Can you help me, Please?

SweetSue · #1 10-31-2002, 02:40 PM

I am looking for someone I wrote to back in 1969. I was 14:
Cpl Fred Grande
US56843600
71st 7th Stu BN TCB
Ft. Benning Georgia
2nd
31905 USA
Fred may have been a shortened version of Alfred or something else.
I know he was married.. wife's name is Virginia Sue. At that time anyways. Unless of course he is longer with her. They were expecting a baby sometime in Sept/0ct 1969.
I have no idea what the numbers and letters stand for. Nor what type of service he was in. I am sure if I knew that, my search would be a smidge easier! I can find nothing on 71st 7th Stu BN TCB 2nd. Maybe it has been deactivated and is now something else?????
I DO know that the US # is his service number at that time. I have checked the Virtual Wall and also cannot find him on any KIA/MIA lists at all.
Why do I want to find this fellow? I am not sure. Nostalgia maybe. He was a very nice young man who listened to the childish rambling of a 14 year old girl I would like to make sure he is ok and tell him welcome home.
I have a nephew serving in the Canadian Navy in Bosnia at the moment and also, 2 of my sons are in the Air Cadet program here. They love it! So do I !!!!!
If anyone has any ideas, hints or can decifer what that address mean, please email me.
Hoping you can help
Susan

PHO127 · #2 11-01-2002, 04:51 AM

This is a U.S. Army post so he would have been in basic training. The address is for the 71st infantry, 7th Student Battalion. I do not know what the TCB stands for. And you are right, the unit has been deactivated. Will run a check with the service number and see what comes up.

Drywall · #3 11-01-2002, 05:33 AM

Hello Sue and welcome.
The US designation on his service number means he was drafted vs enlisted. The first two no's ,56, might designate an area of the country were he was living when drafted. All the draftees from here no's started with 55. Are you sure the address might not have been TCB but BCT. That would be for Basic Combat Training.

SweetSue · #4 11-01-2002, 10:14 AM

PHO127: Thanks... I cannot run a check as I have no access to American files. Especially these days.
I don't know where he was sent after that.. or if I did.... I cannot remember after 33 years! I no longer have the letters I recieved either... although I am still going through my Mom's stuff.

Drywall: Yes I know he was drafted. . The 1st 2 numbers DO designate where his entry point was. It could be one of 8, I think, places...

I found a good site about those numbers(and other things):
http://www.militaryusa.com/
but it only takes me so far..

I reckon the TCB could maybe be for BCT.. I found the address in an old letter I had written my parents from Camp in 1969. I could have transposed the numbers.
So after BCT... where did one go? How can I figure out which unit etc? Or can I?And he would have been in the Army for sure, right?
Questions, questions, questions!
Thanks for your help!
Sus

Drywall · #5 11-01-2002, 10:34 AM

Sue, Yes thats an Army service number.
After basic training he would have gone on to AIT. Advanced Individual Training. For myself it artillery at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma. Do you have any idea what job he had while in the army? Different branches trained at different posts. Ft. Sill was Artillery, Ft. Knox was Armor, Ft. polk (and a few others) were Infantry. There are many more army jobs he could have been in, medic, engineer, etc. Sorry, but I don't know which post specializes in what job beyond what I've already said. And I don't know what else to tell you or what direction to aim you in. I'm sure the other guys here know more about that stuff than I do. Good luck.

Keith_Hixson · #6 11-01-2002, 10:55 AM

My Draft Number began with 569-----

So he might have been from the west coast?

Keith

SweetSue · #7 11-01-2002, 01:39 PM

Keith.. it is possible.... but....
"Air Force and Army Service Numbers

The first two numbers listed below represent the first two digits of an Air Force or Army service number issued between the years 1940-1969 These service numbers were assigned to Air Force and Army enlisted male personnel by state entrance stations

(1) Regular and Reserve Air Force and Army
(2) Draftees between 1940-1946 (30-39 million)
(3) Draftees between 1948-1969 (50-57 million)
identify a region or area that a person enlisted or was drafted into the service

California 19 39 56
Georgia 14 34 56
Idaho 19 39 56
Montana 19 39 56
Nevada 19 39 56
Oregon 19 39 56
Utah 19 39 56
Washington 19 39 56 "

Those are the places of entry for the #56. It doesn't mean he actually lived there from my understanding anyways.

Sus

Drywall · #8 11-01-2002, 01:45 PM

It would be what the military calls "home of record" That means he was living there when drafted. It doesn't necessarily mean that he was native to the area or that his family lived there. My brother-in-law grew up in South Dakota but moved to Minnesota for a job and was drafted while he was here.

SweetSue · #9 11-01-2002, 02:23 PM

okey dey Drywall.... LOl
the plot thickens!
sigh

Keith_Hixson · #10 11-02-2002, 09:32 PM

I really don't think the serial number is going to be much help in solving the mystery.

We are such a mobile society he could be anywhere.

It will take some luck and a little research to come up with it.

Several years ago I had some CD disks given to me with all the phone numbers in the United States on them. I found a couple of Army buddies by just putting in their names and the state from which they were drafted. That might work.
Grande isn't a common name, it should work.

Keith