Unit History
My father, Herman E. White, served
in the 396th Medical Collecting Company in France, Belgium & Germany
during World War Two. He left the U.S. from Staten Island, New York,
and landed at LeHavre, France, in January 1945. His unit was soon sent
north to Belgium during the German Ardennes Offensive (The Battle of the
Bulge). According to dad, the unit moved across France, spending some
time in the vicinity of Chateau Thierry, and crossed the Rhein into Germany
on a pontoon bridge next to the Remagen Bridge. Near the end of the
war, the unit was at Gardelegen, the site of the Gardelegen Massacre, and
after the war it repatriated prisoners of war of various nationalities, particularly
Russians, at Leipzig. By V.J. Day, dad was at Marseilles waiting for
a ship to take him to the Pacific. President Truman's decision to use
atomic weapons ended the war and instead of shipping to the Pacific dad returned
to the U.S. through Hampton Roads, Virginia.What follows is a fragmentary unit history of the 396th Medical Collecting Company which is all the National Archives admits to having:
Cover Letter
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This page was created on 16 June 2002
Revised 15 August 2004.