This timeline traces Clyde's World War II Army service from his Honorable
Discharge and from National Archives and government records, all searched by his service
number. Every entry cites the record it rests on. Where a record names him, the entry is
marked Confirmed. Where we have pieced together the likely shape of his service
from his branch and rank, or sketched the world around him, the entry says so plainly.
How to read this timeline
ConfirmedA National Archives or government
record names him by service number, address, or signature. This is what we know.
Most likelyPieced together from his
branch, rank, and arrival date. Reasonable, but not yet proven for him by name.
Historical contextThe events around him during
these months. He is not named; this is the world he served in.
Map of Service
From the United States, across the Pacific to Leyte in the
Philippines — and home again, July 1946.
His Pacific, After the War
Clyde reached Leyte on September 15, 1945, about a month after Japan
surrendered. He never saw combat, and his discharge lists no campaigns. The Philippines he found was
the busiest rear-area supply base in the Pacific, turning from the planned invasion of Japan to the
enormous job of sending millions of men and their equipment home.
As a Quartermaster electrician (Technician Fourth Grade) with the 469th Quartermaster
Depot, Clyde most likely kept the power, refrigeration, and machinery running at a
supply depot. His unit had been activated at Camp Shelby, Mississippi in late 1944 and shipped
to the Pacific in 1945. On Leyte the records point to Base K, the great quartermaster base at
Tacloban on Leyte’s San Pedro Bay — the backbone of the drawdown: the warehouses
and storage yards that fed, clothed, and equipped the troops, now crating it all for the voyage home.
His unit is now confirmed; its exact station on Leyte and his day-to-day work are reconstructed.
Going home ran on a point system: points for time served, months overseas, battles, medals,
and children, with the highest-scoring men sailing first. As a late-war draftee with no campaigns,
Clyde had a low score of 30, so he waited while higher-point men shipped out
ahead of him. Across the Philippines in January 1946, homesick GIs marched in the
“Bring the Boys Home” demonstrations over that slow wait.
(The largest marches were in Manila.)
In the end his family brought him home, not his points. The Army discharged him early under
a dependency rule as a married man supporting a wife and two children, and he left the islands in
June 1946. The months before that were wet and monotonous, and in November 1945 he came
down with the flu. The 1950 Census later found him back at 1360 Second Street with his wife
Martha and their children Clyde and Gloria.
Entries marked Historical context describe the world he served in. Entries
marked Most likely are reconstructed from his branch and rank. Only the Confirmed
entries name him directly. Sources: U.S. Army Center of Military History and the National WWII
Museum, with full citations in the project research file.
Service Timeline
Confirmed — National Archives record
April 14, 1921
Born in Mineral Point, Pennsylvania
Clyde Willard Rose is born in Mineral Point, Pennsylvania, in the coal country of Cambria County.
Source: Honorable Discharge (WD AGO Form 53-55), box 10; and the Pennsylvania WWII Compensation application (PA State Archives RG-19.92), which gives the more specific birthplace of Mineral Point
Confirmed — Army Morning Report
October – December 1944
His unit is activated — the 469th Quartermaster Depot, Camp Shelby
Months before he was drafted, the unit he would serve in came into being. The 469th Quartermaster Depot Company was activated about October 30, 1944, at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, and spent the rest of 1944 filling its ranks — from about 4 officers and 23 men in early November to over 100 by late December. Its first commander was 1st Lt Francis C. Stacey Jr., soon succeeded by Capt Max Oberhardt. The men came from the 65th Infantry Division units training at Camp Shelby and from Army schools at Fort Benning and elsewhere. Found in the Army's own Morning Reports, searched by unit.This is his unit's story before he joined it — he is not yet on these 1944 rolls (he was drafted the following spring).
Morning Report, 3 November 1944 — “469th QM Depot Company … Camp Shelby, Mississippi,” signed by 1st Lt Francis C. Stacey Jr.Morning Report, 21 December 1944 — the company has grown past 100 men, now under Capt Max Oberhardt.
Source: U.S. Army Morning Reports (RG 64), 469th QM Depot Company — November 1944 (roll 128, part 32) and December 1944 (roll 120). Found once the unit was identified; evidence in records/morning_reports_469th/
Confirmed — National Archives record
March 11–12, 1945
Enlisted and entered active service
Two National Archives records place him here. The WWII Army Enlistment Records, found by his service number, show he enlisted at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on March 11, 1945 as a Private, a selectee from civilian life, home in Cambria County, with prior civilian work recorded as coal mining. His discharge records that he entered active service the next day, March 12, 1945, at Pittsburgh. Recovered from the records.
Source: Electronic Army Serial Number Merged File, 1938–1946 (NARA AAD), ASN 33 918 895; and Honorable Discharge (WD AGO Form 53-55), boxes 22 & 24
Confirmed — his discharge
August 24, 1945
Sailed for the Pacific
He left the United States for the Asiatic-Pacific theater, bound for the Philippines.
Source: Honorable Discharge (WD AGO Form 53-55), box 36
Confirmed — his discharge
September 15, 1945
Arrived at Leyte, Philippines
He reached Leyte in the Philippine Islands about a month after Japan surrendered. His discharge lists no campaigns and no combat. By now he was serving with the 469th Quartermaster Depot — the unit that had formed at Camp Shelby the year before, now overseas for the drawdown. His unit is confirmed; exactly where on Leyte it stood, and his day-to-day work, are reconstructed below.
Source: Honorable Discharge (WD AGO Form 53-55), boxes 6 & 36
Most likely — reconstructed
September 1945 – June 1946
Quartermaster depot duty on Leyte — the 469th
As a Quartermaster electrician (Technician Fourth Grade) with the 469th Quartermaster Depot, Clyde would have kept power and machinery running at a supply depot through the post-war drawdown. His depot's administrative home was most likely Base K at Tacloban, on Leyte's San Pedro Bay: the first U.S. base section in the Philippines and the quartermaster hub for the theater. A first-hand account of the Base K quartermaster office, recovered from the now-offline U.S. Army Quartermaster Museum, describes the ration dumps, warehouses, and supply lines of that operation. His unit (the 469th) is confirmed; its exact Leyte station and his day-to-day work are reconstructed from his branch, rank, and arrival date. The 469th's 1945–46 records are microfilm-only at St. Louis — requested.
Source: Unit confirmed: Honorable Discharge (WD AGO Form 53-55), box 6. Context: The Quartermaster Review, “Leyte Landing” (Sep–Oct 1945); Stauffer, “The Quartermaster Corps: Operations in the War Against Japan” (CMH Pub 10-14); QM Museum pages — see records/wayback_findings.md
Confirmed — his discharge
November 1945
Came down with influenza on Leyte
His discharge carries the note “FLU NOV 45.” Clyde had influenza in November 1945, during the wet season on Leyte. It is the one dated note about his health overseas. Confirmed on the discharge; the hospital record itself is not yet located.
Source: Honorable Discharge (WD AGO Form 53-55), box 55 (Remarks)
Historical context
January 1946
Waiting out the Pacific drawdown
The Army was shipping millions of men home on a point system, but the Pacific had too few ships, so low-point, late-war men like Clyde waited the longest. Across the Philippines that January, homesick GIs marched in the “Bring the Boys Home” demonstrations over the slow pace home. Historical context for his months on Leyte. The large marches centered on Manila, and he is not named in any of it.
Source: National WWII Museum (the point system; Operation Magic Carpet) — see records/leyte_theater_context.md
Confirmed — his discharge
July 15, 1946
Returned to the United States
He left the theater on June 29, 1946 and arrived back on American soil on July 15, 1946.
Source: Honorable Discharge (WD AGO Form 53-55), box 36
Confirmed — his discharge
July 23, 1946
Honorably discharged — Separation Center, Fort George G. Meade, Maryland
He was honorably discharged at Separation Center, Fort George G. Meade, Maryland as a Technician Fourth Grade (T/4). He went home not on points but on a dependency release, as a married man supporting a wife and two children. After V-J Day the Army sent men home two ways: on their ASR point score (the discharge bar was 85 in Sept 1944, falling to about 50 by the end of 1945) or, regardless of points, under special rules such as Dependency (AR 615-362). His point score was only 30 — far too low to earn a place home — so it was the dependency rule, his wife and two children, that released him while higher-point men shipped out first. Family, not points, brought him home. Awards: Asiatic-Pacific Theater Ribbon; World War II Victory Medal. A clean copy of this discharge, recorded with the Cambria County Recorder of Deeds in 1948 and recovered by his family, is what finally revealed his unit — the 469th Quartermaster Depot — where the family's fire-damaged copy had it burned away.
The clean county-recorded discharge (WD AGO Form 53-55). Box 6 reads “469th Quartermaster Depot” — the unit illegible on the family's burned copy.
Source: Honorable Discharge (WD AGO Form 53-55) — unit box 6; reason for separation (Dependency, AR 615-362) boxes 40/17/19; ASR point score 30 in box 55 (Remarks). County-recorded copy, Cambria County Recorder of Deeds (recorded 11 Oct 1948)
Confirmed — National Archives record
March 1950
Applied for his Pennsylvania service bonus
Home at 1360 Second Street, Nanty Glo, Clyde filed his Application for World War II Compensation with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Approved March 25, 1950, it paid a $150 bonus and independently confirms his birth date of April 14, 1921 and birthplace of Mineral Point, Cambria County.
His 1950 Application for World War II Compensation — the Pennsylvania service bonus. Independently confirms his birth date (14 Apr 1921), birthplace (Mineral Point), and ASN.
Source: PA WWII Veterans' Compensation application (PA State Archives RG-19.92; Ancestry coll. 3147), ASN 33 918 895
Confirmed — National Archives record
April 1950
At home with his family in Nanty Glo
The 1950 U.S. Census records the household at 1360 Second Street: Clyde (28), his wife Martha J. (26), son Clyde R. (9), and daughter Gloria J. (7). He is listed as a powerhouse fireman at a coal mine, the same work he did before the war. This is the household his 1946 dependency discharge released him to: a wife and two children. The family, confirmed.
1950 U.S. Census, ED 11-124, sheet 11 — the Rose household at 1360 Second Street.
Source: 1950 U.S. Census, Pennsylvania, Cambria Co., Nanty-Glo Borough, ED 11-124, sheet 11, dwelling 94. Identity certain: the exact address, age 28 (born 1921), and occupation all match the discharge and the bonus application
