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

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Originally Posted by DTop

On http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb....ygan/cardb.htm I found:
Arthur Baumann
Route 3
Sheboygan, WI
He's listed as a member of
Battery. A 535 AAA AW. BW.

At http://www.normandyallies.org/dbase-artillery.htm, I also found
535th Anti Aircraft Artillery
MAJ Carl E. Tice, USA, Retired
307 Leeward Way
Newport News, VA 23601
804/596-7250
This is the unit's veterans' association (or at lest one of them). He is the contact person for the 535th's Association.

Then there was this interesting sign-in at a guestbook at http://www.ww-iiheroes.com/guestbook2001.html

"I am trying to help my father, Russell Gagnon, locate anyone from the 535th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion (B Battery 5th Gun Squad)during 1944 and 1945. Also any information on the battle at Worms fought by this group. Thank you to all the WWII veterans and the sacrifice you made. You will not be forgotten. Thanks for such a great website."


Janice Gagnon <janicegagnon@yahoo.com>
Whittier, CA USA - Monday, June 18, 2001 at 03:42:24 (EDT)

Maybe one of these folks knew your Col. Francis

I did find out that the 535th AAA AW (Anti-Aircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons) Battallion was part of the 99th Infantry Division which was known as the Checkerboard Division. It's WWII service lasted 99 days (Dec. 16, 1944 to March 26, 1945).
Check out http://users.skynet.be/jeeper/page18.html and http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php...uleId=10006153


I hope some of this helps.

I am trying to find out information about Lt. Robert J McCray who was in Battery A of the 535th. He was KIA on 21 Dec 1944 and was my wife's uncle. Any possible resources?

Originally Posted by gtraverso

Hello,
Are you still interested about information on the 535 AAA unit? My father was a member of this unit which landed in Normandy, fought in the Battle of the Bulge and Remagen bridgehead untill V-E day 22 Mar 1945.

I would be very interested in any information or contacts that you can provide. My wife's uncle, Lt Robert J McCray, was part of A Battery in the 535th. He was killed in action on 21 Dec 1944 and received the Bronze Star posthumously for actions taken on 17 Dec 1944. We are planning a visit to Henri-Chapelle American Military Cemetery in October and would appreciate any information that might be available.

Thanks,

VTCC75

We did do quite an extensive search on this unit in the WW2 section for a guy, maybe there is something in that which could help.


Letters from Clarence F. Miller: Btry C 535th AAA Bn 1943 - 1945