A World War II Service Record
Ottie Owen Oldham Jr.
Private First Class (Pfc) · Company B, 5th Regiment, Camp Reynolds, Pennsylvania
Army · Service no. 33 146 214
Route reconstructed from confirmed locations.
“RCTS. ASSIGNED TO CO. ‘H’ 16TH INF. … O’BRIEN, OLDHAM, AS OF THE 16th.”The clerk wrote surnames and no service numbers, so on its own that line could have been any Oldham. The company’s own tabulated roster settles it, printing the number against the name:
“33146214 OLDHAM OTTIE O JR PVT 521 INF H”521 is the Army’s code for basic infantry training, the first of the three jobs listed on his separation papers. He had not yet been made a mortarman.
19. O’Brien, John H. 33146440 Jan 28/42The date beside each name is the day the Army took him. His reads Jan 27/42, which is the date on his discharge certificate.
20. Odlivak, Steve 33146242 Jan 27/42
21. Oldham, Ottie O. Jr. 33146214 Jan 27/42
“Fr duty to abs sk LOD 1st Med Bn Clearing Sta. SW in action near Gela, Sicily. Shell frag wds rt leg and lt arm.”Those words describe Cpl Robert T. Henderson, at the head of the block. Four names below him: 33146214 Oldham, Ottie O. Jr. Pvt.
“Above 15 EM while abs sk LOD 1st Med Bn Cl Sta drpd fr rolls.”Dropping a man from the rolls is an accounting move. A soldier absent long enough stops counting against his company’s strength, which lets the company draw a replacement while he is away. He returned to duty four days after this page was written.
“33146214 Oldham, Ottie O. Jr. Pvt (drpd fr rolls) Fr drpd fr rolls to duty a/o July 25/43.”The (drpd fr rolls) beside his name points back to Enna four days earlier. Two other men on the same page had just gone the other way, hit near Gangi and sent to the 93rd Evacuation Hospital.
“Ottie O. Oldham Jr., a son of Mr. and Mrs. O. O. Oldham, of Evans, was slightly wounded in action in the North African area on July 12, according to a telegram received by the young man's parents on Monday morning of this week. … The young man's mother had received two letters from him since the date of his being wounded. One of the letters was under date of July 20 and the other July 27. In neither of the letters did he mention about being wounded.”
“Pvt OTTIE O. OLDHAM, JR., 33146214, Company ‘█’ 16th Inf — 156413”The name carries the ‘Jr.’, the service number is his, and 156413 is the number printed on his discharge. Until now the only thing tying him to the 16th Infantry was a line his family wrote on a bonus form in 1950, six years after the war. His regiment’s own order says the same thing.
“Oldham, Ottie O, Jr Pfc 33146214 ‘H’ 16th Inf B12 Psychoneurosis”He was a private at Gela. He is a Pfc here, so the stripe came in the weeks between.
“23. Oldham, Ottie O., Jr., 33146214 Jan 27/42 — Drpd fr rolls while abs sk LOD hosp unknown on Sept 13/43.”The entry says hospital unknown: his company knew he was gone and did not know where.
“Oldham, Ottie O, Jr Pfc 33146214 ‘H’ 16th Inf B12 Psychoneurosis LOD Yes DutyLS”LOD Yes is the Army’s finding that the condition arose in line of duty, meaning it came from his service. DutyLS is duty, limited service. He could still soldier; he would not go back to a rifle company. Orders that same day sent him to the 7th Replacement Depot, and three weeks later the depot sent him on to the 80th Station Hospital as a supply clerk.
“Mrs. O. O. Oldham, of Evans, has been notified that her son, Ottie Oldham … has been awarded the Purple Heart … He has now been discharged from the hospital but his wounds were such that he will not see active front line service again but has been given an assignment of limited duty.”His discharge names the medal and its number but gives no date. This item supplies one: the award reached him in North Africa by late November 1943. The paper calls the wound severe. In August the same paper called it slight, and the Army's medical record describes a bullet wound of the forearm, returned to duty. Take the date from this item, not the description.
“8. Oldham, Ottie O. Jr 33146214”Evan K. Hanson is line 4 and William E. Deal line 12. They had come off the same transfer list and arrived together.
“Pfc. Ottie Oldham, son of Mr. and Mrs. O. O. Oldham, of Evans, is spending a furlough with the family, having arrived back in this country only a short time ago from the European theatre of the war. He was wounded in Africa and was awarded the Purple Heart but has now recovered from his wounds received.”This is the only record of the five weeks between his return on April 17 and his appearance at Camp Reynolds on May 22. His family had not seen him in nearly two years.
“23 Nov 44 Co ‘E’ 3d Group 1st Tng Regt … as Co ‘B’ 5th Regt, Cp Reynolds, Pa.”The camp renamed the company. He did not move, and the two names on his paperwork are the same unit either side of a reorganization. The same report released him and Doty to Indiantown Gap.
“Pfc Ottie O Oldham Jr 33146214 835 302 133 Oliver St, Aliquippa, Pa”That is the address he gave the Army on the way in, still on his file on the way out.
“16 Oldham, Ottie O., Jr. Pfc 33146214”Below the names he typed the schedule the thirty of them would follow. Orientation ran Monday at half past three. Tuesday brought the final physical at nine, interviewing and counseling at half past two, and the signing of papers at four. On Wednesday they stood showdown inspection at nine, drew final pay at half past nine, and boarded transportation at ten.
