Index to the General Orders of the II Corps, in WWII

This is the forty-third 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 II Corps.* Please note that many decorations presented to members of the II Corps 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.

 Prior to the creation of the Bronze Star Medal there was an award known as a Letter of Commendation for Exceptionally Meritorious Conduct. The Letter of Commendation for Exceptionally Meritorious Conduct were announced in general orders but had no corresponding awards. After the creation of the Bronze Star Medal some of the Letter of Commendation for Exceptionally Meritorious Conduct were revoked and Bronze Star Medals issued in their place. It is my understanding that those Letter of Commendation for Exceptionally Meritorious Conduct 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 Letter of Commendation for Exceptionally Meritorious Conduct would be entitled to under later changes to the regulation, I have listed each recipient as receiving a Letter of Commendation for Exceptionally Meritorious Conduct.

 Some of the II Corps’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.

 *The following general order was missing from the files at the National Archives:

 How to read the sources: (GO#46,1945,IICorps) is broken down as “GO” (General Order), “#” (Number 46, 1945), “II Corps” (II Corps).  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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Silver Star Medals 549
Soldier’s Medals 83
Bronze Star Medals 2,145
Air Medals 33
Purple Heart Medals 392
Army Letters of Commendation 120
Combat Infantryman Badges 19
Letters of Commendation 36

Total Awards 3,377

This book has 65 pages

ISBN 978-1-932891-62-1

ISBN 1-932891-62-5

Library of Congress Control Number
Pending

II Corps's WWII Order of Battle

The composition of corps during combat operations varies, almost on a daily basis. Making it difficult to construct their orders of battle other than during a short specific period of time

WWII Campaigns

Algeria-French Morocco
Tunisia
Sicily
Naples-Foggia
Rome-Arno
North Appennines
Po Valley