Sorry about the horrible photocopy, this is all I currently have available.  Unfortunately he died before I was born, but I'm curious what information can be gleaned. I'm totally ignorant, his children didn't like to talk about the past. I didn't even see a picture of him until recently.  Hopefully found the right forum to ask this.  Thanks.

Drafted a year after Pearl Harbor; qualified as a rifle Marksman; was a Construction Equipment Mechanic; was sent to Europe and Middle East Theater and was in Italy for the Rome-Arno campaign; he was sent home in 1945 and discharged with a Europe and Middle East Campaign Medal and Good Conduct Medal after the war was over.

Thank you for the concise summary.

ETA:  he's really not what I imagine when I think of WW2; he was in his early 40s, and had 3 kids and a wife at home waiting for him. Heck if his oldest were male she'd have been draft eligible by then.  I'll have to look in to what day to day life was like for a construction equipment mechanic.

It sounds like your grandfather enlisted. 40 was too old for the draft unless he had a critical skill like being a Doctor. There were plenty of older Americans who enlisted and ended up doing the same thing they did as civilians because it saved the government time and money in  terms of training.

The unit looks like the 622 Port Company. I was assigned to a Terminal Transportation Unit (TTU) that is the modern equivalent of that type of unit. They operated seaports and rail heads for the logistic support missions.

Here's some info on your granfathers type of unit.

Thanks, that was interesting reading.  So much stuff lost to the sands of time, it really helps to see/hear bits of detail like that.  I have managed to find an ancestor that was in the civil war too (union), fought in the battle of the wilderness, took a bullet to the thigh, healed up enough to head home and live for decades more.  But heck if I know anything else about what his life was like.  Both of my grandfather's served during the Korean War but neither had much to say about it beyond that they were stationed elsewhere.  At least I have other stories from having met them to tell.  Both passed a few years ago, really drove home that I need to start recording their stories so my kids know who their ancestors were.  Thanks again.