Reconstructing Robert E. Abshire’s World War II Story

I have requested dozens of soldiers’ records from the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC). Every response from the NPRC comes with a cover letter that references the fire that occurred in the storage facility on July 12, 1973. This fire and its aftermath destroyed about 80% of Army personnel records and about 75% of Air Force personnel records.

More frequently than I would like, my requests for records return no results. Sometimes, the NPRC offers a “reconstructed” record. Reconstructed records consist of a variety of documents from alternative sources (see the NPRC page about the fire). While less than satisfactory, they at least verify the soldiers’ dates of separation from service with occasionally a few more details. Rarely, I hit the jackpot and receive a copy of the original complete file.

Earlier this year, one of my Abshire cousins asked me to obtain her father’s service record. When it arrived, I was pleased to see that it was a substantial file. But then, a second look made me realize just how close Robert Earl Abshire’s file had come to being destroyed. This is the first service record I’ve received that shows damage from the fire. A number of pages are singed and a few others have portions of the paper missing, either torn or burned away. This file was clearly on the dividing line between the files that were completely destroyed and those that survived unscathed. Fortunately for my cousins, enough information remains intact to reveal the story of their father’s military service. What follows is a summary of what can be gleaned from Abshire’s records, supplemented with information from other sources.

These brown spots are normal, caused by age and probably metal staples.

This damage looks like the corner of the page caught on fire, but was fortunately extinguished before the entire document was consumed.

Robert Earl Abshire was a twenty-one-year-old Northern Michigan farm boy when he was inducted on June 30, 1944, at Fort Sheridan, Illinois. At Fort Sheridan, his in-processing included a medical exam. From there he was sent to the Infantry Replacement Training Center (IRTC) at Camp Wheeler, near Macon, Georgia, where he went through both basic training and advanced individual training (AIT) from July 12 to November 12, 1944. His training included infiltration, close combat, and city combat.

Following training, Abshire was assigned to Army Ground Forces Replacement Depot Number One (AGFRD1) at Fort Meade, Maryland. However, he spent little time there because he was given an extended furlough between November 13 and December 18, 1944. He reported back to duty on December 22, 1944. Such is war that he was not allowed a few more days to spend Christmas with his family.

On January 3, 1945, Abshire sailed from Boston, Massachusetts, to France. Four troop ships left Boston that day to join a larger convoy crossing the Atlantic. The four ships were the SS Sea Tiger, USS General W.M. Black, SS Thomas H. Barry, and SS Santa Rosa (an American tanker). Abshire would have been on one of the first three of these ships. Information is not currently available to determine which one.

Abshire arrived in France on January 13, 1945, and was sent to the 14^th Replacement Depot in Neufchâteau, France. He was assigned to Company A of the 232^nd Infantry Regiment, which was a component of the 42^nd Infantry Division—the Rainbow Division—on January 25, 1945. By then, Abshire had been promoted to private first class (PFC). The 42^nd Infantry Division arrived in Europe in December of 1944. The division’s first operation—Operation Nordwind—lasted from December 31, 1944, to January 25, 1945, and the United States Seventh Army (which commanded the 42th Infantry Division) suffered an estimated 14,000-15,000 casualties. Thus, Abshire was among the reinforcements sent to the front to replace fallen, wounded, and captured soldiers.

There are two bronze stars on Abshire’s European-African-Middle Eastern (EAME) Campaign Ribbon, indicating he participated in two official military campaigns. The first star is for the Saar-Palatinate Offensive (or Campaign Rhineland; his star is dated January 25-March 21) in which the Seventh Army, on March 15, 1945, assaulted a front that stretched from Saarlautern to the Rhine River. They successfully broke through Germany’s Siegfried Line and crossed the Rhine River on March 26, 1945. The second star is for the ensuing urban warfare of April 1945 (known as Campaign Central Europe) as soldiers of the 42^nd Infantry Division cleared Bavaria’s industrial cities of Nazis, block by block. The 232^nd Regiment specifically fought at Würzburg, Schweinfurt, Fürth, and Nurnberg. This second star is dated March 22 to May 11.

On April 24-26, 1945, the 42^nd Infantry Division reached the Danube River. While the 222^nd and 242^nd infantry regiments assaulted Donauwörth, attempting to force the surrender of the German SS troops who held the town, the 232nd Infantry Regiment moved into position to the east. On April 24, while moving through Otting, Bavaria, in route to the Danube River, Abshire tripped and fell, twisting his left ankle and injuring a ligament while taking cover from German aircraft strafing the troops. He sought medical aid the next day at the First Battalion Aid Station in Monheim and was treated with liniment. For this he received a Purple Heart, dated April 25 because that is the date of his medical record. The award was ordered on May 4 and presented to Abshire on May 20, 1945, in Oberndorf, Austria.

The 232^nd crossed the Danube River under enemy fire on April 26 near Altisheim and Leitheim. Three days later the 42^nd Infantry Division with the 45^th Infantry Division and the 29^th Armored Division liberated the Dachau Concentration Camp on April 29, 1945.

As the 42^nd Infantry Division moved south from Munich, the 222^nd and 242^nd infantry regiments were in the vanguard, traveling abreast of each other. The 232^nd Infantry Regiment remained in reserve behind them. The division reached the Austrian border north of Salzburg on May 4, 1945. By now they were no longer encountering resistance. Their task was to round up prisoners.

Following, Germany’s surrender, Abshire became part of the occupying forces. Through May 24, 1945, he was among the forces patrolling the Austrian Tyrol region. About that time, the 42^nd Infantry Division began retraining for its expected transfer to the Pacific Theater. In July the division moved to Salzburg. With Japan’s surrender in August, the division remained in Europe. Abshire was granted a furlough to the United Kingdom, March 4-13, 1946. Upon his return to duty, he was temporarily transferred to Company A of the 505^th Military Police Battalion (presumably in Salzburg, although other companies in this Battalion are known to have patrolled in Vienna. In May 1946, the 505th Military Police Battalion assumed control of Camp Marcus W. Orr—a detention camp located in Salzburg, Austria.)

A week later, on May 18, Abshire joined the 17^th Reinforcement Depot in Bamberg, Germany. This depot took charge of processing all incoming replacement personnel arriving in occupied Germany. However, Abshire was soon headed out. He arrived back in the United States on June 13, 1946, and was formally separated from the Army on June 19, 1946.

Other medals and badges awarded to Robert E. Abshire included the Combat Infantry Badge (March 30, 1945), Good Conduct Medal (August 15, 1945), World War II Victory Medal (December 18, 1945), and German Occupation Medal (1946).

While this article summarizes Robert E. Abshire’s World War II participation based on dates, assignments, awards, and other information in his service record, more can be learned about his experience by deeper research into the activities of the units to which he was assigned during the dates he was present. 42^nd “Rainbow” Infantry Division: A Combat History of World War II, is a great place to start.