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My wife's Grandfather


kilgarvan
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My wife's uncle gave me a bunch of her grandfathers stuff I'm trying to ID and find out more on. Looks like he was in the First Army and Tech 5th grade? He served in WW2. These came in a box with a bunch of other stuff. Are these patches all WW2? Also, thoughts on the 13 field artillery pin? I looked up the 13th and it didn't appear they were attached to the first army so that doesn't make sense? Any thoughts and help welcomed.

post-150849-0-58806200-1450234476.jpeg

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Here is a pic of him. Looking at the binoculars seems like they are appropriate for field artillery but again was the 13th attached to the First Army?

 

post-2-0-50198200-1450237790.jpg

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Based on how thin the case is, I think it is a camera, likely one of the folding Kodak Brownies, something like this:

 

2.jpg

 

The rounded bottom is also charateristic of the folding camera cases:

 

2.jpg

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Hard to tell from pic, but 13th FA brass appears to be darkened bronze, which would make it 1904-1922 or so. 13th FA insignia is also for an officer; the battalion was part of the 24th Infantry Div in WW 2, which fought in the Pacific, which rules out 1st Army.

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Thanks for the help guys! Wow, didn't think of a camera, thought it would be a set of binoculars as I originally thought he might have been in the field artillery. Your pictures of the camera case are a close match. I was also confused on the 13th artillery and the first army. I have pictures of him with his buddies during WW2 and you can see the first army patches. So I'm fairly certain he was in the first army. Its unfortunate the family doesn't know more about his service record. His name was Herbert Striffler from New Jersey. I know little else other than what I have been posting. Totally confused on the 13th artillery pin then. Yes, it seems to be a discolored old bronze and Striffler wasn't an officer as seen with the Tech patches. So maybe it was a momento of some sort. I'll try and post additional pics on that. Just trying to piece together his story and these items are all I have to go on. I did post in another forum a "laundry" pin that has a number on it. I'll repost a link here. Maybe somebody out there with his name and laundry number could help me find some sort of record for him in the first army?

 

thanks

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Link to thread with pic of laundry pin with number:

 

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/256449-what-is-this-military-or-not/

 

I did also see that the 13th was only in the pacific. I have a collection of unlabled pictures as well that was in with his stuff. there are a few that have palm trees....so, maybe he was re assigned to the 13th? but that doesnt explain the early officers pin WW1 era..... I'm really trying to figure this out. Any help would be great.

 

Thanks!

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He was in the Pacific for some reason: he returned from Honolulu on the USS West Point in November 1943. It looks like his brother was with him:

 

ship.jpg

 

ship1.jpg

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So I assume then it's possible the 13th artillery pin could have been his?

 

It's possible he was a civilian in Hawaii and may have picked that up as a souvenir. He was with an similar unit in the NY National Guard so he may have visited the 13th at Schofield while in the Islands.

 

I looked up some of the other men named on the USS West Point manifest for that Nov. 1943 voyage from Honolulu. I had thought they were soldiers, and that the manifest heading calling them "civilians" was wrong. But after looking up some of them I think they were indeed civilians heading back to the mainland. The guy listed after Herbert is, I believe, his younger brother John, who enlisted in January 1944:

 

johnenlist.jpg

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Okay, here's Herbert enlisting in 1943, just after his return from Hawaii.

 

herbenlist.jpg

 

This would confirm he was a civilian in Hawaii. Doing what, who knows?

 

In the 1940 census it looks like younger brother John was living in New York with Herbert and his wife Eva. Was that your wife's grandmother or do I have the wrong Strifflers there?

 

 

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Yes, you have the correct Striffler! Eva was his wife. Just looked at their Mass cards. Herbert did indeed die on 5 Sept 1973. Eva died 17 April 1989. Thanks again for all your help. Any other insights welcomed as I don't have access to this data.

 

Thanks!!

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You could get his records from the national archives also. I would recommend going through golden arrow research as they would be way faster and probably cheaper. You may find things like enlistment and discharge records, service records among other things. Worth a shot. I did this for my wife's grandfather. Hope this helps.

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Found this:

 

http://www.criba.be/fr/stories/detail/the-battery-d-639th-aaa-bn-in-the-battle-of-the-bulge-333-1

 

Mentions a Herbert L. Striffler as a part of Company D 639th AAA. Might it be possible he was then moved to the 113th AAA when he was shipped home in 1946? I think we are getting closer to figuring out what he did in WW2!

 

Thanks for the help.

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