Index to the General Orders of the 82nd Airborne Division, in World War II
Statistics:
Silver
Star Medals 947
Distinguished Flying Cross 1
Soldier’s Medals 59
Legion of Merit 7
Bronze Star Medals 2,652
Air Medals 56
Purple Heart Medals 2,380
Army Commendation Ribbons 28
Citations for Gallantry in Action 58
Combat Infantryman Badges 8
Combat Medic Badges 60
French Legion of Honor 1
French Croix de Guerre 28
Dutch Order of Willem 6
Dutch Order of Orange-Nassau 6
Dutch Bronze Lion 42
Dutch Bronze Cross 6
Battle Losses 2,115
Total Awards 6,335
This book has 154 pages
ISBN 978-1-932891-25-6
ISBN 1-932891-25-0
Library of Congress Control Number 2003-277533
82nd Airborne Division's WWII Order of Battle
Headquarters Company
325th Glider Infantry Regiment
504th Parachute Infantry Regiment
505th Parachute Infantry Regiment
Headquarters Battery, 82nd Division
Artillery
319th Glider Field Artillery Battalion
320th Glider Field Artillery Battalion
376th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion
456th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion
307th Airborne Engineer Combat Battalion
307th Airborne Medical Company
80th Airborne Anti-Aircraft Battalion
82nd Counter Intelligence Corps Detachment
Headquarters, Special Troops
782nd Airborne Ordnance Maintenance Company
407th Airborne Quartermaster Company
82nd Airborne Signal Company
82nd Parachute Maintenance Company
Military Police Platoon
Units attached during combat operations*:
507th Parachute Infantry Regiment
508th Parachute Infantry Regiment
551st Parachute Infantry Battalion
740th Tank Battalion
605th Tank Destroyer Battalion
628th Tank Destroyer Battalion
629th Tank Destroyer Battalion
643rd Tank Destroyer Battalion
580th AAA Auto-Weapons Battalion
634th AAA Auto-Weapons Battalion
*the time period of each attachment varies
WWII Campaigns
Sicily
Naples-Foggia
Normandy
Rhineland
Ardennes-Alsace
Central Europe
This is the eleventh in a series of indexes of all the divisions, corps, armies and commands. Others will be published as they are completed.
This work includes all decorations cited in the general orders of the 82nd Airborne Division.* Please note that some decorations to members of the 82nd Airborne Division may have been cited in general orders of other commands. Many awards of the Purple Heart Medal were cited in the general orders of the hospitals that the men were evacuated to and are, therefore, not included in this 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. This work does list the awards of these Specialty Badges that were cited in the general orders of 82nd Airborne Division. I have made no attempt to list the Unit Awards, awards of specific Battle Stars, and Good Conduct Medals.
Prior to the creation of the Bronze Star Medal there was an award known as a Citation for Gallantry. The Citations of Gallantry were announced in general orders but had no corresponding awards. After the creation of the Bronze Star Medal some of the Citations for Gallantry were revoked and Bronze Star Medals issued in their place. It is my understanding that those Citations for Gallantry that were not revoked would 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. Since there is no concrete answer to what decoration those who received a Citation for Gallantry would be entitled to under later changes to the regulation, I have listed each recipient as receiving a Citation for Gallantry.
General orders before General Order # 28 of the 1944 series do not give complete unit assignments. These general orders are missing the numerical designation of the regiment or separate battalion that the decoration recipient was assigned to. It is assumed that all decoration recipients were assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division, unless they are listed in a branch of service that was not organic to this division. (Example: Tank Destroyer Battalion, … etc.) Unlike the General Orders of the 86th Division, the 82nd Airborne Division’s General Orders do not state company assignments. Some citations mention company assignments and are included when noticed.
Please note that the 82nd Airborne Division had numerous airborne units attached to it during various times. These units were not actually a part of the 82nd Airborne Division but attached to it. Therefore they are listed as separate Parachute Regiments. The 2nd Battalion of the 401st Glider Infantry was attached to the 82nd Airborne Division until it was absorbed into the 325th Glider Infantry. Officially, however, the 401st Glider Infantry was an organic part of the 101st Airborne Division, and is listed as such in this work. The 508th Parachute Infantry was an organic part of the 2nd Airborne Infantry Brigade and was not actually assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division until very close to the end of the war and, therefore it is listed as a separate regiment in this work. Since general orders issued before #24, 1944 do not give the numeric designation of the branch of service some members of attached units may be erroneously listed as members of the 82nd Airborne Division.
This index also includes the names from the Adjutant General’s Battle Death Report of the 82nd Airborne Division. This lists all the men from the 82nd Airborne Division who gave their lives while in combat. This report only includes men who’s unit were assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division; therefore, it excludes all men from attached units.
How to read the sources: (GO#82,1945,82ABNDIV) is broken down as “GO” (General Order), “#” (Number 82, 1945), “82ABNDIV” (82nd Airborne Division). Information cited as (82ABNDIVAGOBD) is from the Adjutant General’s 1947 Battle Death Report for the 82nd Infantry Division. Entries that are in italics are men who were either Killed in Action or Died of Wounds. 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.
I have searched the general orders of the 82nd Airborne Division through the year of 1950, which contained one general order concerning a WWII decoration recipient. general orders beyond 1950 may yield additional decorations, but I don’t find it likely.
* The following general orders are missing from the 82nd Airborne Division’s file at the National Archives:
(GO#13,1944,82ABNDIV) (GO#26,1944,82ABNDIV) (GO#121,1945,82ABNDIV) (GO#140,1945,82ABNDIV)
* Pages form the following General orders are missing from the 82nd
Airborne Division’s Files at the National Archives.
(GO#1,1945,82ABNDIV) is missing pages beyond page 6
(GO#52,1945,82ABNDIV) is missing pages beyond page 4
It is not known if these additional pages contain any additional decoration information.
Anyone with a copy of any of these general orders or missing pages is encouraged to contact the author.
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.