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Posted: 4/14/2015 9:15:31 PM EDT

As we speak my father is in the process of passing.

I have his dd214 and wanted to know some info. Date of separation 3/8/55, Camp Kilmer NJ

Reason and auth for sep AR635-205COFG(PETS)&SECIII SR615-360-5&PAR2(B)SR615-363-5CH2SPN04

Box 3 - CPL (T)
Box 4 - RA
Box 27 - Occ Med Ger, Nat'l Def Ser Med, Good Conduct Med
Box 28 - 1695 984 ENGR CO (FM)

Box 30 (training stuff)
AGD GA WH VEH REPMAN
USAREUR ENGR SCH CONST ENG MECH

He mentioned in the past that he was in the CIC when he was in Berlin (we have pictures of him bunked in the old SS barracks) but we only have his DD214 and he said anything he did then would be classified and not in his official record. BS or legit? Is it worth trying to get the files mailed to us?

Anything anyone can tell us about what he may have done while over there? He had the flaming sword with a rainbow patch on his uniform but I can't seem to find it at the moment (of course).

Also would his CIC service (assuming it was fact) be something we would put in the obit?
Link Posted: 4/14/2015 9:21:20 PM EDT
[#1]
sorry for you in this time. condolences

I'm sure you'll get your answers here.
Link Posted: 4/16/2015 8:46:40 PM EDT
[#2]
Quoted:

As we speak my father is in the process of passing.

I have his dd214 and wanted to know some info. Date of separation 3/8/55, Camp Kilmer NJ

Reason and auth for sep AR635-205COFG(PETS)&SECIII SR615-360-5&PAR2(B)SR615-363-5CH2SPN04

Box 3 - CPL (T)
Box 4 - RA
Box 27 - Occ Med Ger, Nat'l Def Ser Med, Good Conduct Med
Box 28 - 1695 984 ENGR CO (FM)

Box 30 (training stuff)
AGD GA WH VEH REPMAN
USAREUR ENGR SCH CONST ENG MECH

He mentioned in the past that he was in the CIC when he was in Berlin (we have pictures of him bunked in the old SS barracks) but we only have his DD214 and he said anything he did then would be classified and not in his official record. BS or legit? Is it worth trying to get the files mailed to us?

Anything anyone can tell us about what he may have done while over there? He had the flaming sword with a rainbow patch on his uniform but I can't seem to find it at the moment (of course).

Also would his CIC service (assuming it was fact) be something we would put in the obit?
View Quote


Here's a breakdown of the Army shorthand.

Box 3 -Technical Corporal. Rank of E4, but in a technical specialty.
Box 4 - Regular Army i.e active duty.
Box 27 - Occupation of Germany, National Defense Service Medal, Good Conduct Medal
Box 28 - 1695 is Army MOS for  either Engineer equipment repair inspector or Engineer equipment repair supervisor  
             His unit of assignment was the 984 Engineer Company (Field Maintenance)

Box 30 (training stuff)
Wheeled vehicle repairman. I don't know what AGD GA means.
USAREUR (US Army Europe) Engineer School, Construction Engineer, Mechanized (type of unit).

CIC is counter intelligence corps. These are they guys that track the other guy's spies and keep them under surveillance, and also run counter intelligence operations. I don't know what an engineer equipment repair inspector or engineer equipment repair supervisor would be doing with this group, but in the early days of the cold war I suppose anything is possible. I know as an MP we had other MOS's assigned to us for the purpose of performing some of our field missions, so it's possible that someone with a detailed maintenance knowledge was necessary for some missions. It also could be that as a member of a field maintenance company you dad's unit was assigned as an organic support asset of a CIC unit.

For the type and chapter of his discharge, the current Army Regulation 635 bears no resemblance what so ever tot he same regulation from 1955. I can't even begin to try and look that up. You would need to find a copy of the 1955 AR635 in order to look that up.
Link Posted: 4/17/2015 7:32:56 AM EDT
[#3]
In 1957, an RA prefix on an enlisted serial number meant "Regular Army" meaning you enlisted. (and served a longer hitch)

Draftees had a "US" serial number prefix. (and served for two years, unless extended)

I don't know when your social security number became your ASN, but it was long after I got out, and that, combined with the end of the draft, made all that shit go away.
Link Posted: 4/18/2015 4:01:33 PM EDT
[#4]
Quoted:

As we speak my father is in the process of passing.

I have his dd214 and wanted to know some info. Date of separation 3/8/55, Camp Kilmer NJ

Reason and auth for sep AR635-205COFG(PETS)&SECIII SR615-360-5&PAR2(B)SR615-363-5CH2SPN04

Box 3 - CPL (T)
Box 4 - RA
Box 27 - Occ Med Ger, Nat'l Def Ser Med, Good Conduct Med
Box 28 - 1695 984 ENGR CO (FM)

Box 30 (training stuff)
AGD GA WH VEH REPMAN
USAREUR ENGR SCH CONST ENG MECH

He mentioned in the past that he was in the CIC when he was in Berlin (we have pictures of him bunked in the old SS barracks) but we only have his DD214 and he said anything he did then would be classified and not in his official record. BS or legit? Is it worth trying to get the files mailed to us?

Anything anyone can tell us about what he may have done while over there? He had the flaming sword with a rainbow patch on his uniform but I can't seem to find it at the moment (of course).

Also would his CIC service (assuming it was fact) be something we would put in the obit?
View Quote

To reference your concern about classified and not in the official record bit... DD214's don't auto populate with a weekly summary of what you did or didn't do. They just give a basic summary of what you were, schools you attended, where you served, awards you received. Just because someone worked in a TOC where they might have needed a clearance isn't a big deal, doesn't mean someone was a secret squirrel, or that it would be noted on a dd-214.
Link Posted: 4/22/2015 12:08:57 PM EDT
[#5]
We had his memorial service on Monday and from what we have been able to gather he was in the 470th Engineers and the 984th, both assigned to kaiserslautern before the wall went up. Apparently the 470th was transferred out and the 984th stayed behind and my dad stayed with them.   We found an ID card with "Top Secret Security Clearance, Military or Civilian" from his time in the Army which apparently he renewed when he worked for Republic Aviation and Grumman according to my uncle.  He worked on the XF-103, the F-105 and the LEM (that we know of, thanks to a mess of his pictures from that time - including a picture of him on the landing strip in front of the F105 with his crew and his stories).

The ID card itself is basically a 4x6 (estimated) piece of old beaten yellowed paper with an embossed seal on it and some other identifying information.  It's pretty beat up.  Looks like a watermark of some kind was used but it's faded pretty bad, almost to the point of looking stained.

He would never talk about his time back then or what he did other than to talk about his friend who was thrown under a moving train by soviets and a few other anecdotal stories about germany in general.  He was obsessed with the communists and socialists and would have fit in well in GD as far as what should be done with our left leaning politicians.  We always grew up with him talking about how evil the commies were and how McCarthy had gotten the short end of the stick and that the "lists" really existed and were true because "that was my job in the Army".

Towards the end he started suffering from dementia brought on by failing kidneys and definitely showed signs of some serious mental trauma and PTSD for a year or so before passing.  The nurses used to tell him that the secret service ordered his blood test to get him to allow a needle in his arm.  

I guess I'm rambling, but I'm worried his records were lost in the 1973 fire and that we won't ever ACTUALLY know what he did, even if we request a full military records history.

I know that there are now declassified CIC records available in person at the National Archives in College Park, but apparently the only ones with names of US Military personnel have the names redacted or were reclassified.  No idea where to start.  If anyone has any guidance they can offer, it would be appreciated.
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