What a pleasant surprise when Ronald Killingsworth contacted me and asked if he could share a picture of his father, Frederick Douglas Killingsworth, who served in the 365th Infantry Division of the 92nd.
This from Ronald…
Born in Denmark, South Carolina, Fred came to New York City after my Grandfather moved his family to Harlem there. Fred was inducted into the army on the 22 April 1943 in NYC and was a private throughout his service. He departed for the MTO on 1 Oct 44 and served 11 months and 5 days overseas.
Ronald shared with me an interesting twist regarding his father’s service record. Even though his father’s discharge papers say he was in the 365th, his unit is also listed as the 485th Aviation Squadron. And his MOS was a ANTI-TANK GUN CREWMAN 610. He was trained as a crewman on a 57mm antitank gun, and told Ronald’s older brother a story about almost being killed by artillery while operating a 50 cal. machine gun.
It seems that once the war was over, the army sometimes transferred the men to different units rather quickly in order to expedite their discharge rotation!!!
His battles and campaigns are listed as NORTH APENNINES, PO VALLEY, ROME-ARNO.
In addition to the PURPLE HEART his decorations include: the GOOD CONDUCT MEDAL, EUROPEAN-AFRICAN-MIDDLE EASTERN SERVICE MEDAL, AMERICAN SERVICE MEDAL, and the WORLD WAR II VICTORY MEDAL. Also he got his COMBAT INF BADGE GO#6 HQ 365 INF, on 13 Jan 45.
