My fiancee and I recently took the Ancestry DNA test and started researching her family and found that her grandpa, who the family knows almost nothing about. Was in the First Battalion of the 23rd Regiment of the 4th Marine division from 1943-45. Specifically he was in Alpha Company.
The only resource ancestry has is the muster rolls, which are at best cumbersome. I was hoping for some direction in researching this further. From picture or video resources to a good mom any help would be great.
Lastly, from my understanding this was an infantry unit but I'm the structure of a marine battalion. Would Alpha Company have been a line unit or could have been a hq company?
Any help is great, thanks in advance!
Hello there! As your question is related to looking for identification/information regarding military personnel, our Guide on Military Identification may be of use to you. It provides a number of different resources, including how to request service records from a number of national agencies around the world, as well as graphical aids to assist in deciphering rank, unit, and other forms of badges or insignia. While the users here may still be able to lend you more assistance, hopefully this will provide a good place to start!
You might browse through this USMC history of the 4th Marine Division. I'll look around and see if I can find more info. The 4th Marine Division I know was involved at Tinian and Iwo Jima, and it would be very likely he'd have been involved in it in some way, as the 23rd was an infantry unit as you stated. http://www.marines.mil/Portals/59/Publications/History%20of%20the%204th%20Marine%20Division%201943-2000%20%20PCN%2019000306300_1.pdf