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Identify Owner of helmet found in Italy


Custermen
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A local Italian found an American helmet with the "laundry ID" written on the inside of the liner.

 

The marking appears to be Y2547 or possibly Y2541.

 

 

post-3558-0-38605900-1535244604_thumb.jpeg

 

The helmet was found near Minturno, which was the sector under control of the 85th Infantry Division. It was found in the Capo D'ACQUA Creek which runs between Minturno and Hill 66 and Hill 69. On 12 May 1944, the 3rd battalion of the 339th Regiment attacked across the creek and up Hill 66. They were relieved by part of the 337th Regiment. Of course, I never rule out the possibility that someone from an Engineer company or any attached unit or even dropped there some 2 months later.

 

Can you help identify the owner of this helmet?

 

I never get good results in my ASN searches on NARA, so I need some help.

BTW, I never found the last soldier I looked for by name. It wasn't until I had his ASN then I discovered his name was all defargled in their database.

 

 

 

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That last number is a 7.

 

In terms of records in the database, relatively few possibilities, thanks to a last name starting with a Y.

post-94991-0-03980900-1535258119_thumb.jpeg

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Thanks.

 

I guess I can rule out those who enlisted after May 1944:

Yelland, John L. March 1945

Young, Joe Dec 1945

Young, Norman March 1946

Young, Richard October 1944

 

That leaves only:

Yonnetti, Thomas A. ASN 32632547 Ulster, NY, DOE 15 Nov 1942

Yurgalewicz, Walter J. ASN 31022547 Litchfield, CT DOE 12 March 1941

 

That narrows the list down.

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It really is fortunate to be able to whittle it down to two.

 

Usually, when I see laundry numbers as a means of ID, my thoughts are “good luck”.

 

However, you have a rare first-letter surname, and a cut-off date.

 

Should be able to do a FOIA request on the two candidates, and hopefully find a match.

 

Good luck.

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Found him.

Attached is a roster of the 339th Regiment.

PFC Thomas A. Yonnetti was a member of Company L and was wounded on 13 May 1944.

 

post-3558-0-22887100-1535335660_thumb.jpg

 

Perfect match for place and date of the attack on Hill 66.

 

 

 

 

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Photo of Hill 66 where a Water Tower is now located. The bridge in the foreground crosses over Capo D'Acqua Creek.

 

post-3558-0-81009300-1535335895_thumb.jpg

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  • 1 month later...

I can never seem to get the NARA Enlistment Records to find who I'm looking for. One search never got the right results and I found out the reason for that was the soldier's name was corrupted in the database. There were extra letters/characters in his name.

 

Can someone help me find the Enlistment Record for this solder? I assume he is a WW2 Vet but maybe he isn't. I think this is his surname and the last four digits of his ASN.

 

BAILEY 6743

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I'm not doing something right.

 

 

Huh??

 

Hi Custermen,

 

Not sure what you mean by what you're saying above, but here's how I did the search to find the two Bailey's. Blacksmith was saying doggonit with a smiley face to me because I got the results posted before he did. All in fun.

d1.jpg

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Hi Custermen,

 

Not sure what you mean by what you're saying above, but here's how I did the search to find the two Bailey's. Blacksmith was saying doggonit with a smiley face to me because I got the results posted before he did. All in fun.

 

Yeah. I get it. I was trying to make out a word but it wasn't computing.

I am trying to use the NARA database search. I think it doesn't work sometimes. And if the first search fails, then the subsequent searches will also fail unless I do a Clear Form. I don't know it is---me or their site. I know the NPS Soldiers & Sailors site for Civil War period was changed so the search input was different and it is not as user-friendly as it was years ago.

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Thanks.

 

I guess I can rule out those who enlisted after May 1944:

Yelland, John L. March 1945

Young, Joe Dec 1945

Young, Norman March 1946

Young, Richard October 1944

 

That leaves only:

Yonnetti, Thomas A. ASN 32632547 Ulster, NY, DOE 15 Nov 1942

Yurgalewicz, Walter J. ASN 31022547 Litchfield, CT DOE 12 March 1941

 

That narrows the list down.

You can't really just "throw out" the results with a late enlistment date, as those might be dates of re-enlistment. Those NARA records only show the last enlistment date recorded for that particular soldier, who may have served earlier during the war and enlisted again in 1945, 1946, etc.

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