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Technician ranks of World War II


ShooterMcGavin
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If I may add to what Justin B stated as to them being in Medical units, such as Infantry Regimantal Medical Detchn\ments, and Divisional Medical Battalions, Technicans 3rd Grade were also found in large numbers in Infantry Divisional Headquarters. Using the 89th Infantry Division's WWII Yearbook unit rosters as a guide, I counted no less than 15 Tech 3s in various shops in the Division HQ, and lord knows what their MOSs were, in the Divisional HQs, most likey of a Clerical nature

 

In addition Techincans 3rd Grade are found in significant numbers in the 89th Division's Ordnance Company, the 714th Ord Co, here I counted 15 Tech 3s, unlike the Divisional HQs, these guys most likely held very technical/skilled MOSs related from Ammuntion Handling to Weapons and Vehicle Repair/Maintenance. 9 Tech 3s were found in the Division's Signal Company, Communications or Communications Equipment Repair Specialists no doubt, 1 Tech 3 was found in the 89th Division Artillery Headquarters Battery, no idea what he did, Clerk? Oddly I found none in the 89th Division's Engineer Battalion, though that's not to say there where none in the other Divisional Engineer Battalions or Separate Engineer Battalions.

 

These figures for Techincan 3rd Grade in these units and no doubt the Divisional and Separate Medical units, like Field Hospitals etc, or any unit really, will of course despite the TO&Es, vary from Division to Division and Separate Support Units to Separate Support Units from time to time in practice.

 

Technicans 3rd Grade would be found I gather in some numbers in your Higher Command units, HQs of Armies, Corps, Branch Groups like Armored, Tank Destroyer, Cavalry. and Artillery Groups, and Theater Commands, the Stateside Service Commands, Ports of Embarkation etc etc etc. And lets not forget about the Air Corps, which was Army in them days, they, Tech 3s were sure to be found around Air Field HQs whether at Home or Overseas, but don't look for a Bomber Crewman that was a Tech 3, I could be wrong but I don't believe a Tech 3 would of been one, they seem to have been Hardstripers, heck I don't even know if Tech 5s were Bomber Crewman, maybe, maybe a Radio Operator, perhaps as Transport Crewman, not sure. :)

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I have a copy of the roster for the 608th Ord Bn. (Base Armament & Maintenance). I believe this is about the end of the war in 1945 because my father in law is a 2nd Lt. on this roster. He was direct commisioned late in the war. This is a list of the Tech 3's by unit in the battalion.

 

HQ & HQ Co: 6

3258 Ord Base Depot Co: 0 (all techs listed are 4 and 5.)

3158 OB A&FC Co: 11

3208 OB SAM Co: 12

3108 OBAVM Co.: 35

 

Total Tech 3's in the battalion at this time: 64

 

This shows the number of Tech 3's in this battalion in 1945.

 

Just an information post This unit had many Tech ranks as would be expected I would think for a unit of this type.

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I just checked my copy of On the Way. 195th Field Artillery Bn. Published in 1945.

 

There are only 2 Tech 3's in the battalion. One in HQ Battery. One in the Medical Detachment. Many fewer Tech 4's and Tech 5's than was in the Ord Bn. which I would have figured.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Came into a book on the 1st Army in WWII, not a period yearbook but rather a modern historical study from the Army's Center of Miltary History, in it it has the TO ( Table of Organization ) for an Army in it's appendix, TO No 200-1 July 1 1942, it has listed 54 Technicians 3rd Grade in it's TO. This TO is I gather for Field Armies only, as it has two Echelons, Forward and Rear, 35 Tech 3s in it's Forward Echelon, 19 Tech 3s in it's Rear Echelon. Not sure if this TO would pertain to the two Stateside Armies, the 2nd and the 4th Armies, but it would pertain to the other Field Armies in all Theaters, with I gather slight fluctuations in the actual numbers at one time or another of personel and their Grades as one would expect in any unit of any size.

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  • 1 year later...

Forgive me for resurrecting an old post. Like a few others on here, I also have a grandfather who had served in World War II as a T-5. Throughout the journey in writing his biography, several family members have called him a corporal, a sergeant, and his release papers name him as a medical technician, T-5. I've discovered all but the latter are pretty broad in their functions (of course) and none sound like what he did. My father, who had heard this from my aunts, said my grandpa ran bodies off the field and worked on soldiers still alive beside an actual doctor.

I noted the Spearheading D-Day book you had mentioned and plan to check into that to see if my library has it. Does the book mention any T-5's?

 

What different functions did the different grades have?

My grandpa died twenty years after his service, in a semi accident. I've always wanted to know him as well as I can. I never even found out he existed until my grandma's second husband died of cancer in 2000.

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P.S. Sorry if these questions have somewhat already been answered... I'm still not too familiar with the military so I'm trying to get clear-cut answers all in one place so I'm not too confused. Because I'm "getting" a T-5 and a corporal would NOT be the same, yet my family members have used those terms interchangeably.

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P.S. Sorry if these questions have somewhat already been answered... I'm still not too familiar with the military so I'm trying to get clear-cut answers all in one place so I'm not too confused. Because I'm "getting" a T-5 and a corporal would NOT be the same, yet my family members have used those terms interchangeably.

In WWII, Technicians while not Non Commissioned Officers were addressed formally by their true NCO counterpart's grade, T/5 would be addressed as Corporal, and the T/4's and T/3s Sergeant, I know it sounds both odd and confusing. It was on paper work and on muster rolls one see's the rank in full, in it's three common forms T/5 T/4 T/3, or Tech 5 Tech 4 Tech 3, or Technician Grade 5 Technician Grade 4 Technician Grade 3.

 

I would urge you to go through this topic from the first page, while clicking on the re-linked topics as you go, do it a few times, and with study of this topic alone, I think you'll get the range on what Technician Grades did.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks, patches. I'm writing a biography about my grandfather. From what I've gone over and read, in addition to researching other websites, would he be the lowest ranking among the technician grades? I've heard from various relatives he pulled wounded soldiers from the field, but nothing has ever been mentioned he did any fighting.

Which raises another question.

 

What ways do you think serving in World War II may have affected him a fifth grade technician? Since he didn't directly battle like everyone else, but worked more closely with the wounded or dying, what different effects might have he carried back home with him than a soldier who was killing all day? My aunts said he never said a whole lot while he was still alive, just the typical "it was awful."

After trying to find his friends who also served, all have turned up dead so far. I'm trying to build on an accurate picture as I can.

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Thanks, patches. I'm writing a biography about my grandfather. From what I've gone over and read, in addition to researching other websites, would he be the lowest ranking among the technician grades? I've heard from various relatives he pulled wounded soldiers from the field, but nothing has ever been mentioned he did any fighting.

 

Which raises another question.

 

What ways do you think serving in World War II may have affected him a fifth grade technician? Since he didn't directly battle like everyone else, but worked more closely with the wounded or dying, what different effects might have he carried back home with him than a soldier who was killing all day? My aunts said he never said a whole lot while he was still alive, just the typical "it was awful."

 

After trying to find his friends who also served, all have turned up dead so far. I'm trying to build on an accurate picture as I can.

What was he, a Medical Aidman? Sounds like it. Medics both in line units and assigned to aid stations and hospitals indeed could be found in the rank of Technician, and in all three grades, the lowest of which was Technician 5th Grade.

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What was he, a Medical Aidman? Sounds like it. Medics both in line units and assigned to aid stations and hospitals indeed could be found in the rank of Technician, and in all three grades, the lowest of which was Technician 5th Grade.

 

Possibly. I'm still waiting to receive his release papers.

 

Meanwhile I found an old letter I'd written my grandma with various questions, and she said the government asked him to join the medical core of the army after he had taken a test. Did it matter if you had a background in the medical field or did the government just assign you based on similar skills or the potential it believed you had?

 

I also understand back then you were drafted. So when my grandma says my grandpa "was called to serve," did that mean the government sent him a letter or how did that work out?

 

Thanks again for your response. As I go through my research, I will look for "medical aidman" instead of technician/fifth grade or corporal. There doesn't seem to be many internet articles/general sources for this army description.

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He sounds like he was a medic, and that he was indeed drafted, also sounds like he did not have any medical training or background, here I would say he scored a high score or sufficiently high enough on the aptitude test to qualify for, or selection for the Medical Corps (you said Core, it's properly Corps), these could be in an array of positions other the Medical Aid man, like Lab Technicians etc etc. During the periods of the draft, draftees were picked for MOS by their scores generally, that the official line, you did have guys with no related back ground in a branch or MOS being selected for it, like a guy who worked as a short order cook, but was made an MP, or a guy who worked in the Ladies Shoe Department of a Department Store who was made a Tank Mechanic. On the other side of the spectrum, guys who might of had a back ground in a specific work related field and being assigned as say, an Infantrymen or Tank Destroyer Crewman and the like. But in a great of cases where extensive education and actual hands on experience in a specialized or technical field determined the MOS or Branch one would be selected for, and not just for the MC, but for other highly specialized and or technical positions in the other branches of the Army, like in example the Ordnance Corps, Signal Corps, Corp of Engineers, Transportation Corps etc.

 

As far as the Medical Corps, if one was a trained physician it would be these men who might be asked to voluntarily enlist in the MC or they were outright drafted (like during the Korean War), for those being assigned as enlisted men in the MC, one will likely find guys who were under going medical training to become a physician of some kind and volunteered for the draft specifically to be in the MC in some sort of duty or were drafted outright in the normal way, and because of their medical study at the time they were drafted were correctly and wisely selected for the MC. And then there's your divinity students (Draft Classification IV-D), those men studying to become a clergyman in one of the sects of either the Protestant faith or the Roman faith, or others like Greek or even Jewish faiths, these men were not subjected to the draft, but many joined up voluntarily and the natural branch they would chose would be the Medical Corps, who knows maybe a couple or a few went in to be Tankers or Infantry men or Bomber Crewmen :lol:, but MC was the obvious branch.

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  • 3 months later...
ShooterMcGavin

I'm not sure if NCO clubs existed during WW2, but did this mean the technician grades were not permitted entry? And why did they end at Staff Sergeant and not Technical Sergeant and Master Sergeant? Or even consider PFC for that matter?

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Salvage Sailor

First Three Grades club (Zebra Room) Fort Shafter, T.H.

 

Fort Shafter NCO Club 01.JPG

Fort Shafter NCO Club 02.jpg

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I'm not sure if NCO clubs existed during WW2, but did this mean the technician grades were not permitted entry? And why did they end at Staff Sergeant and not Technical Sergeant and Master Sergeant? Or even consider PFC for that matter?

I think because the two grades Tech Sgt and M/Sgt were a little too senior, and they were in theory to be a command slot in the case of Tech Sgt, and an administration slot in the case of a M/Sgt within technical skilled units, IE Signal, Medical, Ordnance ETC. Pfc? maybe thought to be too junior, and that a Corporal grade equivalent would be sufficient for the lowest rank of Technician.

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