Hi Reddit,
My dad and I are going through the process of tracing my grandfather’s troop movements throughout Europe during WW2. Before he passed away, my grandad had not spoken about the details of his service to anyone in our family so we are working off of very limited information in this search.
What we know -
His name, 3rd Army - Patton, PO Valley Campaign, Ended up in Bavaria, Germany.
Any suggestions on how to go about our search or resources available would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again.
You can contact the National Archives and request copies of all of his relevant military documents, which will answer your question. There are plenty of resources to help you get started here. Please note that your father or another next of kin will likely have to make the request, and that there may be difficulty finding some files if your grandfather was in the Army, since there was a catastrophic fire in the Army's archives in the 1970s.
Hope this helps! Good luck!
Individual movements are hard to trace. Unit movements are easier. You need to find a unit smaller than the Patton's Third Army, which very many veterans recalled being part of even if their association was fleeting or even mistaken. The Po Valley mention is interesting. Patton and Third Army were never in the Po Valley at all. Rather that would have been Fifth Army under Truscott, who didn't have a movie made about him.
It would also be useful to know what his specialty was. Did he ever mention any particular training he received or work he did?