Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Any WWII historian's? Looking for info on Grandpa..

Today was a very emotional day for me, my cousin forwarded me some amazing information on my Grandfather. I knew him well but he passed away in 1994 and never talked much about the war. I became very interested in WWII history after he passed and wish I would have asked more questions. Seeing this picture for the first time today was a life changing moment, I'd never seen one of him younger than his mid 40's. He grew up very poor, sharecropper, eating rabbits and squirrels they dug out of rock fences. But in the pic he seems happy and maybe a bit proud of his fancy uniform (I'm sure the nicest clothes he'd ever had) anyway if anybody can glean any info from his bio about where he was in Europe or knows sites where I can do some investigating I'd appreciate it.




Buck Mason,38190015, S/Sgt. Mech. Cav. USA, son of Mrs. Mary Mason of Stringtown, Okla., was born Oct. 29, 1920 at Kiowa and attended Kiowa H.S. He entered service at Tulsa, Sept. 1942 and trained at Ft. Riley, Kans. Sgt. Mason served overseas in the ETO with the Trp. B, 6th Cav., Ren. Sq., participating in the battles of the Belgian Bulge, Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland and Central Europe. He received his discharge Oct. 1945. (Decorations: EAME Medal w/5 Battle Stars, American Theater Medal, Victory Medal.)

Next of kin can request documents from the Army. My mother was able to get some information about my grandfather after he passed. Not much but some. One of the storehouses of documents flooded or burned, I can't remember which now, and many records were lost so hopefully your grandfather's records are around. You might have to get someone more close in blood to request the information.

Another option is to contact your local VFW and they'll be more familiar with the process and I've heard of people getting more/quicker information that way.

Men from that generation didn't share much about what they went through so a lot of information is forever lost. I'm not sure I blame them.

Good luck!

I have researched some of my family that served in WWII.

Here are a few of the methods I used to yield results...I am sure there are more I am not aware of.

First, simply punching in your gpa's Cav. outfit, troup, etc...into google searches and see what you can find. Often, you'll get a hit doing this kind of search and one hit can lead to another...kinda like putting a puzzle together. But, be prepared to take some time...

Secondly, I was able to contact the dept. of the army's records HQ in st. louis missouri for any records they had. They had a bad fire, I think it was in the 1970's, and some records were lost...but they were stil able to provide me some more information. Again, any information they provide can lead to more information thru searches online off of what they provide.

Also, long shot here...but do you know anyone that he served with closely? Their family still living? Did he get letters or Christmas cards from anyone that he served with? Many of these guys stayed close down thru the years and many corresponded. I was able to track a man down that served with an Uncle I was reseraching, and was able to go visit with him and take my Uncle's WWII scrapbooks along and he was able to tell me what nearly every picture was about and where they were at the time it was taken. I visited him a few times before he passed.

And dont forget to contact the VA. They have many, many records on the soldiers down thru the years due to doctor visits, health issues, etc... that your relative may have had covered by the VA. I was able to get quite a bit of records and informations from the VA on my Uncle. One VERY interesting thing about tapping the VA for information, was that they had copies of files and information on my Uncle, that had been earlier destroyed in the fire of originals in St. Louis mo.

Hope this helps,
dave

maybe same outfit?

http://6thcavalrymuseum.org/about_us0.aspx

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/agency/army/6-6cav.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/6th_Cavalry_Regiment#World_War_II

https://www.25idl.army.mil/UNIT_AVN_BDE/UNIT_INFORMATION/2_6_%20UNIT_INFO.pdf

http://www.essextroop.org/RCP/Reconprofiles.pdf

https://books.google.com/books?id=Nua6CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA47&lpg=PA47&dq=Trp.+B,+6th+Cav.+WWII&source=bl&ots=cx40lMqyAz&sig=NxgPsYgYjqIGh0HqO5dFFXw_VkI&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi-y9-MoJzRAhVLrFQKHUxzBgEQ6AEIQTAH#v=onepage&q=Trp.%20B%2C%206th%20Cav.%20WWII&f=false

...and so it goes..
dave

Thanks so much for all the replies, I've got some googling to do!

We owe that generation so much