civilian
life. For instance, a man listed herein as "Smith, William P."
may have been known to his friends as "Paul Smith" because in civilian
life he did not choose to use the name "William". In Army usage
the first name is used in full and other given names follow in order as
initials. Names prefixed with "Mc" are listed between names
beginning "Ma" and those beginning "Me", and similarly names beginning
"Mac" will be found after "Mabry" and before "Madison". Because
of a peculiarity of the machines used in these tables, prefixed and
hyphenated names do not always appear in strict alphabetical order, and
absolute correctness in the order of alphabetizing names does not
govern after the tenth letter of a name. However, for all
practical purposes the names will be in alphabetical order and cases
will be extremely rare where a name will be more than one or two lines
out of place.
ARMY SERIAL NUMBER: Because of the
tremendous number of individuals who have passed through the Army,
serial numbers are given to prevent confusion. Using the name
"William P. Smith" as above as an example, it was found that at the
time of writing there were 84 men of this name in the Army, and several
hundred men with the name "William Smith" without respect to
initials. In attempting to identify one of this number much
confusion could arise, and this is obviated by the use of a serial
number.
Serial numbers are assigned with
great care and according to a set of regulations. Consecutive
serial numbers, for example, are not assigned to twins since this might
cause confusions of identity between two persons with the same birth
date and same general physical characteristics.
Generally speaking, numbers fall
into two broad categories: simple seven or eight digit numbers (in a
few cases fewer digits) for male enlisted personnel, and prefixed
serial numbers for other personnel. Regular Army enlisted men who
entered the service before the outset of Selective Service bear
seven-digit or lower serial
numbers, usually beginning with "6" or "7", as 6974426, Men who
enlisted in the Army of the United States have eight-digit numbers
beginning with "1", the second digit indicating the Service Command of
origin. For example, the serial number 14066025 would indicate
that the man enlisted in the Army of the United States in the Fourth
Service Command (Southeastern U. S.), Men called into federally
recognized National Guard service received eight-digit numbers
beginning with "2", the third digit representing the Service Command:
20107656 indicates a National Guardsman from New England (First Service
Command). Men inducted or enlisted through Selective Service were
given eight-digit numbers beginning with "3" or "4", the second digit
representing the Service Command. The prefixed serial numbers for
other than male enlisted personnel carry a designated letter: 0- (as in
0-1574257) for male commissioned officers; W- for male Warrant
officers; T- for Flight officers of the Army Air Forces; L- for
commissioned officers of the Women's Army Corps; V- for WAC Warrant
officers; A- for WAC enlisted women; R- for Hospital Dietitians, and M-
for Physical Therapy Aides.
GRADE: This is synonymous with the
misnomer "rank", and the abbreviations which may be found in the book
are as follows: GEN, General (four star); LT G, Lieutenant General,
(three star); M G, Major General (two star); B G, Brigadier General
(one star); COL, Colonel; LT C, Lieutenant Colonel; MAJ, Major; CAPT,
Captain; 1 LT, First Lieutenant; 2 LT, Second Lieutenant; C WO, Chief
Warrant Officer; WOJG, Warrant Officer, Junior Grade; FL O, Flight
Officer; AV C, Aviation Cadet; M SG, Master Sergeant; 1 SG, First
Sergeant; T SG, Technical Sergeant;
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S SG, Staff
Sergeant; TEC3, Technician Third Grade; SGT, Sergeant; TEC4, Technician
Fourth Grade; CPL, Corporal; TEC5, Technician Fifth Grade; PFC, Private
First Class, and PVT, Private.
TYPE OF CASUALTY: This is
indicated by the symbol at the far right of each column. An
individual who was killed in action, whether at the front or by enemy
action in the rear areas, or if a prisoner of war, whether by air
bombardment of his prison camp or by being shot while escaping, is
designated, "KIA." Persons who were wounded and later died are
marked "DOW"--died of wounds. Those who suffered fatal battle
INJURIES as opposed to WOUNDS, in combat or in combat areas, and died
in a line-of-duty status, are designated "DOI"--died of injuries.
Other line-of-duty deaths, such as from sickness, homicide, suicide or
accidents outside combat areas (including training and maneuver deaths)
are listed "DNB"--died, non-battle. Individuals who were
determined to be dead under Public Law 490 are designated
"FOD"--finding of death. Missing persons are marked with the
single letter "M".
Only those persons who died in a
line-of-duty- status are listed herein. Individuals who were not
in line of duty at the time of their deaths are not so listed.
Though personnel not in line of duty are not listed, failure to find in
these lists the name of a person known to be dead should not be taken
as prima-facie evidence that such person died not in line of duty.
Because of the large number of
names included in this work--the total for all states and territories
will take up about 1,700 pages--it has been deemed impracticable to
include the name and address of next of kin or to break down the
residence units smaller than counties. Counties were selected as
the unit of breakdown for two reasons: information media rarely
circulate in areas smaller than counties, and draft boards are located
on a county-population basis. It was felt that coordination
between newspapers and other media on the one hand and draft boards on
the other, a coordination which has existed through nearly six years of
Selective Service, could be achieved more easily in cases where
questions as to identity arise than could coordination between
newspapers and any larger instrumentality of the government.
It should be pointed out that this
work is published solely as a public service and in response to demands
from interested persons. The possibility that these lists might
fall in to the hands of unscrupulous persons in inevitable, and it is
pointed out that misuse of these lists for gain could redound only to
the sorrow of the bereaved. While is it neither the policy nor
the desire of the War Department to discuss the ways in which these
lists will be used once they are released for publication, it is the
sincere hope of the War Department that persons responsible for their
dissemination will be governed by good taste and consideration for the
feelings of next of kin.
Patriotic organizations will find
these lists of value in establishing or checking honor rolls in the
communities. In this connection, it should be emphasized again
that these lists are preliminary and will one day be superseded by a
list which can be considered final. Changes in status may occur
between the time of publication of these lists and preparation of new
ones, and actuarial tables indicate that new names will be added.
In some rare cases names of persons already dead may have been
eliminated inadvertently from these lists.
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