Posted by Allan Wilford Howerton on February 25, 2005, 4:45 pm, in reply to "My late grandfather, Capt. Harry W. Abbitt" The 84th moved from the Siegfried Line to Marche, Belgium on December 20-21, 1944 and held defensive positions along the so-called Marche-Hotten line until January 3, 1945 when it was deployed east and south of there as part of the counteroffensive to take back the Bulge. Captain Abbitt’s activities warranting the Silver Star Medal would be documented in the citation for the award. This may be in your family somewhere. It is a certificate of a size suitable for framing. Silver Star awards were officially granted by General Orders issued by Division Headquarters. These are on file with 84th Division records at the Suitland, Maryland facility of National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). The pertinent General Order will show the date of the award and the citation. As to the Purple Hearts, if you don’t find dates and locales among his papers (if they are in the family) they would, if he was evacuated due to wounds, most likely be documented in the daily morning reports of Company B, 335th Infantry. These records are on microfilm at the Federal Records Center archives of NARA at St. Louis, Missouri. Information about how to request information may be found at NARA web sites. The visit to Marche, of which you speak, may be the Division Battlefield Tour in 1993. I was also on that trip. However, it was a large group and, regrettably, I do not remember your grandfather.
Message modified by board administrator February 25, 2005, 5:44 pm
The 84th Division roster indicates that Captain Harry W. Abbitt served in the Rhineland and Ardennes campaigns but was not with the division during the Central Europe campaign. This seems to indicate that he was wounded during the action you mentioned around Marche, Belgium. A list of unit commanders in Appendix II of the division history, "The 84th Infantry Division in the Battle of Germany" by Lt. Theodore Draper, lists his name as the first commander of Company B, 335th Infantry. Five other officers are listed as commanding the company subsequently. This is a further indication that he was not with the company after a portion of the Ardennes campaign.
| 49 |
|
Message Thread:
|
