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WWII KIA Named Purple Heart - award card question


pchepurko
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It has been a while since I researched a WWII named KIA Purple Heart. Would an award card exist for the Purple Heart? If so would it give me his unit and are the cards in St. Louis?

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I don't know if they exist but I have never had or seen a WWII AGO card for an Army awardee.I know they do for the Navy/Marine.

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The guy I would like to find an Purple Heart award card for Orie Hartenveld, Corps of Engineers, KIA on the USS Dorchester. I have his Purple Heart but do not know his unit. Maybe the award card would tell me. I wonder if the ship's manifest would list the men AND their unit.

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I believe these cards are located in St. Louis, correct?? What do you ask for and is there a specific point of contact. Every time I request these cards I get a response that indicates they have no idea what I am talking about. Seems like a standard response almost like the Fire of 1973 answer that usually comes back.

Thanks,

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I believe these cards are located in St. Louis, correct?? What do you ask for and is there a specific point of contact. Every time I request these cards I get a response that indicates they have no idea what I am talking about. Seems like a standard response almost like the Fire of 1973 answer that usually comes back.

Thanks,

 

Clyde,

 

Often it depends on the technician answering your request. I believe some only know how to answer questions about service information, but I have also had a technician call me at home who knew about the award cards and we went through exactly what I was looking for and he pulled the card while we were on the phone.

 

The best luck I have had with award cards is Geoff at Golden Arrow research. For a small fee, he was able to get the record and email it to me within a fee days of receiving my request. He is a member on forum. If you do a search for Golden Arrow, you should find his contact information.

 

Good Luck!

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These WWII cards ONLY cover Air Corps / Air Force personnel. I believe they cover awards made as late as the Korean War. There are no cards for individuals in other branches of the Army.

 

Last I heard, there is no system to submit a request for cards through the mail. All requests must be submitted in person in the research room in St. Louis.

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Just read your other thread about Engineer Purple Hearts from the Dorchester and then reread this one too.

 

I kind of wonder if "Corps of Engineers" isn't as good as it's going to get for this man's unit? It could be highly likely that he had that generic unit designation and was an Engineer MOS replacement headed to England for later assignment to a specific unit.

 

If that's the case, then Corps of Engineers or something similar is probably as good as it will ever get.

 

I recall having or seeing at least a couple KIA Purple Hearts like that from troopship attacks or losses in the Pacific Theater.

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The Dorchester was heading to Greenland with troops and civilian to build airbases. I assume there were engineers already in Greenland, so yes he could have been a replacement.

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It is my understanding that PH award cards for AAF KIA's are NOT in this file. I've asked the staff there and they said KIA cards were NOT present. I also requested about 15 KIA cards when I first learned of them and never found one. I even looked through the cards myself on one occasion and never found any KIA cards.

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You might get lucky if someone has an IDPF from an army Kia from this incident? I have had a few Kia guys from other ships the IDPF had whole list of units with name and rank ! Someone out there has an file for one of these losses

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