WWI Unit - what's the category?

Question

Here is a link to an image of a US  Veterans Administration Master Index.

It states that John McGillin [[McGillin-23]] was a private in 16 Obs Btry, etc.  What do the initials mean, and what category should I place him?  Thank you so much for your time and help!

Answer 1

https://archive.org/details/facotsstoryoffie00raymrich

F.A.C.O.T.S, the story of the Field Artillery Central Officer's Training School.

16th Observation Battery, Field Artillery Central Officer's Training School.

Comments

Oh! Could be this!

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Thank you, Lucy.  I'll put that information in his profile.  Still not sure about a category.  I'll poke around some and see if anything fits.

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Nice assist, Lucy! 

Answer 2

Not sure. The VA card says 16th Obs Btry F A C O T S which could be 16th Observation Battery and the FA could be Field Artillery but not sure about the C O T S.

Comments

Thank you, Natalie, for your help.

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The Observation Batteries are outlined beginning at page 49. What puzzles me is that he is  a private and this school was for officers. BUT on page 89, it says "the last two officer training camps have drawn material entirely from the enlisted personnel of the Army." BINGO. I don't find McGillin in the roster though.

In any case, I should think we should not necessarily create categories for every observation battery or training battery, but that could be discussed.

For now, I'll create [[Category:Field Artillery Central Officers Training School, United States Army]]

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Natalie, thank you so very much!!

Answer 3

It means Observation Battery. It was part of the Aviation section of the US Signal Corp; US Army Air Service.

Wikipedia has a good article at [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_observation_balloon_service_in_World_War_I]