Advice on 8th Infantry photo research project

[FSBE]

Hey everyone,

 

I have been at a loss for a few months now on this project I have going on. I've got a helmet from Arthur Jones, an Company M 3/8 veteran of World War II and I have been desperately trying to find a half decent photo of him. There is nothing on newspapers.com, ancestry and etc, or in the 8th Infantry unit history because he was sent home before the photos were taken after the war. Eventually, I found a Maine historic newspapers website and found a super low quality image of him in a paper when he enlisted in 1942. Contacted the place who has the original newspapers in stock multiple times, no answer.  I've found a low-resolution Company M photo from 1943, and I can't discern a single face. Tried contacting the owner of the photo, and again, to no avail. I also tried contacting his brother, who I think is still alive in Maine, and I never got a response. Lo and behold, I have this photo and I also find this other photo of a soldier on Utah Beach who I think is him.

 

It just so happens there's a lot of similarities between the two (or one) men. First of all, they both have this awfully sour look to their face. Arthur was 29 when he landed on Utah and certainly the man in the photo looks quite a bit older than your average soldier. Arthur's MOS was Heavy machine gunner, and here we see the man with an M1917. Arthur's helmet has the early fixed liner chinstrap and it also appears the soldier pictured has the same early leather chinstrap. The D-Day photo is listed as an 8th Infantry Regiment soldier, and that is all, however, it's a pretty fair possibility given the criteria and that there aren't very many M1917s in a regiment. 

 

Curious to see if anyone has some input on what I should do to find a photo of this man. My research skills have become pretty good as of late with all this hunting around, but I am past my knowledge.

 

 

[vette59]

Hi,

 

The 8th Infantry Regiment published a year book in 1942 before the unit went overseas. The Wartime Press has a PDF copy for sale on their website. You might want to check that out and see if he is listed.

 

wartimepress@yahoo.com

 

Chuck

[FSBE]

On 9/3/2024 at 1:10 PM, vette59 said:

Hi,

 

The 8th Infantry Regiment published a year book in 1942 before the unit went overseas. The Wartime Press has a PDF copy for sale on their website. You might want to check that out and see if he is listed.

 

wartimepress@yahoo.com

 

Chuck

Chuck, 

 

Many thanks for the advice. Just purchased a copy off of their ebay, so hopefully his photo is in there. 

 

John