Your great uncles lack of conversation about the time I think is not uncommon. It was not until the last 7 years I was able to get my dad to talk about it. Thanks for the point to the pictures I grabbed one and sent it to my dad to see if he remembers him. Do you know what his job was? My dad was a breachman on gun #2. We only know of one other survivor from battery C.
Even with all the data I have collected, I do not know his exact job. I believe Irv was a driver. In the training photos he had his surname written as a “license plate” on the front of the truck, but that is only a guess. If your dad remembers any names in the photos, that would be amazing. This is the only group image from Europe https://www.flickr.com/photos/rkcarl/9686832319/in/album-72157635414389388/
My Dad was a PFC in the 914th FA Bn. Thank you for helping me confirm this through your explanation where to find unit lists. As you know, the 89th ID site has quite a number of memoir and recollections of arriving at Ohrdruf. If you want to read another, from the point of view of a 20 year old PFC, written sixty years later (and included in a memoir collection published posthumously) search Google books, “Meeting the Enemy” by Kingsley Ervin. Just a few pages. Most were there less than a few hours, and many groups visited even in the week before Eisenhower famously came to view. But those searing sights stayed with them. May they all rest in peace
Thank you for the additional information! Was your dad in the same battalion group as my great-uncle? Please check the photos on Flickr, maybe you will be able to help me identify someone in the personal photos Irv took. Here’s the link: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rkcarl/sets/72157635414389388/
I’m afraid I didn’t see anyone familiar in the photos. But thanks, that is a great trove. Gives a real sense of the time and place. Amazing that we are relatives of two from the 914th FA Bn. But I only have one photo from 1944, stateside, from either basic training or ASTP, before Camp Lucky Strike. https://owlcation.com/humanities/ArtilleryBattalions
This site offers some explanation on how the Field Artilleries worked at the end of WWII. (Very effectively, according to this.) There were likely several hundred in an FA Battalion, with several batteries of 12 (?) guns each. Plus other groups and jobs. My dad describes being in a group of 15 (in the back of a GMC), as part of the “fire direction” unit. So as I understand he was one of the “middlemen” between the targeting unit that selected targets and had to operate close enough to see the field, and the gunners who armed and fired the howitzers further back. It was fraught work, making the calculations for firing, and the responsibility of possible mistakes left some scars. But not like the dangers probably of the other unit jobs. The article linked above describes the terrifying job of laying communications wires, which of course had to go everywhere… All these kids. My dad was 20. Thank you again for your historical work.
I believe they were in different companies. I’m not sure if I have the Morning Reports for his company but if you would like me to look, can you email his details?
I don’t know if you are still doing this, but (and yes, it took me this long to confirm this) my dad, Kingsley Ervin, was a PFC in Btry B of the 914th FA. I’ve come back to your site and again am so grateful for all the detail you have compiled here. I already read some of the reports about crossing the Rhine and where they were when I the middle of that night!
Hi Edie! It is always so wonderful to hear from people who have found the research I did on the 914th helpful. This link takes you to all the posts I did researching the 89th and 914th (https://easterneuropeanmutt.com/2020/11/11/veterans-day-2020/), and be sure to check out the photos I scanned from the National Archives, as well as the photos from my great uncle’s personal collection. The photos can be accessed here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rkcarl/sets/72157635414389388/. Thank you so much for writing.
eastern european mutt 
I find you blog most interesting as my dad was in the 914th company C along with your family member.
Wow that is really cool. It’s a long shot, but be sure to also check the photos I posted in case you might find your father in them: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rkcarl/albums/72157635414389388
Your great uncles lack of conversation about the time I think is not uncommon. It was not until the last 7 years I was able to get my dad to talk about it. Thanks for the point to the pictures I grabbed one and sent it to my dad to see if he remembers him. Do you know what his job was? My dad was a breachman on gun #2. We only know of one other survivor from battery C.
Even with all the data I have collected, I do not know his exact job. I believe Irv was a driver. In the training photos he had his surname written as a “license plate” on the front of the truck, but that is only a guess. If your dad remembers any names in the photos, that would be amazing. This is the only group image from Europe https://www.flickr.com/photos/rkcarl/9686832319/in/album-72157635414389388/
My Dad was a PFC in the 914th FA Bn. Thank you for helping me confirm this through your explanation where to find unit lists. As you know, the 89th ID site has quite a number of memoir and recollections of arriving at Ohrdruf. If you want to read another, from the point of view of a 20 year old PFC, written sixty years later (and included in a memoir collection published posthumously) search Google books, “Meeting the Enemy” by Kingsley Ervin. Just a few pages. Most were there less than a few hours, and many groups visited even in the week before Eisenhower famously came to view. But those searing sights stayed with them. May they all rest in peace
Thank you for the additional information! Was your dad in the same battalion group as my great-uncle? Please check the photos on Flickr, maybe you will be able to help me identify someone in the personal photos Irv took. Here’s the link: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rkcarl/sets/72157635414389388/
I’m afraid I didn’t see anyone familiar in the photos. But thanks, that is a great trove. Gives a real sense of the time and place. Amazing that we are relatives of two from the 914th FA Bn. But I only have one photo from 1944, stateside, from either basic training or ASTP, before Camp Lucky Strike.
https://owlcation.com/humanities/ArtilleryBattalions
This site offers some explanation on how the Field Artilleries worked at the end of WWII. (Very effectively, according to this.) There were likely several hundred in an FA Battalion, with several batteries of 12 (?) guns each. Plus other groups and jobs. My dad describes being in a group of 15 (in the back of a GMC), as part of the “fire direction” unit. So as I understand he was one of the “middlemen” between the targeting unit that selected targets and had to operate close enough to see the field, and the gunners who armed and fired the howitzers further back. It was fraught work, making the calculations for firing, and the responsibility of possible mistakes left some scars. But not like the dangers probably of the other unit jobs. The article linked above describes the terrifying job of laying communications wires, which of course had to go everywhere… All these kids. My dad was 20. Thank you again for your historical work.
I believe they were in different companies. I’m not sure if I have the Morning Reports for his company but if you would like me to look, can you email his details?
I don’t know if you are still doing this, but (and yes, it took me this long to confirm this) my dad, Kingsley Ervin, was a PFC in Btry B of the 914th FA. I’ve come back to your site and again am so grateful for all the detail you have compiled here. I already read some of the reports about crossing the Rhine and where they were when I the middle of that night!
Hi Edie! It is always so wonderful to hear from people who have found the research I did on the 914th helpful. This link takes you to all the posts I did researching the 89th and 914th (https://easterneuropeanmutt.com/2020/11/11/veterans-day-2020/), and be sure to check out the photos I scanned from the National Archives, as well as the photos from my great uncle’s personal collection. The photos can be accessed here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rkcarl/sets/72157635414389388/. Thank you so much for writing.