Help identifying military units

+2 votes
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I was working on this profile for Charles W Rice during the Connect-a-thon. He served in both WWI and WWII for the United States of America. His gravestone gives information about his WWII service and this veterans master index record gives information about his WWI record. I'm not really sure what all the abbreviations mean in order to identify his unit though. Can anyone help? If anyone who's more familiar with military stuff wants to go ahead and update his profile appropriately and put it in the appropriate categories, that would be fine too!

WikiTree profile: Charles Rice
in Genealogy Help by Christy Melick G2G6 Pilot (105k points)

2 Answers

+3 votes
 
Best answer
Gravestone:  Tec = Technician and QM = Quartermaster

Index:  CPL - Corporal, Prov = Provost, Co = Company, Det = Detachment, Pvt = Private
by Gaile Connolly G2G Astronaut (1.2m points)
selected by Christy Melick
Thanks Gaile! Do you (or anyone else) know what Col and DB (from the veterans master index) stand for?
In that particular context, I would guess Col stands for "Colored".  (Because he wasn't a Colonel, and it's not positioned to be a rank.)

No idea what the D. B. is for.

D. B. is most likely Depot Brigade. "The role of depot brigades was to receive and organize recruits, provide them with uniforms, equipment and initial military training, and then send them to France to fight on the front lines. The depot brigades also received soldiers returning home at the end of the war and completed their out processing and discharges. Depot brigades were often organized, reorganized, and inactivated as requirements to receive and train troops rose and fell, and later ebbed and flowed during post-war demobilization."

from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/162d_Depot_Brigade_(United_States) citing U.S. Army Adjutant General, Training Circular No. 23, Training regulations for Depot Brigades, September 1918

Thanks for your help everyone!
+4 votes

In this case, Prov refers to 3rd Provisional Company, Colored Detachment, 160th Depot Brigade at Camp Custer MI. (The muster rolls for this unit is on FamilySearch. It shows him joining the unit on 27 Sep 1918 and being transferred on 30 Oct 1918.) https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QHV-J3DB-NLRG?i=819&cc=3346936

His VAMI card shows he also served in the 15th Co 159th Depot Brigade [Camp Zachary Taylor KY]. That unit's rosters appear to be incomplete. But he shows up on undated pay rosters for the unit. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QHV-V3DP-RD55?i=710&cc=3346936&cat=3378445

by KB Barcomb G2G2 (2.2k points)
Thanks KB! I added those sources to his profile.

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