He won the silver star in Europe and I'd like to know more about the men he served with. My uncle told me he won it in the battle of the bulge. Later his truck with other men in it hit a land mine after VE day and he went through an extensive recovery. Any information would be great to complete some family history. His military records in Louisana at the army base was burned down by an arsonist war protester in the late 60's.

The ranks of the WW2 Veterans are shrinking at an alarming rate these days, just think that a lad of 18 that was called up at the start of the war would now be 88 if he survived the war. Now I do a bit of work with local Veterans groups and is sad to the number of these groups that have closed down over the last few years as all their members have now died

The corresponding secretary you mention, Ted Van Arsdol, has a two volume work entitled Battalion from the Mojave that covers history of the 535th from their formation to the end of the war. Unfortunately only 600 copies were printed by West Shore publications, but I did find one available on ebay: http://compare.ebay.com/like/3900444...=263602_304692. My late grandfather J. P. Heinke was a medic and Captain with the 535th and left us a copy of the book. It's interesting to read bits of his journal in the first volume. The Col. Francis that you mention was the unit leader and was a Lt. Col at the time. They were a unit that saw a lot of action in the European theater, and were among some of the the last soldiers to leave as they were put in charge of guarding POWs after the war.

The person in question, Lt. Col William Francis was my grandfather. I would be honored to be able to get the album back to the family. Does anyone still have contact with the finder? Thank you for your time.
Mike Cullen

I know this is an old thread. I am looking for any vets from the 535th aaa. The gentleman Carl Tice died 2 weeks ago I was supposed to go up there and interview him. The reason I ask is I found a diary/log book from a corpral John Rafalik who was in the 535th baterry D. Its lists day to day activity. I wanted to publish it but there are photos in there of member I have no idea who they are I have copied and posted some on the internet
http://www.veteransofthebattleoftheb...aaa-battery-d/
if anyone can help me please call or text me at 919 750 7327