Black Angus McPherson Posted November 11, 2015 Share Posted November 11, 2015 My wife asked me about an entry on her grandfather's POW records that lists his "Organization" as: "Branch Immaterial Infantry Division Band Dental Co" If someone would explain exactly what that means we'd appreciate it. Oh yeah, and they tell me he was not a Dentist. He was "Army,Infantry" Private First Class. Thanks, Angus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyrus Cassidy #45437 Posted November 11, 2015 Share Posted November 11, 2015 A Unit Manning Report, or UMR, is a document that states the authorized rank, MOS, and duty position title of each person in the unit. The term "branch immaterial" means he was placed in a slot on the UMR that had no specific MOS requirement; any MOS would do. From deciphering that phrase, it looks like his particular slot was in the band belonging to an infantry division. I, for the life of me, cannot figure out why "dental" would appear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BONEYARD BILL, SASS #39,030 Posted November 11, 2015 Share Posted November 11, 2015 Perhaps "Dental" is supposed to be "Delta". Just a guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utah Bob #35998 Posted November 11, 2015 Share Posted November 11, 2015 Perhaps "Dental" is supposed to be "Delta".Just a guess.That's quite possible. I've seen some goofy typos on military records.Like they aren't hard enough for civilians to decipher to start with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpo Posted November 11, 2015 Share Posted November 11, 2015 Wouldn't that depend on how old his wife's grandfather is? Or, more better, what war he was a POW in? WW2, and, I'm pretty sure, Korea, it weren't Alpha Bravo Charlie Delta, it were Able Baker Charlie Dog. Hard to typo Dog into Dental. Yeah, I just checked, and Wiki says they came up with the Alpha Bravo in '56. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Army/Navy_Phonetic_Alphabet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shorty Jack Hammer Posted November 12, 2015 Share Posted November 12, 2015 That's quite possible. I've seen some goofy typos on military records. Like they aren't hard enough for civilians to decipher to start with. Happens all the time, I once got orders that said Kuwait, but I know it was supposed to be Hawaii Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyrus Cassidy #45437 Posted November 12, 2015 Share Posted November 12, 2015 Wouldn't that depend on how old his wife's grandfather is? Or, more better, what war he was a POW in? WW2, and, I'm pretty sure, Korea, it weren't Alpha Bravo Charlie Delta, it were Able Baker Charlie Dog. Hard to typo Dog into Dental. Yeah, I just checked, and Wiki says they came up with the Alpha Bravo in '56. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Army/Navy_Phonetic_Alphabet That's not always true. There were several naming conventions around during those times, so Delta could be the correct answer. There simply cannot be a dental position within the division band; it has to be something else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Angus McPherson Posted November 13, 2015 Author Share Posted November 13, 2015 He was a prisoner of the Germans in WWII. I thought about "Delta", too. I guess that would mean he was in Delta Company? FWIW I'm not sure this was a government site they found this on. It was some type of POW site. I'll try to find it again so I can post it. Thanks, Angus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utah Bob #35998 Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 Happens all the time, I once got orders that said Kuwait, but I know it was supposed to be Hawaii Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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