Hello, I've always been told by family that my great-grandfather Fred Achterberg served during WWII. The family story is that he was one of few survivors of the first few waves at Omaha. He died when I was young, so I never really got to ask him any questions. What I have found: His enlistment record. It says he was drafted in Los Angeles California. I have his service number... and not much else. It also says "Branch Immaterial - Warrant Officers, USA." What does that mean? How do I find what battalion he was in? If he even was at Omaha? I've tried my digging through the military records, but sadly it looks like his record was one of the ones lost in the fire in the 70's... Can anyone help? I want to learn more about him, no one else seems to know too much. He's someone I'm proud of and I want to be able to remember the facts correctly for my family in the future. Any help would be appreciated.
Warrant Officers' USA - Can be assigned as prescribed by the secretary of state. In other words they could be allocated to a unit but remain a member of the the US corp of warrant officers. Peacetime, pre war, there was a given number, wartime I believe it rose to 1% of service strength (manpower) Maybe (there will be more knowledgeable people than me on here) rather than try and track a unit down, it might be better to see if the corp of warrant officer records have been declassified. Los Angeles Archives - Military Records there are 4 Achterberg's listed. WW2
Warrant Officers' USA - Can be assigned as prescribed by the secretary of state. In other words they could be allocated to a unit but remain a member of the the US corp of warrant officers. Peacetime, pre war, there was a given number, wartime I believe it rose to 1% of service strength (manpower) Maybe (there will be more knowledgeable people than me on here) rather than try and track a unit down, it might be better to see if the corp of warrant officer records have been declassified. Los Angeles Archives - Military Records there are 4 Achterberg's listed. WW2 Can you give me the link to the Los Angeles Archives? All I was able to find was his enlistment information. How would I see if the warrant officer records have been declassified yet?
This sounds very dutch ACHTERBERG In this case it's "Dutch" with heavy quotes, as in Pennsylvania Dutch.
Zyikic- Try. National Archives. Veterans Service Records - DD Form 214 Report of Separation. Military Record request using standard form 180 (SF-180)
Hi Zyikic, I would suggest that you also post this query on a similar forum called WW2Forum.Com (World War II Forums). It deals with info mainly from the U.S. perspective. There are many knowledgeable members and I am always amazed the things they can come up with. Good luck with your search. buk2112
^ Ditto But I've seen the enlistment records you are looking at and it's my impression that this category: "Branch Immaterial - Warrant Officers, USA." was used for selectee's (or more common 'draftee') where the individual could not choose their type of service such as Field Artillery, Signal Corps, Engineer, etc. A selectee would be assigned where they were qualified and needed.
