257th Engineers - WWII

[Walt's Daughter]

Marion,

 

I'm the daughter of a WWII 257th Engineer Combat Battalion, Lindsay Clyde Royal. I'm trying to find information on his combat battalion; so far, haven't found a thing other than what is on your site.

I have requested his records from NARA, but of course, am running into problems, with the standard answere being 'his records were destroyed in the 1973 fire". We are working with a Jaclyn Ostrowski at the NPRC, who is finding things I didn't think could be found. We're also going to the VA hospital today to determine if his records were transferred there, as he requested an appointment a couple of months before he died, which was around the same time as the fire.

I would like his military service records because he said he should have received a Medal of Honor, but never elaborated on why. He was a broken, and very sick, man when he died in Aug 1973, partially due to what his military service did to him. I would like to have all this done before the anniversary of his 100th birthday in 2011, in order to have his remains transferred to Arlington, which is where he really wanted to be interred.

 

Susan

 

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Dear Susan:

 

Welcome to our forum. Hope you will stop by and introduce yourself, and take a look around.

 

Regimental and battalion documents need to be requested from NARA in College Park Maryland, not St. Louis. St Louis only kept discharge papers and morning reports.

 

http://www.archives.gov/dc-metro/college-park/index.html

 

I sent a request to Maryland, and received a letter telling me they had an abundant amount of info on this unit. NARA will send a limited amount at no expense to you. However, if there is an extensive pages, you either need to setup an appointment and copy them yourself, or hire a research assistant, which is what I did since the 540th had over 2000 pages from the war.

 

If any returning soldier received medical attention from the VA, then said discharge papers, etc., can be obtained through the STATE VA, where medical treatment was given. This is how I finally received my dad's discharge documents, through the Veterans Admin in Michigan. Documents arrived within two weeks.

 

A bit of Internet info on the 257th :

 

http://www.unithistories.com/units_index/d...t%20Inf.Div.htm

 

http://genforum.genealogy.com/ wwii /messages/14491.html

 

http://www.milliejeancoppedge.com/warheroes.htm

 

http://www.6thcorpscombatengineers.com/RusselWeiskircher.htm

 

http://www.wartimememories.co.uk/allied/usarmy/index.html

 

http://www.wickedlocal.com/lexington/archi...ond-L-Nickerson

 

Tommy and Harold recall their Army days

http://www.campfannin.com/Guidon/Guidon1002.pdf

 

 

Let me know if I can be of further assistance.

 

Warmly,

Marion

 

 

NOTE: The person named above is a forum member - username - saucerdog, in case anyone needs to get in touch with her to share info, etc.