Index to the General Order of the 33^rd Infantry Division, in World War II

Statistics:

Silver Star Medals 581
Soldier’s Medal 37
Bronze Star Medals 2,342
Air Medals 37
Purple Heart Medals 520
Combat Infantryman Badges 5
Letters of Commendation 4
Battle Losses 512

Total Awards 3,526

This book has 66 pages

ISBN 978-1-932891-61-4

Library of Congress Control Number Pending

33^rd Infantry Division's WWII Order of Battle

Headquarters Company

123^rd Infantry Regiment
130^th Infantry Regiment
136^th Infantry Regiment

Headquarters Battery, 33^rd Infantry Division Artillery
122^nd Field Artillery Battalion
123^rd Field Artillery Battalion
124^th Field Artillery Battalion
210^th Field Artillery Battalion

33^rd Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop, Mechanized
108^th Engineer Combat Battalion
108^th Armored Medical Battalion
33^rd Counter Intelligence Corps Detachment
Headquarters, Special Troops
733^rd Ordnance Light Maintenance Company
33^rd Signal Company
33^rd Quartermaster Company
Military Police Platoon


WWII Campaigns

New Guinea
Luzon
 

           This is the forty-eighth 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 33^rd Infantry Division.* Please note that many decorations presented to members of the 33^rd 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 of the 33^rd 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 each recipient 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.  

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 was not combat related, the citation would qualify for the Army Commendation Ribbon, as a Major General issued the citation. 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. 

The 33^rd Infantry Division published a number of Letters of Commendation in its General Orders for service prior to December 7, 1941. These Letters of Commendation should not warrant an Army Commendation Ribbon / Medal if the regulation governing its award is followed to the letter. I have, therefore, listed them as Letter of Commendations rather than Army Commendation Ribbons. I have included them as the individuals cited deserve the recognition for the action that earned them a Letter of Commendation. 

This index also includes the names from the Adjutant General’s Battle Death Report of the 33^rd Infantry Division. This lists the names of men from the 33^rd Infantry Division who gave their lives in combat.

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

                 How to read the sources: (GO#46,1945,33DIV) is broken down as “GO” (General Order), “#” (Number 46, 1945), “33Div” (33^rd Infantry Division).  Information cited as (33DIVAGOBD) is from the Adjutant General’s 1947 Battle Death Report for the 33^rd Division. Entries that are in italics are men who were either killed in action or died of wounds.

      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.

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