and finally arrived in the ETO exactly four years later 15 September 1944. The 104th Engineers Battalion specifically as part of the 44th Infantry Division from the National Guard Militia Museum of NJ states “Moving to Fort Dix, New Jersey, as part of the 44th Infantry Division, the regiment arrived ahead of the main body of the division to improve the camp. The regiment laid out and constructed an entire Infantry Division Tent Camp. In addition to the division construction mission, the regiment constructed the huge Fort Dix Reception Center to receive draftees.”
If you want specific information about the units themselves here's the sources I used on them:
To summarize, with my research, I can conclude this group photograph were soldiers who likely served in the 44th Infantry Division with one another, and this picture had been taken possibly at Camp Grant, Illinois or some other barracks training facility location. If you recognize anyone in this group please reach out to jrebelogenealogy@gmail.com
