A 302nd FA Bn / 76th Division BSM Recipient Joins the Lineup

CPT Emmett R. Nichols was born in 1910 and grew up in Massachusetts. He was a 1938 graduate of Northeastern Law School and landed a civilian career at the Prudential Life Insurance Company before entering the Army in 1942. He was first assigned to the Technical Training Command of the Army Air Forces, but was transferred to the Field Artillery when sent to Officer Candidate School. He was a member of Service Battery, 302nd Field Artillery Bn in the 76th Infantry Division where he was the Bn’s Motor Transportation Officer. 

He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal and all three campaign stars the 76th received.

He passed away in 1972 at the young age of 61.

This jacket is my first khaki 4-pocket to land in the collection and I like the contrast to the sea of olive drab!

Thanks for looking and reading!

A Silver Star Medal, 385th Infantry Regiment Trunk Grouping

1LT Jack M. M-u-s-e was born in Kansas on March 14, 1923. He enrolled in Kansas State and entered in to R.O.T.C in 1941. In 1943 following the spring semester, he and his 53 member R.O.T.C detachment were shipped off to basic military training and then returned to Kansas State to await OCS. He then shipped off to Fort Benning in the winter of 1943 and was commissioned in March of 1944 (a month before my grandfather!)

He joined the 76th Infantry Division in the Anti-Tank Co, 385th Regiment in June of 1944 and ultimately landed as a platoon leader in L-Co for the units departure from the states on Thanksgiving Day 1944.

L-Co, 385th entered combat on the 28th of January with a barrage of heavy machine gun, mortar and artillery on the banks of the Sauer River in Echternach, dividing Germany and Luxembourg. The company would go on the offensive on 11 Feb into the Siegfried Line. 

On 27 February near Irrel, Germany, a mere 16 days later, 2LT M-u-s-e was subjected to an intense attack where he was wounded and was where the events took place that earned him his Silver Star Medal. (Partial citation below, full text in the photos) 

2nd Lt. Jack M. Muse, Company L ". . despite the intense fire . . continuously exposed himself in order to execute the safe withdrawal of his men . . refused medical attention until the enlisted man had medical attention first . ."

He was clinging to life with his arm hanging by (in his words) “a thread” as he made his way from field hospitals, to England, back to the U.S. 

He was still recovering in a Michigan hospital in January of 1947.

He went on to graduate with a degree in Agricultural Engineering from Kansas State and lived to the age of 95 in Colorado.

This trunk grouping was discovered in a Colorado Springs military/thrift store. It is insanely complete and there are hundreds of documents in the pocket folder. 90% are from his time at OCS and include every note, test, field exercise document, map, evaluation, and order from his time there.

Especially interesting are the 76th Division items included 3x field maps from Camp McCoy with his exercise/mission notes on them.

A Laundry Marked Ike Turned into a Fully Identified 385th IR Vet!

 This uniform came to me with just the 30th Infantry Division and 76th Infantry Division patches on the sleeves and a lone laundry mark “S-4232”. 

First, I began pouring through the Queen Mary’s manifesto when the 30th ID came through New York on her voyage home. I found a match, “ Edwin L. Sullivan ASN 36824232”!!! Company A, 120th Infantry Regiment!

I was over the top excited however, I had to now find him in the 76th’s rosters. Searching the Combat Infantryman’s Badge General Orders for all three (304th/385th/417th) Regiments, I stumbled across the one and only Edwin L. Sullivan (ASN 36824232) in Easy Company, 385th Infantry Regiment! Not only my Grandfather’s Regiment, but his Battalion!

Sgt Sullivan was born in 1919 in Wisconsin and grew up in the Madison area. He enlisted in the Army on June 28, 1943 and upon the completion of basic, he was assigned to the 385th/76th at Camp McCoy, Wisconsin, not too terribly far from his home!

He served in all 3x ETO campaigns as an Onaway, shipped home with the 30th for the Invasion of Japan that never took place (my grandpa was in the same boat in the 119th Regiment!) an was discharged on January 2, 1946. He passed away in Wisconsin in 2005.

304th Vet Joins the Onaway Herd!

T/5 Donald C. Berry was born in 1924 in Burnham, Maine. The son of farmers, he graduated high school in 1942 as a star athlete in football and basketball winning state in 1942. 

Enlisting in the Army in 1944, Berry would find himself in the 76th Infantry Division. Berry served in the 304th IR’s 1st Bn. HQ Company, known as the “Red Battalion'' as a part of the HQ and Communications platoon.

The 304th finally found itself in combat on the 22nd of January in Belgium, with 1st Bn HQ establishing a CP in Herborn on January 25th. Throughout January and February, his company would find itself fighting in Luxembourg and Germany with the A&P platoon taking the brunt of the attacks. 

March of ‘45 brought even more intense combat, with artillery barrages becoming more frequent, especially in the battles for the Moselle River which would take place during the 11th through 13th of March. In the town of Monzel the HQ and Communications platoon, which Pfc. Berry was a part of, fortunately took only a single direct mortar round. 

On April 17th the Regiment would end up meeting the Soviets at Almittweida, and on May 8th Allied forces would celebrate VE Day! 

Berry served on occupation duty with the 1st ID’s 26th IR, and would spend time stationed in Nuremburg during the trials. He would also re-enlist in 1946 with the 2nd Armored Division for a short while. 

After the war he would return home, selling building materials, owning a restaurant, and being an active commander in his local VFW. He passed away in 2017.

A 304th, C-Co Grouping Reunited

SGT Charles D. Price was born near Everett, Pennsylvania on March 6th, 1911. He registered for the draft on October 16th, 1940 and was inducted in to service on March 13th, 1942. Bouncing around bases, he was stationed at Fort Benjamin Harrison (Indiana), Camp Wallace (Texas), Fort Bliss (Texas) where he served with 402nd Coastal Artillery, Norfolk, Virginia, and finally Camp McCoy (Wisconsin) where he joined C-Company, 304th Infantry Regiment in the 76th Division. 

Shipping overseas with the unit on Thanksgiving Day, 1944, SGT Price entered combat at the Luxembourg/Germany border in the town of Echternacht in February of 1945. Except for a broken thumb, SGT Price came through the war unscathed. He settled down after the war in Flint, Michigan where he was an automotive technician, and marrying Phyllis Sullier in 1948. He passed away on his birthday in 1988 at the age of 77.

This grouping came to me in two different lots directly from the vet’s grandson. The C-Company yardlong was first purchased and framed and the untouched Ike jacket came to me almost a year later. The grandson was able to provide numerous original photos with it as he wanted all of Price’s wartime items to stay together.