466th PFA (17th Airborne) Uniform Group

[HBT]

I've had this group for a little while, but I thought I would share.

 

CPT Loran B. Morgan was the Battalion Surgeon for the 466th PFA (17th Airborne) when he jumped near Wesel, Germany on March 24, 1945 during Operation Varsity. He was awarded a Bronze Star Medal for his actions on this day. When the 17th Airborne disbanded, he went to the 463rd PFA (101st Airborne), then the 456th PFA (82nd Airborne). CPT Morgan is credited with creating an irrigation device for eye wounds that is still used by medical personnel in the field today.

 

The group also included a cool set of HBT coveralls with Morgans name and rank chain stitched on them. I've been told that the 466th trained in these.

 

I love documented Airborne groups and would enjoy seeing what other people have in their collections... hint hint.

 

---Chris

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[4STARCHRIS]

What a great uniform display. I also love the fact it is from the medical department. The original CFMB is also sweet. Thanks for sharing the display.

4starchris

[Bob Carter]

I'm not trying to knock your uniform and please don't take it as such, but it seems odd to me that this surgeon (or any medic) would be directly placed into a parachute field artillery unit and transferred to another PFAB as such - Wouldn't he be in the 224th medical battalion (within the 17th A/B) and when transferred , especially as a surgeon, would go into another medical battalion vs. a PFAB. Do you you have any documentation that supports this is the way he was transferred, I only ask to learn - I've seen stranger things but I'm curious.

[HBT]

I'm not trying to knock your uniform and please don't take it as such, but it seems odd to me that this surgeon (or any medic) would be directly placed into a parachute field artillery unit and transferred to another PFAB as such - Wouldn't he be in the 224th medical battalion (within the 17th A/B) and when transferred , especially as a surgeon, would go into another medical battalion vs. a PFAB. Do you you have any documentation that supports this is the way he was transferred, I only ask to learn - I've seen stranger things but I'm curious.

 

Bob,

I take no offense by your question. This hobby REQUIRES scrutiny. I don't have an answer to your question. All I know is that the documentation that came with this group verifies him being in the 466th PFAB until he was transferred out during occupation to the 463rd PFA (101st Airborne), then the 456th PFA (82nd Airborne). I have his general orders and will post them shortly.

 

I have Morgan's other documentation including a cool document written by his commander that was used to get the 466th a unit citation for their involvement in Varsity. In this document, CPT Morgan is mentioned numerous times. His Bronze Star and CMB citation are marked 466th PFAB. I also have a really nice photograph of CPT Morgan from several years ago holding up this uniform on his front porch. If you look closely, you can see the star on his jump wings!

 

When I get a chance, I will grab the folder containing this info and scan the GO's containing Morgan's transfer orders, as well as other items for this thread. In the meantime, can anyone answer Bob's question regarding why a surgeon would be directly placed in a PFAB. Thanks.

 

---Chris

[HBT]

What a great uniform display. I also love the fact it is from the medical department. The original CFMB is also sweet. Thanks for sharing the display.

4starchris

 

Thanks for reading my post and taking the time to respond. It's nice to receive comments when I post something I enjoy!

 

---Chris

[Ricardo]

Great uniform and photos!!

 

Best regards,

 

Ricardo.

[Bob Carter]

Thanks Chris, I look forward to the additional photos and I love weird stuff like this - amongst the debris on my desk I have a paperweight that states "I'm Still Learning"

[GIl Sanow]

Bob,

I take no offense by your question. This hobby REQUIRES scrutiny. I don't have an answer to your question. All I know is that the documentation that came with this group verifies him being in the 466th PFAB until he was transferred out during occupation to the 463rd PFA (101st Airborne), then the 456th PFA (82nd Airborne). I have his general orders and will post them shortly.

 

I have Morgan's other documentation including a cool document written by his commander that was used to get the 466th a unit citation for their involvement in Varsity. In this document, CPT Morgan is mentioned numerous times. His Bronze Star and CMB citation are marked 466th PFAB. I also have a really nice photograph of CPT Morgan from several years ago holding up this uniform on his front porch. If you look closely, you can see the star on his jump wings!

 

When I get a chance, I will grab the folder containing this info and scan the GO's containing Morgan's transfer orders, as well as other items for this thread. In the meantime, can anyone answer Bob's question regarding why a surgeon would be directly placed in a PFAB. Thanks.

 

---Chris

 

I suspect the answer to this would be found in the TO$E of a PFAB at the time. I suspect it authorized a Med Corps CPT as Bn Surgeon at the time. Can anyone confirm?

[Bob Carter]

On the 18th Airborne Corp. site I found this which may be of interest -

 

Medical Detachment

The Battalion Surgeon CAPT. LORAN MORGAN, 0-515568 jumped second only to the Battalion Commander. In his Headquarters Section were 5 aid men. While each firing battery were two aid men. Two medical 1/4 ton trucks were due to come in with glider lift.

 

Immediately upon landing the entire Medical Section went into action administrating to the wounded. The Battalion Aid Station was established in the CP building by 1130 hours and within the next five hours a total of 106 casualties were treated with the amazing record of not having one patient die while under their care. The Battery Aid Men perfomed heroic tasks in the field particularly in areas were enemy resistance was so stubborn.

 

The two medical 1/4 ton< trucks arrived at the aid station at approximately 1400 Hours. In addition to bringing a welcome supply of plasma and other medical equipment the 1/4 ton trucks were invaluable as litter carriers.

 

With a total of 13 howitzers in position by 1700 Hours and a complete wire net of communication established the battalion was awaiting fire missions from it Forward Observers with the Infantry. The main effort of the infantry was directed toward a large woods tpo the west of the Drop Zone. However, enemy resistance by this time had partially disintegrated and due to the large number of wandering friendly units no artillery fire was called for to support this attack which was completed at 1900 Hours.

 

Another infantry objective was the securing of the Issel river to the east of the Drop Zone. Several fire missions were called for in support of this attack and they were referred to the reinforcing artillery battalions located on the west bank of the Rhine. The reason for this was to avoid shifting the howitzers of the 466th Pcht. F.A. Bn. on a 3200 mil shift as they were laid in a westerly direction in order to offer immediate support to the attack to the west. The fire mission, however, passed thru the direct support Artillery Fire Direction Center and were relayed to the rinforcing artillery units by the Liasion Officer.

 

During the night of D-day continuous harassing fire was placed in front of our lines on the Issel canal. At the battalion positions a strong perimeter defense was maintained as there were still a great many isolated groups of enemy in the area. During the night a total of fifteen prisoners were taken, five of the enemy were killed and one was wounded. No casualties resulted for the 466th Pcht. F.A. Bn.

 

On D+1 a final check of the area was made for equipment that had not been collected particularly ammunition containers. The fifth howitzer for "A" and "C" Battery arrived and were placed in position. Strong harassing fires were maintained in front of the line along the Issel canal as the infantry consolidated their gains and prepared for an attack to the east. On one occasion a heavy concentration of fire broke up an ineffective enemy infantry counter attack. The heavy harassing and interdiction fire continued throughout the night of D+1.

 

A review of the activities of the 466th Pcht. F.A. Bn. showed that the battalion committed an original strength of 27 Officers and 358 Enlisted Men to come in by parachute and a total of 2 Officers and 55 Enlisted Men to come in by glider. 12 howitzers were dropped in parachute loads and three howitzers were brought in by glider. A total of 1550 rounds of 75MM ammunition was also brought in Airborne.

 

Among the personnel, casualties were sustained as follows:

Officers Enlisted Men

KIA 2 44

DOW 1 2

LWA & SWA 5 47

LIA 1 5

________ ________

Total 9 98

 

Aggregate Casualties 107 Officers and Men.

 

All of the howitzers that were brought in Airborne were eventually layed in position and fired in support of the infantry. This is the first time a Parachute Field Artillery Battalion has made a combat jump and recovered all of its pieces to fire against the enemy. In addition, almost 100% of the ammunition was recovered.

 

A survey showed that awaiting on the ground the enemy had many strong fixed defenses. Included among these were 10 artillery pieces of 76MM calibre, two batteries of four guns cache of 20MM Antiaircraft guns. The 466th Pcht. F.A. Bn. inflicted the following losses on the enemy:

 

Total prisoners taken: 320

Total enemy dead: 50

Total enemy wounded: 15

Enemy M/G destroyed: 20

 

Jumping with the 466th Pcht. F.A.Bn. was BRIG. GENERAL RIDGLY GAITHER, USA Commandant of the Parachute School and BRIG. GENERAL JOSIAH T. DALBEY, USA Commanding General of the Airborne Command. Both of these General Officers experienced a first hand account of what takes place where a Parachute Artillery Battalion meets determined enemy resistance on the ground. Following the operation GENERAL GAITHER in addition to citing several individuals for awards wrote the following letter to the Division Commander:

 

2. In addition to individual commendations in 1 above, may I also compliment the combat efficiency of your entire 466th Pcht.F.A.Bn., and of its outstanding Commander, LT.COL. BOOTH and his Executive, MAJOR HADLEY. Faced with a most difficult situation they fought rapidly and efficiently as infantry, cleared the DZ of enemy, attacked and secured gun positions and set up for artillery support of infantry before any contact had been made with the infantry. It was a privilege to have been associated with them.

/S/ RIDGELY GAITHER

BRIG.GEN.USA

[HBT]

On the 18th Airborne Corp. site I found this which may be of interest -

 

Medical Detachment

The Battalion Surgeon CAPT. LORAN MORGAN, 0-515568 jumped second only to the Battalion Commander. In his Headquarters Section were 5 aid men. While each firing battery were two aid men. Two medical 1/4 ton trucks were due to come in with glider lift.

 

Yep. That's my guy! That is part of the document I mentioned earlier.

 

---Chris

[HBT]

Here are copies of general orders I promised that show Morgan being transfered from one PFAB to another.

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Pics

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Combat Medic Badge

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Probably difficult to read, but a transfer order

[GIKyle]

My 3rd ID Doctor group, http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/ind...showtopic=10878 was a member of the MAC but assigned as asst. BN Surgeon for the 30th Inf Regt, and wore those DIs. Seems he and this fella were in similar roles and wore the crests of the unit they were attached to.

[Bob Carter]

Chris,

Thanks for the additional info and photo , by chance is the vet still alive and do you have direct contact with him - it would be interesting to hear from him if he was attached to or became part of the PFAB. It's interesting to see how different airborne divisions did this in WWII, I have a small grouping from a surgeon in the 101st but it appears that he remained part of the medical bn throughout which raises the question if some Dr.s/medics were attached to other regt's/Bn's while some remained within the med.bn./HQ and if the practices differ from division to division. Confused- welcome to the airborne

[bobgee]

Chris----Great group! They don't get much better than this by way of authencity! Thanks for posting!

Bobgee

[HBT]

Chris,

Thanks for the additional info and photo , by chance is the vet still alive and do you have direct contact with him - it would be interesting to hear from him if he was attached to or became part of the PFAB. It's interesting to see how different airborne divisions did this in WWII, I have a small grouping from a surgeon in the 101st but it appears that he remained part of the medical bn throughout which raises the question if some Dr.s/medics were attached to other regt's/Bn's while some remained within the med.bn./HQ and if the practices differ from division to division. Confused- welcome to the airborne

 

Bob,

I don't know if Morgan is still alive. I bought this group from a guy who got out of collecting 17th Airborne. He got interested vehicles and sold me some of his Airborne groups to finance a project. He got this group from a friend who was Morgan's next door neighbor.

 

---Chris

[HBT]

Chris----Great group! They don't get much better than this by way of authencity! Thanks for posting!

Bobgee

 

Bobgee,

 

I am glad you enjoy the thread. For years I have focused my collecting energy on obtaining groups with provenance. Documented groups are unfortunately scarce these days. Many of the uniforms I see are coming out of older collections from a time when US stuff had little value and no attempts were made to get a discharge, dog tag, etc.

 

---Chris

[Bob Carter]

Chris,

I hear what you're saying, I started collecting german memoribilia over 30 years ago and would try to contact US vets any way I could - many offerred their own items to me but I had no interest, at that time it was abundant and seemed to have little value. As I became more focused in my German collecting(high end Waffen SS) I started collecting painted US Helmets (camos and unit marked) because they were cheap (at the time, late 80's) and I could come home from a show with something - after accumulating over 100 or so space began to be a problem and my interests grew steadily in airborne, in the early 90's it was still fairly easy to find vets with stuff that were willing to sell at reasonable prices, since SPR and BOB airborne collecting has become crazy as most already know - from an investment standpoint I love it but from a collecting standpoint it sickens me. If you have true good vet acquired things you know how much that is offerred through ebay and at shows is pure crap at rediculous prices, I long for those days when you could get something really nice for cheap from a vet along with his story where he got it - It's nice to have nice things but for me the hunt was the funnest part, I feel sorry for new collectors to this hobby that don't know what it used to be like, fakes were easily spotted and nice collections in any area could be amassed on middle class wages with some determination and knowledge. Sorry to ramble on, I'll hop of me soapbox now.