Info on John Bruce Leeds

[57bruce]

Looking for any information on my father, John Bruce Leeds, who served in the 106th and was wounded in the Battle of the Bulge. He is since deceased and my brother and I are seeking information on his wartime experience.

Does anyone have memories or records of John Bruce Leeds? What company and regiment was he in?

Thanks in advance for any information!

- Bruce Leeds

[floydragsdale]

Hi Bruce:

I served in the 106th Division. You are looking for a needle in a hay stack. Nevertheless, there is a good chance you can find what you are looking for!

Try try to find your Dad's discharge papers. The information you want will be in them.

Also, try the court house where he lived when he was released from the service. Often, veterans had their discharge papers recorded there soon after the war. In fact, they were urged to do that in case the original one was lost.

If you know the date of his discharge try the town newspaper where his home was. Often they printed news stories about veterans when they came home. The local library probably has the papers on microfilm.

Finally, news reports about the 106th Division were scarce during the Battle of the Bulge campaign, yet the Division made the news later in January 45 (after the 20th). Try his hometown paper during that time period for stories about him & the 106th.

If he was in one of the three Regiments, you need to know which one (422nd, 423rd, or 424th.) Then if you find his Company you can locate his battalion. If he was in the 422nd, or 423rd, very likely he was a P.O. W. in Germany. If his Regiment was the 424th he was in one hell of a battle for about 35 days.

Of the three Regiments, Co.s A, B, C, D, were in the 1st Btn., E, F, G, H, were in the 2nd Btn, and I, J, K, L were in the 3rd Btn. Company D, H, & L of the three Battalions were Heavy Weapons Company's. That is 50 Caliber Machine Guns & 80 mm mortars.

Try the above for a start. At least you will have something to look for.

You will be very fortunate to locate someone who knew him, or served with him.

Happy searching Bruce.

Floyd, Co.

G, 2nd Btn. 424th Regt.

[connie]

Hi, Bruce,

I hope some of the tips that Floyd gave will turn up some leads on units. I did go to the Indiana Military Site Rooster to see if the names culled from Cub writings, etc. did by chance have your dad's name. It took patient scrolling to get down to the "L's," but alas no Leeds there yet.

Meanwhile, I'm assuming you have no letters from your Dad...? Those don't give the division, but they do give some identifying unit info.

Good luck. If you have any success, please let us know. And if anyone else runs across/ or knew this name, please reply.

Connie

[connie]

I just re-checked the web and the roster list for any new info on John Bruce Leeds that might have surfaced since this request was posted. Unfortunately, even though Jim West has gone through a pile of General Orders for new info, nothing new has come up.

But, on the listed birthday of his son, I'll post this no information note, hoping that someone happening by the site will see the name and recognize it.

I hope visitors go to the Site Soldier Index and don't just depend on the latest posts. This name and a link to this thread can be found both under the list of division soldiers on this site & the list of unknown or unlisted units.

Have a good day.