Can anybody help identify any information about this soldier

[garbfink]

Hi All,

Can anybody give me any useful hints as to how I could go about identifying this chap?

The only infomation that I can provide is that I assume he was in the US Army during WW2 and was likely stationed in or around Yorkshire around the end of 1942 beginning of 1943.

I believe that he is a staff sergeant? but would be really useful to know if anyone can identify the insignia on his left shoulder or any of his ribbons. I know it is not the best image, I am not in possession of the original at present.

Thanks in advance.

[Spikey68]

US Army Air Force.

He has wings above his medal ribbons, though the quality is such that I cannot zoom in clearly enough to ascertain trade.The link below shows the different aircrew wing badges. When you get a better quality pic can you zoom in on the wings above the medal ribbons?

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/%22Insignia_of_the_Army_of_the_United_States%22_-_NARA_-_514627.jpg

The patch on his arm "maybe" 8th Air Force, but again hard to ascertain due to quality.

[garbfink]

That is really helpful Spikey, thank you.

I will hopefully be able to see the original in a week or two.

[garbfink]

So I've been having a good look at this throughout the day trying to ascertain some more facts.

I agree that he is USAAF although I'm not too sure about the 8th Air Force Badge. It certainly has the star which seems to appear on most air force badges but haven't found one that really strikes me as being a perfect match.

I've been trying to find out which USAAF Groups would have served in Yorkshire before Feb 1943 but am finding it hard to find hard facts, does anyone know? or able point me in the right direction?
--EDIT--On looking again I believe that it is the Hap Arnold Air Patch which was used by personnel not assigned to an individually numbered air force, would any body agree with this?--EDIT--

I believe that this chaps name is possibly John Henry Kay and that he died at some point after September 1943, I get the impression that he died in action, although he could have died close to the war end or possibly even shortly after.

I'm unable to locate any death records or enlistment records but have little experience in dealing with American individuals.

Is anybody able to help at all, or point me in the right direction.

PS. All my searches for the name brings up a Sgt. John Henry Kay of the RCAF 428 squadron please don't get confused by this individual.

[ScouseBoy]

He may have been  there to build new airfields,   so he may have been a construction engineer.

[Spikey68]

He may have been  there to build new airfields,   so he may have been a construction engineer.

Airfield construction was the purview of the Corps of Engineers. They didn't wear wings.

[garbfink]

So, after many months I managed to get a bit of a better resolution for this picture. It's still not brilliant but at the moment it is the best I can do. I suppose there are three questions that this photo can answer.

1. What Insignia is on his shoulder?
- at first glance it's difficult to tell but after a bit of creative thinking I'm inclined to believe that it might actually belong to the 20th airforce. Does anybody agree?

2. He has wings over his ribbons. It's still not clear what they could be, anybody have any ideas.?

3. Are we able to decipher anything from his ribbons?

Any ideas or opinions on the above would be appreciated.

Thanks

Simon.

[jim1]

The closest match I can see is US Army Airborne Troop Carrier.
Medals: American Defense, Good Conduct & Air Medal but willing to be corrected.

[garbfink]

Thanks Jim.

The first time I saw the patch I thought it had a parachute on it, which would lead in nicely to the US Army Airbourne Troop Carrier. The problem in all of the patches that I can find have the words AIRBOURNE at the top of the patch and this gentleman does not have it on his.

I've played around with the picture and contrast of it and can now confirm that he was indeed 20th Airforce if you look closely at the attached picture with the contrast altered you can see gold coloured wings coming from the side of the star which is encircled and you can also make out the number 20 at the top of the patch.

As for his wings. I'm thinking that he was probably a navigator. there seems to be a horizontal bar across an object in the middle, the only thing I can thin of that resembles that would be the navigator wings. Any thoughts?

Thanks for the medal information as well. I'm going to do a bit mroe digging around on that.

Simon