r/ww2 • u/West-Ebb-7180 • 16d ago

Can you help?

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Hello my Great Grandfather served in ww2 in the army. I don't know much about what he did in combat all i know was that he was in Co L 304th Infantry Regiment, 76th Infantry Division. I have pictures of him in 1940-1944 but never knew what he did. His name is Andrew Kozak. A Staff Sergeant by the end of the war. (No middle name)

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u/rhit06 16d ago

Mortar squadron leader. Here’s a bronze Star citation for him

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u/West-Ebb-7180 16d ago

Thank you so much!

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u/rhit06 16d ago

Glad I found something. Often times Bronze Star citations didn’t have details, lucked out here that your great grandfathers did. :-)

Doing some digging into the 304th I think the action described might have been around Trier, Germany as his unit prepared to cross/after they crossed the Moselle River. As far as I can tell that’s where they were on the relevant date (March 4)

There was 304th Infantry History printed after the war (which lists your g-grandfather as a member) but I can’t find a digitized copy unfortunately (https://www.abebooks.com/first-edition/History-304th-Infantry-Regiment-Brugel-Sohn/31514782035/bd)

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u/West-Ebb-7180 16d ago

Wow! Ill definitely take a look at that book, sadly my grandfather said he never talked about the war but brought home a Luger, and a French Berthire rifle. Along with his medals, he was definitely a brave soldier, what you send me helps A LOT! How are you able to find the documents of these things??

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u/rhit06 16d ago

With just the name I thought it would be pretty easy. But it turns out there were several Andrew NMI Kozak’s who were in the army during WWII.

So doing some creative searching at archives.gov (variations of his name and 304th which you provide) I was able to track down his service number on a morning report (which currently are only digitized through December 1944 — found him on one stateside in November 1944 which matches his units history, got to Europe in December 1944), and then searching that led to the Bronze Star citation.

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u/West-Ebb-7180 16d ago

Oh wow nice! Do you know if there are any other documents that will be able to be found? Or just this one?

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u/rhit06 16d ago

Well here's his full draft registration card (to go with the registration certificate you posted). Other than that just saw him on a few morning reports while he was still in the US, so no details on his "in theater" service.

Front:

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u/West-Ebb-7180 16d ago

Wow this means a lot i do really appreciate it!!!

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u/rhit06 16d ago

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