Index of the General Orders of the 31^st Infantry Division, in WWII

Statistics:

Silver Star Medals 191
Soldier’s Medals 82
Bronze Star Medals 1,007
Air Medals 84
Purple Heart Medals 464
Combat Infantryman Badges 11
Letters of Commendation 10
Battle Losses 418

Total Awards 1,849

This book has 36 pages

ISBN 978-1-932891-59-1

ISBN 1-932891-59-5

Library of Congress Control Number 2005-280389

31^st Division's WWII Order of Battle

Headquarters Company

124^th Infantry Regiment
155^th Infantry Regiment
167^th Infantry Regiment

Headquarters Battery, 31^st Division Artillery
114^th Field Artillery Battalion
116^th Field Artillery Battalion
117^th Field Artillery Battalion
149^th Field Artillery Battalion

31^st Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop, Mechanized
106^th Engineer Combat Battalion
106^th Medical Battalion
31^st Counter Intelligence Corps Detachment
Headquarters, Special Troops
731^st Ordnance Light Maintenance Company
31^st Quartermaster Company
31^st Signal Company
Military Police Platoon

WWII Campaigns
New Guinea
Southern Philippines

This is the forty-sixth in a series of indexes of all the divisions, corps, armies and commands of the US Army during WWII. Others will be published as they are completed.

 This work includes all decorations cited in the general orders of the 31^st Infantry Division.* Please note that many decorations presented to members of the 31^st Infantry Division may have been cited in general orders of other commands. Most awards of the Purple Heart Medal were cited in the general orders of the hospitals that the men were evacuated to and, therefore, are not included in the work. This index does not attempt to list all of the awards of the Bronze Star Medal that were retroactively awarded under Change 13 to Army Regulation 600-45, Department of the Army, 4 November 1947. Most awards of the CIB and CMB were made in general orders of the respective infantry regiments. I have made no attempt to list the unit awards, awards of specific Battle Stars, and Good Conduct Medals.

 Most 31^st Infantry Division’s general orders do not contain the recipient’s unit assignment information. The recipient’s branch of service is listed in its place. Some of these general orders had the numerical designation of recipients penciled into the margin; when this information was present, it was included in this work. Please note that some members of tank destroyer battalions were actually members of the field artillery branch; likewise, members of tank battalions are commonly assigned to the infantry or cavalry branch. So the branch of service is only a lead in determining what unit an individual served in.

The 31^st Infantry Division published a number of Letters of Commendation in its General Order #4, 1942 for service prior to December 7, 1941. Because of this rather unique situation, I’m not certain if the Department of the Army would convert these commendations to Army Commendation Medals. I have, therefore listed them as Letter of Commendations rather than Army Commendation Ribbons. I’m inclined to believe that these commendations would not warrant conversion; but I have included them since there is no definitive answer at this time.

 Prior to the creation of the Bronze Star Medal commanders issued Letters of Commendation for deeds of service that did not meet the criteria for an existing decoration. Some Letters of Commendation were announced in general orders but had no corresponding awards. After the creation of the Bronze Star Medal some of the Letters of Commendation were revoked and Bronze Star Medals issued in their place. It is my understanding that those Letters of Commendation for combat service, issued prior to the creation of the Bronze Star Medal that were not revoked could qualify for a Bronze Star Medal under Change 13 to Army Regulation 600-45, Department of the Army, 4 November 1947. If the action is not combat related, the citation would qualify for the Army Commendation Ribbon, as the citation was made by a Major General. Prior to the creation of the Bronze Star Medal I have listed each recipient of a Letter of Commendation as receiving an Army Commendation Ribbon since there is no concrete answer as to what decoration they would be entitled to under later changes to the regulation.

This index also includes the names from the Adjutant General’s Battle Death Report of the 31^st Infantry Division. This lists all the men from the 31^st Infantry Division who gave their lives in combat.

*The following general orders were missing from the files at the National Archives:

             ** 31^st Infantry Division’s General Order #19 of the 1944 Series is noted in the files, as being located in LTC Rawlinson's 201 File.

             *** 31^st Infantry Division’s General Order #24 of the 1945 Series is noted in the files, as being  “Secret.”

             How to read the sources: (GO#46,1945,31DIV) is broken down as “GO” (General Order), “#” (Number 46, 1945), “31DIV” (31^st Infantry Division).  Information cited as (31DIVAGOBD) is from the Adjutant General’s 1947 Battle Death Report for the 31^st Infantry Division. Entries that are in italics are men who gave their lives in combat. A decoration followed by the “#” sign means that the medal’s serial number was recorded in the general order, and is listed after the “#” sign. The number may just have been penciled into the margin.

            Every effort has been made to minimize errors and misspelled names. An error may be attributable to the source document, or may have occurred while transcribing the names/units. Some of the original documents are of very poor print quality, making them difficult to decipher. Corrections with supporting documentation can be sent to D-Day Militaria

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