Index of the General Orders of the 38^th Infantry Division, in WWII

Statistics:

Silver Star Medals 210
Soldier’s Medals 28
Bronze Star Medals 1,373
Air Medals 68
Purple Heart Medals 795
Army Commendation Ribbons 214
Combat Infantryman Badges 1
Combat Medic Badges 2
Letters of Commendation 165
Battle Losses 792

Total Awards 2,856

This book has 58 pages

ISBN 978-1-932891-68-3

ISBN 1-932891-68-4

Library of Congress Control Number 2005-283712

38^th Division's WWII Order of Battle

Headquarters Company

149^th Infantry Regiment
151^st Infantry Regiment
152^nd Infantry Regiment

Headquarters Battery, 38^th Division Artillery
138^th Field Artillery Battalion
139^th Field Artillery Battalion
150^th Field Artillery Battalion
163^rd Field Artillery Battalion

38^th Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop, Mechanized
113^th Engineer Combat Battalion
113^th Medical Battalion
38^th Counter Intelligence Corps Detachment
Headquarters, Special Troops
738^th Ordnance Light Maintenance Company
38^th Quartermaster Company
38^th Signal Company
Military Police Platoon

WWII Campaigns
New Guinea
Southern Philippines
Luzon

This is the forty-fifth 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 38^th Infantry Division.* Please note that many decorations presented to members of the 38^th 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 38^th 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 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.

 The 38^th Infantry Division published a number of Letters of Commendation in its General Order #15, 1941 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 38^th Infantry Division. This lists all the men from the 38^th Infantry Division who gave their lives in combat.

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

             ** The files indicate the General Order #19 of the 1944 series and General Order #88 from the 1945 series are or were classified and are not located the files with the other general orders.

             How to read the sources: (GO#46,1945,38DIV) is broken down as “GO” (General Order), “#” (Number 46, 1945), “38DIV” (38^th Infantry Division).  Information cited as (38DIVAGOBD) is from the Adjutant General’s 1947 Battle Death Report for the 38^th Infantry Division.

             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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