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Josephina
I am seeking information on the 9th Infantry Regiment of the 2nd Infantry Division in WWII. My great uncle, Arthur E Orcutt served in Company C, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, and was killed on August 3, 1944 in France. I have very little information through stories passed down in my family and that's it. I would love to trace his footsteps, find orders of battle, honesty any information to piece together his story. I also would love to work on getting his medals replaced. Not even sure what ones he might have had. Thanks in advance!
Hi Matt, if your uncle was killed overseas, you might want to begin by requesting his Individual Deceased Personnel File (IDPF or burial case file) from the National Archives, if you haven't already done so. I have found that the information in these files varies, but it may give you some idea regarding the place and circumstances of his death. At minimum he would have been awarded the Purple Heart. So there should be a record of that some where.
Another source of information would be his company's Morning Reports. These record the daily activities of an individual company or unit and are held at the St. Louis Archives. Hope this is of some help. joan
As stated by Cara Jenson below the After Action Reports for the 9th IR are available and provided on a CD at a nominal cost. I retrieved the AARs for the 23rd IR of the 2nd ID and they provided many details down to the battalion level, and sometimes Co. level. Morning Reports at the Co. level provides mostly roster information like replacements, casualties, and sickness/injury. Due to microfilming carbon copies and poor typing some are difficult or impossible to read, but most are pretty good.
Dear Mr. Levline, please may I ask you from which period you have the AARs of the 23rd Infantry Regiment? Is it just June till September 1944? We would like to put together all Morning and After Action Reports to help families of veterans in their research. Did someone from your family serve in the 23rd Infantry Regiment? Maybe we have in our archive some documents that might be helpful for you as well. I am looking forward to hearing from you.
Dear Mr. Deome, thank you for sharing information about your great uncle. I am a historian from Pilsen, Czech Republic. Members of the 2nd Infantry Division helped to liberate my country at the end of war in May 1945. I am a co-founder of our project "Men of the 2nd Infantry Division" an online database of the 2nd IDs members and also a community of veterans, families and fans of this Division in WWII. Our task is to preserve the legacy of all men who served in this famous Division. We had name of your great uncle in our database and now we finally know that he was a member of Company C. I made a short research and found several documents and information (including newspaper articles) that might be interesting for you. This is for example a part of S/Sgt. Hanford M. Rices diary. He served with your great uncle in Company C: August 3, 1944 (Thursday): "We attacked (again). Five men dropped out with combat fatigue. Stethem left so I took the 3rd platoon. (Enemy) artillery is falling like rain drops. (Those hit were) Captain Harvey, Pfc. Ed T. Niski, Pvt. Joseph F. Kelly, (Robt. L.) Perkins, (Elgin L.G. Bauer) Bower, Storey. (There are only) 16 men left in the 3rd platoon."
I have the After Action reports for the 23rd IR, 2nd ID for January through May, 1945. My father was a replacement into the 23rd IR, Co. L. I also have information on where in Pilsen he was billeted including the family name and address. Please advise on what information I can provide to help you.
it is great to hear from you! I am really interested to know more about your father and his army service because men of the 3rd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment liberated my hometown Zbůch near Pilsen in May 1945. I even have pictures of men from Company M, 23rd IR in the village Lně next to us. To be honest, I must say that American soldiers like your father are still well remembered in the Czech Republic even after more than 40 dark years of communism in our country. Every time when I talk with the witnesses of the war they say: "Yes, I remember American soldiers, especially those with the Indianhead patch on their shoulders. The most friendly and kind. They were still cheerful and smiling. It was the happiest moment of my life."
Please, feel free to contact me. I am looking forward to seeing where your father was billeted. Also I can take pictures for you how it looks like now. We have some signed orders of the 3rd Bn, 23rd IR and what I know they were stationed mostly in Třemošn near Pilsen.
If you are interested, you can visit our Facebook page here: We would be grateful for anything you would like to share with us. Unfortunately, we still do not have much information about Company L and only 6 names of Company Ls members in our database so anything can help us.
With best regards,
Tomas Hataj