Index of the General Orders of the 37th Infantry Division, in WWII
Statistics:
Silver
Star Medals 689
Soldier’s Medals 69
Bronze Star Medals 6,996
Air Medals 65
Purple Heart Medals 6,990
Combat Infantryman Badges 212
Combat Medic Badges 65
Battle Losses 1,368
Total Awards 15,086
This book has 254 pages
ISBN 978-1-932891-86-7
Library of Congress Control Number
Pending
37th Division's WWII Order of Battle
Headquarters Company
129th Infantry Regiment
145th Infantry Regiment
148th Infantry Regiment
Headquarters Battery, 37th Division
Artillery
6th Field Artillery Battalion
135th Field Artillery Battalion
136th Field Artillery Battalion
140th Field Artillery Battalion
37th Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop, Mechanized
117th Engineer Combat Battalion
112th Medical Battalion
37th Counter Intelligence Corps Detachment
Headquarters, Special Troops
737th Ordnance Light Maintenance Company
37th Quartermaster Company
37th Signal Company
Military Police Platoon
WWII Campaigns
Northern Solomons
Luzon
This is the fifty-ninth 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 37th Infantry Division.* Please note that many decorations presented to members of the 37th 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 this work. This index does not attempt to list 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 not attempted to list unit awards, awards of specific Battle Stars, or Good Conduct Medals.
Most of the 37th 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. The branch of service is only a lead in determining what unit an individual served in.
Some of the general orders issued during 1943 and 1944, contain the medal numbers awarded to living recipients. When the medal number was included in the general order, it also appears in this work after the decoration abbreviation and prefixed by the “#” sign. A few of the medal numbers awarded were rescinded in later general orders when the specific medals could not be presented to the recipients, due to the recipients being hospitalized, wounded or captured. To eliminate confusion, the rescinded medal numbers are not included in this work.
This index also includes the names from the Adjutant General’s Battle Death Report of the 37th Infantry Division. This lists the names of men from the 37th Infantry Division who gave their lives in combat.
*General Orders numbered 57
through 136 of the 1944 series are missing from the files at the National
Archives. It is interesting to note that these general orders cover the
exact period when MG Beighler was on temporary duty elsewhere. I have
communicated with MG Beighler’s biographer and he has not uncovered any of
the missing general orders in his research.
*Although unlikely, it is not known if there are any general
orders numbered beyond (GO#216,1944,37DIV); if there were, then they are
missing as well.
How to read the sources: (GO#46,1945,37DIV) is broken down as “GO” (General Order), “#” (Number 46, 1945), “37Div” (37th Infantry Division). Information cited as (37DIVAGOBD) is from the Adjutant General’s 1947 Battle Death Report for the 37th 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. Corrections with supporting documentation can be sent to D-Day Militaria.