Utente:Delehaye/Sandbox Cimiteri di Guerra
3 July 1944: the 3044th QM GR Co (less 3 Platoons and Detachment of 1 officer and 2 EM) arrived at their new station, Naples, Italy, Peninsular Base Section, and were assigned billets with First Platoon, 602d Quartermaster Graves Registration Company (with prior experience in Algeria and Tunisia –ed) at Maddaloni, Italy, effective 3 July 1944.
Peninsular Base Section – activated 1 Nov 43 in Naples, Italy > 17 Officers + 1 Warrant Officer + 10 Enlisted Men + 9 Women’s Army Corps members.
The Island Base Section was established in Sicily from the nucleus of a Base Section initially known as the 6665th Base Area Group, which had accompanied Seventh United States Army. Its Headquarters medical section was formed in late August of 1943 and started operating when the Base Section was activated at Palermo, Sicily, on 1 September. The territory under Island Base Section control consisted of the region around Palermo and Termini as well as other sites where US Army depots were located. By October 1943, the Island Base Section had taken over from Seventh US Army the usual administration of hospitals, the handling of medical supply, and the maintenance of sanitary conditions for troops assigned to this Base Section. At the end of the year, all the Island Base Section medical installations were centered in and around Palermo. No significant concentration of medical units occurred in Sicily, for few evacuees from combat in Italy went to North Africa by way of Sicily, and for these the stopover was brief.
The unit that was to become the Headquarters for the Peninsular Base Section on the Italian mainland, the 6665th Base Area Group, was activated 21 August 1943 in Casablanca. It obtained a medical section, made up of 8 Officers, 1 Warrant Officer, and 14 Enlisted Men, from the Atlantic Base Section. This group left Casablanca, French Morocco, in three echelons, all reaching Naples, Italy, by early October. Until that time, the Fifth United States Army Surgeon, Colonel Joseph I. Martin, MC, had acted as a Base Surgeon, supervising hospitalization, evacuation, supply, and sanitation, as the task force surgeons had done in the North African invasion before Base Section personnel arrived. The 6665th Base Area Group medical section worked closely with Colonel J. I. Martin’s staff. The Peninsular Base Section was established in November of 1943 with Headquarters in Naples, Italy. The Surgeon’s office of the Peninsular Base Section was already larger than that of any other Base Section in the Theater. With the advances into Italy, the North African bases had diminished in importance and the Peninsular Base Section became the major Base Section in the Theater, both in terms of personnel and in the number of fixed beds, reaching a peak in August of 1944.
During November 1944, elements of the 3044th QM GR Co (less its First Platoon) stationed at Nettuno, Italy, continued operations at the American Military Cemetery there, while Third Platoon continued its task of searching for isolated burials, concentrating smaller cemeteries, and maintaining those established in the Naples-Cassino area.
Cemeteries in the Naples-Cassino area, while the balance of the 3044th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company consisting of Headquarters, Second, and Fourth Platoons continued operations at Anzio.
During the course of January 1945, personnel of the 3044th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company, Headquarters, Second Platoon, and Fourth Platoon (less First Platoon), continued to search the Anzio Beachhead battlefields, and improve the appearance of the Nettuno American Cemetery. Third Platoon, meanwhile continued to maintain the Carano and Marzanello-Nuovo American Cemeteries in the Naples and Monte Cassino areas, and further engaged in the search for isolated burials.
American Dead Buried in Italy (30 May 1945)
- Naples Cemetery > 1,436
In June of 1945, First Platoon was relieved from duty at the Castelfiorentino and Pietramala Cemeteries and established their CP at the Naples Cemetery, where they were charged with the general supervision of that Cemetery, as well as those established at Avellino and Paestum.
The War Department, with General Order No. 125, dated 29 December 1945, ordered the establishment of a separate American Graves Registration Service Zone Command (embracing the Mediterranean Theater and contiguous territories –ed), which became effective by transferring the 2621st GRU (Ovhd) from the Rome Area Command to the American Graves Registration Service, Mediterranean Theater Zone (AGRS-MTZ) where it was to function as a separate command, effective 1 April 1946. The new organization was subdivided in two Field Headquarters; Naples and Florence (on 15 December 1945, an Army Air Force Casualty Clearance Detachment was activated to continue the existing Casualty Clearance Program initiated by the 12th and 15th USAAF, in order to locate and identify aircrews , considered KIA or MIA; they operated 6 different teams in Italy and the Balkans –ed). In July 1946, Lieutenant Colonel Franklin E. Scott succeeded Colonel Wadsworth who not only remodeled Headquarters but expanded his staff level. During August, two separate Field Sector Units were activated; FSU No. 1 located in Naples, and FSU No. 2 in Florence (the latter was eventually moved to Leghorn in June 1947 –ed). Early in September of 1946, Colonel George King took over command, while Colonel Franklin E. Scott became Executive Officer. The 2621st GRU (Ovhd) was redesignated the 7109th Graves Registration Unit (Overhead) and all personnel transferred automatically. A change of policy was introduced with many competent Italian civilians joining the unit and replacing a number of American personnel.
At the time of activation, there were 15 US Military Cemeteries in existence in the Mediterranean Zone, with 4 official Detachments set up in Rome, Naples, Leghorn, and Belgrade (Yugoslavia). Each Detachment was responsible for the following cemeteries:
- Naples Detachment > responsible for Paestum, Bari, Avellino, Naples, Carano, Marzanello-Nuovo, and R. Fratelle
Fonte: https://www.med-dept.com/unit-histories/3044th-quartermaster-graves-registration-company/