World War II Military Records

Update, 14 February 2014

My client; Benjamin Rauch has published a tribute page for the soldier in this blog. The soldiers name is Walter Cuichnowicz and he was assigned to G Company, 328th Infantry Regiment, 26th Infantry Division (Yankee Division) Here is the link to Benjamin's tribute page  (Look on the map for the Yankee Division patch and click on it)(The one on the Rauch Page, not the one in my blog ;-)

 Benjamin is a French Citizen and English is not his first language, so we will be tweaking his tribute over time.

Walter died in 2005 in Newton MA and is buried in the Massachusetts National Cemetery in Bourne, Massachusetts. Here is his memorial on Findagrave.com

A special thanks to Len and Keith at the MA National Guard Museum and Archives which just moved from Worcester to Concord, MA over the summer for their assistance with my research.

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Locating the owner of a WW2 Wool Coat. Using the shoulder patch and laundry mark?

How many times have you tried to find WW2 records only to turn up empty handed? Frustrating at best! Many folks I have spoken with find this to be the biggest time period brickwall that they encounter.

We are blessed here in Massachusetts to have the Massachusetts National Guard Museum and Archives, which is currently settling into it's new home at the Concord MA National Guard Armory.

I recently located the owner of a military coat that was found in France. The soldier who lost the coat was a member of G Company, 328th Infantry Regiment, 26th Infantry Division; and was wounded by shrapnel in November 1944 near Metz France. He survived to be discharged from the Army in 1945 from Cushing General Hospital in Framingham, Massachusetts.

Starting with a photograph of a wool coat and a laundry mark (first letter of last name and last 4 of the service number) I was able to locate the soldier, who surely nearly lost his life, that day in France.

I have updated the soldiers Find A Grave web page and the owner of the wool coat is in the process of building a tribute page for the soldier. Unfortunately the soldier died in 2005.

More research to determine if any surviving relates is in in progress. At some point I will provide the links to these pages, however I have decided to fold off until it is determined if other family members exist.

During my research I was able to limit the number of possible soldiers to four. Two served in different units and that left two from Massachusetts. Thanks to the MA NG Museum and Archives, it was very quick and easy to locate the correct soldier.