Dear Folks: Just a short layover here on my way to Indian Town Gap, Penn. and then on my way home. I arrived in the States yesterday and it sure is nice to be back. Hope to see you in about a week. Your nephew, Norman. Dear Folks: Just a short layover here on my way to Indian Town Gap, Penn. and then on my way home. I arrived in the States yesterday and it sure is nice to be back. Hope to see you in about a week. Your nephew, Norman.
Dear Folks: Just a little card from Pittsburgh on my way to Cincinnati and then home. Hope to see you either Monday or Tuesday. My furlough started today and I get 75 days plus travel time. Love Norman
Point System is Revealed
Months in Service, Awards and Dependents Are Rated
WASHINGTON, May 10 – (U.P.) – Soldiers with long combat service overseas and dependent children will top the list of those eligible for discharge under the army’s partial demobilization plan.
Details of the point system which will govern discharge of more than 1,300,000 soldiers during the next 12 months were announced at noon today to troops and to the public. The point values follow:
One credit for each month of Army service since Sept. 16, 1940.
One credit for each month served overseas since the same date.
Five credits for each bronze service star and for each decoration.
Twelve credits for each child under 18 years, up to three children.
The service stars are awarded for participation in each battle or campaign. This table also means five credits for each wound suffered, since a Purple heart decoration is awarded for each wound.
Enlisted men of the Army ground, air and service forces will be eligible immediately for discharge if their total credit score is 85 or more. Wacs with total credit scores of 44 points will be eligible immediately for discharge.
These total credit scores are designated as “interim scores.” Immediately after the scores of all soldiers are compiled, the number of soldiers with each point total in every theater will be reported to the War Department. Based on these reports, in about six weeks, revised figures will be announced as to the total credits needed for discharge.
Score Deadline May 12
These revised totals are expected to be somewhat lower than the interim scores. At this time, separate scores will be established for the Air Forces, the Ground and Service Forces and the Wacs.
Scores will be compiled on the basis of points earned as of Saturday, May 12. Decorations and battle credits awarded after that date, but earned prior thereto, may be counted. Children born on or before May 12, whose births were not known to their fathers at the time the scores first were compiled, may be counted in revised scores.
Service in the Army will be computed from the date the soldier reported to his reception center and took his oath. Odd portions of the month of 15 days or more will count as a whole month.
The point system for discharges covers men in all parts of the world–not merely those who have served in Europe.
Discharges to Take Year
Immediate eligibility for discharge does not mean immediate discharge. It will take nearly a year to bring the 1,300,000 eligible men home, although they will be coming home by hundreds of thousands in ensuing months.
And any given man–even though he has more than the necessary number of credits for discharge–can be kept in the service if his work is deemed vital to the war against Japan.
Decorations Listed
The combat and decoration credits, worth five points each, will be awarded for the following honors and decorations won by Army personnel for services performed since Sept. 16, 1940:
Army–DSC, Legion of Merit, Silver Star, DFC, Soldiers Medal, Bronze Star Medal, Air Medal, Purple Heart and Bronze Service Star.
Navy–Navy Cross, DSM, Legion of Merit, Silver Star Medal, DFC, Navy and Marine Corps Medal, Bronze Star Medal, Air Medal and Purple Heart Medal.
Foreign–Awards and decorations of foreign countries accepted and worn under War Department regulations.
The Army announce earlier that any holder of the Medal of Honor was eligible for immediate release.
The mention of Navy decorations does not mean that Navy personnel are included in the plan. They are not. It refers only to Navy and Marine Corps decorations which may have been awarded to Army men.
Second Lieut. Norman A. E. Quast, 25, son of Mr. and Mrs. Frank F. Schutt, 919 Ketchum street, who served 13 months overseas as a pilot on a B-17 with the Eighth Air Force in the European Theatre of Operations, has been separated from the Army Air Forces at the San Antonio district, AAF personnel distribution command. He participated in six combat missions and wears the Unit Citation, the Air Medal, and the ETO ribbon with battle stars. Before entering the army he was a student at General Motors Tech in Flint. - Bay City Times - December 1945