107312 Technical Sergeant John Leonard "Jack" Cronin U.S. Army 40 Tank Battalion, C Company from:Minden, Nebraska, USA I'm trying to locate the wartime assignments of my uncle, John L. Cronin (sometimes known as: Jack). It appears that he had once been assigned to "C" Company, 40th Tank Battalion; but, he also may have been assigned to the 814th Tank Destroyer Battalion, at the time of him being wounded mid-December 1944, across from the town of Julich, Germany, next to the Roer River. The date of his wounding may have been 15 or 16 December, 1944; but, even that information may not be precise. My uncle described the armored vehicle that he was a crew member in as having a 90 mm. gun; but, it was not an M-26 Pershing Tank. So, he may have been a crewmember of an M-36 Jackson tank destroyer. Since such vehicles were commonly utilized in small 'attached' groups for temporary usage in specific areas, it is becoming difficult to precisely locate why my uncle might have been operating in the Julich area in December 1944, when he was wounded; or, of exactly which unit he may have been assigned to during that time. Unfortunately, my uncle's military records of assignments were destroyed in the 1973 fire within the Military Records Repository at St. Louis, Missouri; and, any privately retained records may have also been lost in perhaps routine yearly 'spring cleanings'.
|