WWII 506th PIR Portrait; DUI ID Help

[Kadet]

I posted this elsewhere on the forum as well. I'm trying to solve a mystery surrounding this trooper. He was obviously attached to the 506th...but what unit does the DUI on his cap represent?

 

[Kadet]

2

[Ilin1979]

Air Corp Training Center

[Ilin1979]

I forgot the ? Mark

[Allan H.]

Mark is correct. The DUI is for the AAF Training Center. The crest has the motto "Prepare for Combat" which was the motto of the Southeast Air Forces Training Center, Eastern Flying Training Command.

 

Allan

[Kadet]

Yep, think you are right. Interesting!

[John Conway]

The insignia is the AAF Southeast Training Center.

[Kadet]

Thanks...it adds an interesting twist to the research for sure.

[Kadet]

Here is a high res scan of the photo. The third ribbon is actually the Soldier's Medal. I believe this man served in combat with the 82nd, or one of the units that was folded in to the 82nd given the second picture. He apparently stayed in the Army after the war, as it was taken in Germany during the occupation period. He is older and significantly heavier...but it is the same man. The 506th would have been his final wartime airborne assignment, and the portrait taken in the states right after the war. I also think the person next to him is a Sailor, given the dark uniform and wide ribbons. A sibling perhaps?

[Kadet]

2

[firefighter]

Holy Crap! I’m more impressed with his rack. 2 DSC’s, SS, & SM. WoW!! I wonder if he saw the DI and liked the motto?

[Kadet]

I am pretty sure the first ribbon is a PH with an OLC, just out of order

[Stretchman89]

I wonder why he would have that DUI on his cap? When I was going through Marine Corps boot camp, we were ushered into the photo room for our companies series year book photos, and the photographer had Marine dress blues uniforms that were cut off just below the arm pits. They were just for the shoulders up photos. Perhaps this guy used a cap provided by the studio for the just this particular photograph.

[Kadet]

Well, as a follow up to this post....after an enormous amount of digging, I was able to ID this man. He had an interesting war! He actually served in combat with the 509th PIB until it was folded in to the 82nd Airborne Division after the Battle of the Bulge. He was awarded the Silver Star as part of the 509th/1st ABTF during Operation Dragoon, and was also awarded two Purple Hearts during WWII. He was a professional, Regular Army soldier who served before Pearl Harbor. At the end of the war, he elected to stay in the RA and was transferred to the 101st Airborne Division for a period of time before continuing his career. Although the portrait was taken in the US, he chose to wear the M42 w/ 506th patch, ribbons etc. The portrait was taken when he was briefly administratively attached to this USAAF unit either before or after reenlisting in the RA on 12 Jan 1946 at Fort McPherson GA (probably before). If you look closely, the photo was actually retouched a bit by the photographer. The ribbon that looks like a Soldiers Medal is actually the American Defense Service Medal ribbon with some lines added by the photographer. This is more obvious when the photo is blown up. He also served as a paratrooper in the Korean War, completing his 5th combat jump in 1951 as part of HQ/2 187th PIR. The second photo of him was taken while on occupation duty in Germany. He passed away in 1971

[BILL THE PATCH]

It's always good to get the whole story, what a career! A 509th vet is awesome

 

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[warbird15]

Great you found the info! Very interesting thanks for sharing

 

 

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[Kadet]

Thanks, of all the research efforts I've undertaken, I am the most proud of this one. I recently acquired a large group of items that belonged to this man including his WWII uniform, medals, insignia, photos and German bring backs. They were from the family, but in a very indirect way. When the 509th vet passed away in 1971, his family gave all of the stuff to one of his wartime buddies that attended the funeral. I bought the group from the buddy's nephew. Unfortunately, nothing in the group was named and the nephew had no idea. The uniform has an 82nd combat patch and a 101st current unit patch, along with Silver Star, PH w/ OLC etc. The EAME has three stars and an arrowhead. I originally assumed that I was searching for a three campaign 82nd vet and scoured the GOs and rosters looking for a match. As an after thought, I looked at the back of the ribbon bar and realized that one of the stars was actually silver, but heavily tarnished on the front. The "legs" of the device were still bright silver. That meant he served in seven campaigns vice three. Very interesting, because that is more than the components of the 82nd had. This pointed me toward the 509th. The list of 509th Silver Star awardees is pretty short, and my guy was obviously hispanic. Sure enough, a dead match. Luckily, his home town paper had a number of stories about him, mainly from the Korean War. His obituary also had a WWII portrait photo that matches the ones posted here (although he did gain a lot of weight drinking German beer on occupation duty!). I was so frustrated by this group that I was very close to just selling all of the parts. It is now one of my favorites.

[BILL THE PATCH]

Can we see the uniform, and other goodies. Please

 

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