Late WWII M1 Navy Corpsman

[Tom Kibler]

I posted this in the Individual Research section as well - hoping someone can help with the name penciled inside.

[Tom Kibler]

The helmet has turned brown due to poor storage over the years

[Tom Kibler]

A rear-seam flex bail

[Tom Kibler]

Name one (crossed out).

[Tom Kibler]

Last name (hard to read)

[bellasilva]

I ran that last name through Ancestry's public and military records and no one shows up- either living or dead.

[Tom Kibler]

Here is a close-up...

 

(Thanks, by the way)

[bellasilva]

Not a problem. I actually just ran it through again as "Grubishich" and got some hits, although nothing military related. You may be able to nail him down though, I suggest substituting the I for a U in his name will give you some good leads, at least that's how I read it in the pictures

[muddyboots]

I found a Antone Grubishich born 1919 from San Francisco in the 1930 census and two from Milwaukee George born 1921 and Michael born 1918 both in the 1930 census. Nothing military turned up in my quick search on Fold3. I have a corpsman group I can't find anything on either. For some reason I find them hard to track. Maybe due to high turnover in the field I don't know.

[Tom Kibler]

Thanks!

[doinworkinvans]

Moved this to the helmet section for possibly more info

[URIK]

What makes you think he was a Corpsman?

[stealthytyler]

Late war beach parties painted a yellow circle on their helmets front and back as well as on their shoulders and knees to identify as USN. I found some pre operation uniform instructions from 1945. I will post later.

[URIK]

The USMC TO&E instructs shore party personnel to paint colored circles on their helmets and uniforms. These markings are not specific to Navy or Corpsman.

[jpstout]

The USMC TO&E instructs shore party personnel to paint colored circles on their helmets and uniforms. These markings are not specific to Navy or Corpsman.

 

In WWII, and let's concentrate on the PTO, the push through the pacific theatre and the battles to take Island groups or individual island provoked new and constantly evolving concepts and organizational changes on Amphibious Tactics by the USN, USMC, and Army, in the sea, air and ground support. As it turned out, Operational orders for each Island group was changed according to lessons learned. logistic variabilities, availability of troops and so on. So, by the end of WWII, Amphibious Tactical doctrine was complex and continued to evolve to this day. But, you can not translate what we do today directly with what was done during WWII. Each pacific battle has to be studied on its own merits to understand what was done during each operation and comprehend the final organization at the end of the war. Tom Hogan and I have dissected a portion of Operation Orders for each Task Force, so let me share a small part.

 

Often, the correct terminology is not used in this forum and elsewhere with regard to these helmet markings from WWII. Tom's helmet he has so kindly posted looks to have had a white painted ball, based on known examples and esoteric references belonged to medical related personnel (corpsman in the vernacular) and Beach personnel. However, we have not found this addressed in the any Operation Order to date. This appeared to start at Tarawa and continued post war with a least 2 different size painted balls. So, by all accounts, Tom's lid would fall under this provision.

 

The Beach party is a Navy function and functions outlined in the Operation Orders of each Task Force. Specifications for painted markings included, at times, various yellow paint schemes on helmet, shirt and pants.

 

The Boat Pool is a Navy function, but just a component of the combat division. Painted scheme range from helmets with red painted balls, and commanders were to paint their helmets with BP, BG, BD for Boat Pool Comander, Boat Group Comander, and Boat Division Comander, respectively. In 1945, the Boat Pool marking was yellow, I believe

 

The "shore party" was a Marine or Army organization, under the control of the Landing Force Commander, responsible for the selection and marking of routes inland, assignment of bivouac areas and dumps, movement of units and supplies from the beach to fighting front, and control of stragglers and prisoners. The Orders specified a 1" Red Square for the WWII Shore Party, not a Red Ball.

 

Okay, ponder those terms, they are erroneously interchanged in discussions and lead to confusion in general. A number of painted helmets from this time will remain in question as to their use and meaning and we can only suggest possibilities as to how they were used, or when, as white and yellow painted balls, as well as red squares were used in occupied Japan and postwar in the US. However, they are just a small part of what was going on in these Pacific island battles. Let me add some additional reference material I wrote a few years ago to further expand on the complexity.

 

Here, you go.............

 

Today, we have BMU-2 (Beachmaster Unit 2):

BMU-2 can trace its history back to the days of World War II. Early on during the Second World War, it quickly became apparent that the orderly flow of troops, equipment, and supplies across the assault beaches was an absolutely essential element to the success of amphibious operations. It also became obvious that some special organization was needed to effect and coordinate mass movement through the surf zone and onto the hostile shore. To accomplish this task, small units called Beach Party Teams were formed. They were trained at Naval Amphibious Base, Little Creek, Virginia, and deployed commencing in September 1942. The Beach Party Battalions went forward to participate in amphibious landing in the European and African theaters.

 

In the Central Pacific, the Shore Party was an integral part of a combat division and was organized around a Marine Pioneer Group or Army Combat Engineer Group. In both services, Army and Marine, the Shore Party formed the nucleus to which the various elements were assigned for an operation. The Naval elements included the Underwater Demolition Team, a Naval Pontoon Unit, and a Boat Pool. The Attack Transport ships (APAs) supplied the Beach Party elements of the Shore Party by providing a Beach Party Team of approximately two officers and thirty men to support the battalion landing of troops. The Beach Party Team would land at the objective area and take charge of the beach in a manner similar to that of the present, but they were normally withdrawn with the parent ship. The concept was that the Shore Party was an instrument of the assault and would be relieved promptly by garrison elements, including a garrison beach party, to unload follow–up shipping.

 

Early operations in the Southwest Pacific were largely shore-to-shore operations over relatively short distances. The Army’s Engineer Special Brigade was organized to meet requirements of this type of operation. It had the capability of providing its own landing craft component, organized as a Boat Battalion. The required Beach Party elements were assigned from special pools maintained and trained by the amphibious force commander. They remained attached to the Engineer Special Brigade for the duration of the operation.

 

In the Mediterranean, Army Combat Engineer troops again formed the nucleus for the Shore Party. The Beach Parties were furnished by the Amphibious Fleet Tug’s (ATF) attack transport ships and from a boat pool maintained ashore. During the assault on Normandy, experienced Army and Navy amphibious elements were available for the Shore Party operations. The Boat Battalions, organized with the Engineer Special Brigade, were not employed in the European Theater.

 

Next, I add this edited excerpt from Rottman....LOL, enjoy!

 

Ok, I want to further elaborate on the SHORE PARTY concept. A good source ( and there are several) is "US World War II Amphibious Tactics: Army & Marine Corps, Pacific Theater" By Gordon Rottman.

 

"The concept of an fully integrated shore party, including Army, USMC and USN, was central to success. It was also the least developed during the early war and its evolution was continuous. Once a landing was completed, shore party support was essential and manpower requirements immense."

 

This particular statement is extremely important. The point here is that to fight, you needed a lot of men. To support them, you needed a lot more men, maybe 10 support personnel to 1 combat soldier. The Marines, I believe, had 25,000 prewar. As the war progressed, every battle had different logistical requirements and availability of troops, necessitating organizational changes in each amphibious landing. Not to mention the wants and needs of the various USN and US ARMY leaders (read "MacArthur"). By the end of the Pacific war in 1945, there were many changes and you have to review each battle to see what was actually done.

 

The "shore party" was a Marine or Army organization, under the control of the Landing Force Commander, responsible for the selection and marking of routes inland, assignment of bivouac areas and dumps, movement of units and supplies from the beach to fighting front, and control of stragglers and prisoners.

 

The structure of each organization was not specified; it was task-organized from available assets as the mission required. In theory, the beach party (USN) controlled activities on the beach while the shore party was responsible for the rest of the beachhead beyond the dune line. A major flaw revealed by the pre-war landing exercises was the independent operation of each party, leading to predictable problems of communications, coordination, and demarcation of responsibilities. In August 1941, MajGen Holland Smith recommended that the two organizations be consolidated into the Shore Party, responsible to the Landing Force Commander - since its mission was to support troops ashore. Dedicated work details were to be established in order to prevent drawing from the landing force's fighting strength. The Navy Beachmaster was designated as an assistant to the Marine/Army Shore Party Commander. The concept was approved on August 1, 1942, just in time for implementation in the Guadalcanal landing.

The Marines and the Army solved the need for manpower to unload landing craft differently. The Marines organized divisional pioneer battalions in early 1942. Other elements included detachments from engineer, supply and service, motor transport, medical, signal, joint assault signal, and military police units. The Marines also made heavy use of Seabee battalions in the shore party, and formed depot and ammunition companies to serve as stevedores. The Army had shore battalions as a component of the EAC boat and shore regiments, and when these were unavailable (as in the Central Pacific and Okinawa) employed combat engineer battalions in this role. The Army also employed detachments drawn from similar units as the Marines, plus Transportation Corps port companies, who were essentially stevedores.

All Marine and Army shore elements and the Navy beach party were consolidated under provisional corps and divisional shore party groups usually commanded by senior logistics or engineer officers and tailored for each operation. The Shore Party for a division was broken down into RCT and BLT shore parties. A BLT shore party was built around a pioneer platoon in the Marines, and in the Army either a shore company (when boat and shore regiments were available) or a combat engineer company. Both had joint assault signal company detachments. Functionally the Shore Party was organized into "platoons" and "sections", though these were larger in size than those terms suggest. The headquarters platoon - provided by the pioneer, shore or combat engineer company, augmented by elements from service units - included command, reconnaissance, map, and liaison parties and supply, mess, and medical sections. The service platoon was provided by the bulk of the pioneer, shore or combat engineer company, and was broken into a beach labor "section" with stevedore platoons, and a dump labor and records section. The communication platoon operated radio and telephone nets, a message center, and visual signals. The shore platoon had weapons, engineer, military police, and motor transport and repair sections, to direct traffic, control stragglers and prisoners, make emergency vehicle repairs, provide local defense, and fulfill engineer tasks such as making beach-to-dump roads, clearing dump sites, removing mines and obstacles, and demolitions.

 

This excerpt from Rottmans book demonstrates the inherent complexity and potential disorder in the Amphibious landings. However,understanding the complexity and appropriate military terminology helps us to interpret the distinctive markings that were instituted for the PTO island hopping combat operations and some of the helmets in our collections. Were the markings consistently used? Of course not? Is there more to learn? You bet!!!!.

 

[stealthytyler]

Uniform Instructions... Pacific late war

 

[stealthytyler]

Here is another mentioning a red square:

 

[URIK]

Yeah, the USMC TO&E I referenced is dated March 1944. Nothing referenced from today, no novel required either.

 

http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/OOB/Regt-TOE-F/

[Bugme]

Sometimes a novel is the only way to convince some people when they are wrong.

[stealthytyler]

Here is a video of a Navy communications team with the yellow dot on front and back of helmets as well as knees and shoulders.

 

Watch from 2:30 - 2:45

[stealthytyler]