Additional Military Records for David Nemetzky

This year, I was hoping to build on what I had found for David Nemetzky. Last Autumn, I found many of the monthly muster & roster lists for David Nemetzky on Family Search from the end of 1912 to the end of his military career in January of 1931. They detail where he served, his rank and give insights into his military service that have been lost with the destruction of his official military record which was housed in the National Archives in St. Louis. My previous post lists the locations where he served within the Medical Department in the U.S. Army from the end of 1912 to January of 1931. He served in a number of locations in the United States, and also served two tours in China; the first from 1912 to early 1914, and the second during 1924 and 1925. These come from the the muster & roster lists that I found. 

Family Search also has available an index of general correspondence of the Adjutant General's Office through 1916. In this record, I found additional records relating to David Nemetzky. These records are an index of correspondence that relate to his service, including transfers, discharges, re-enlistments and promotions. 

I have also gone back through the military records that I have previously obtained. In particular, his enlistment records from the 1900's and early 1910's as well as monthly returns for the units that he served with, particularly the 7th Cavalry, 99th Coast Artillery Corps and the 12th Infantry. In addition, there are monthly returns for the camps and forts he was stationed at that provide additional insights into his early military service. These records provide additional information related to his service. His first enlistment was in January of 1904 in New York City. He was first assigned to Troop A, 7th Cavalry and served with the Cavalry until September of 1904. While with the Cavalry, he was stationed at Fort Thomas, Georgia. He deserted in April of 1904 and turned himself in to local authorities at New Orleans, Louisiana in May of 1904. He was returned to his unit in June following confinement at Jackson Barracks, Louisiana for 30 days.

In September of 1904, he transferred over to the 99th Company of the Coast Artillery Corps and was stationed at Fort Morgan, Alabama. His time in the Coast Artillery Corps appears to have been somewhat more productive and somewhat less eventful and turbulent. However, he was called as a witness to a general court martial of another soldier in January of 1906, which was held at Fort Barrancas, Florida. He was also sick and in the Army Hospital in Washington, D.C., between May & July of 1905. In April of 1906, he transferred over to the Medical Corps, where he served until his first discharge in May of 1907 at Fort Moultrie, South Carolina, as he had finished his term of service.

David re-enlisted in June of 1907 and this time was assigned to Co. B, 12th Infantry stationed at Fort Porter, New York. He served with this unit until February of 1909, when he again transferred to the Hospital Corps. He served until September of 1909, when he was again discharged while serving at Fort Howard, Maryland. He received his first promotion, from Private to Private First Class, sometime during 1909. This time, this discharge was ordered for convenience of the government.

He again re-enlisted in March of 1911, and this time was assigned directly to the Hospital Corps, serving at Fort Wadsworth, New York, until late 1911, when he was transferred overseas. He arrived at Manila in the Philippines in January of 1912 and was at the Hospital there until mid-June, when he was stationed in China. While in China, he was stationed in Tientsin, Wali, Kuyeh and Kaiping before returning to the United States and being discharged at Fort McDowell, California in March of 1914. He was once again promoted from Private to Private First Class in 1912 during his time in China.

Following this discharge, he again re-enlisted in April of 1914 at San Francisco and was assigned to the the Hospital Corps at the Presidio of San Francisco. This would be his first of several tours in San Francisco. My previous post goes into detail, provided by the monthly roster & muster rolls, regarding his service and the places where he was stationed, as well as promotions he received, from 1914 onward. One interesting thing to note is that he was assigned to temporary duty with the Hospital Corps aboard the US Army Transport ship Buford between June and August of 1914, which traveled from San Francisco to Alaska, and the US Army Transport ship Logan from May to August 1915, which traveled from San Francisco to the Philippines and back. While stationed at the Presidio of San Francisco in early 1918, he was issued his service number - 850422.

He was promoted to Sergeant in May of 1916. Shortly after his promotion, he was transferred to Fort Baker, California, just north of the Presidio of San Francisco. He was only there until August, when he was transferred to Fort Bliss, Texas for training and instruction. He was stationed at Fort Bliss until February of 1917, when he was transferred to Nogales, Arizona. He only spent two months at Nogales before being transferred back to the Presidio of San Francisco in late April.

One surprise that I found in these muster and roster rolls was that he faced a general court martial in February of 1918. By this time, he was a Sergeant First Class. I was able to obtain a copy of the court martial file from the National Archives in St. Louis is early March. The file shows that he was charged with misappropriation of goods intended for military use. The goods were food that he had purchased for the hospital mess (kitchen) while stationed at the Presidio of San Francisco. The charges were made by a subordinate  non-commissioned officer (a recently promoted Sergeant First Class) who was known to cause problems with other soldiers. The charges stemmed from Sergeant First Class Nemetzky conducting personal transactions while transacting official military business. While in the official record he made it clear that he did not deprive the military of any goods he purchased for the military, he was warned not to intermingle personal business while on official military business. He was found not guilty of the charges and allowed to resume his military duties. The official record also makes it clear that the charging subordinate non-commissioned officer held animosity against his superior (possibly because David Nemetzky was a Jew) and that the subordinate witnesses (both Privates) were following the lead of the charging subordinate non-commissioned officer in an attempted frame-up of their superior non-commissioned officer. It was also found that the investigation into the charges was not sufficiently thorough given the testimony proffered by the defense, the statement of David Nemetzky, and the extent of the record of the trial.

Even with the court martial now part of his record, it did not adversely affect his military career. He continued to climb the promotion ladder, earning promotion to Hospital Sergeant in July of 1918 and attaining the rank of Master Hospital Sergeant in January of 1919. In February of 1919, he was transferred to the Army Supply Bast Post Hospital in Brooklyn, New York. In May, he was transferred to USA Embarkation Hospital #4 in New York City. In June of 1919, he was furloughed to the reserves, as he had been on continual active since his enlistment in April of 1914. While on reserves, he was discharged in August of 1919.

(Update April 25, 2020). I have found four additional monthly muster and roster rolls for David Nemetzky. The first two are from November & December of 1918, when he was transferred to Camp Lewis, Washington. He was initially stationed at Base Hospital #162 from November 15th until December 23rd, when it was demobilized. He was then transferred to the USA Base Hospital on the 24th of December. The other two muster and roster rolls I found are from September & October of 1919. He re-enlisted on September 9, 1919 in New York City. He was assigned to USA General Hospital #2 at Fort McHenry, Maryland, where he arrived on the 13th of September. He was there until November, when he was transferred, very likely to USA General Hospital #41 (later Hoff General Hospital) at Staten Island, New York, where he is found in January of 1920 (The rolls for both General Hospitals from November 1919 are not available online, but this is a likely conclusion as GH #2 had six Master Hospital Sergeants and GH #41 only had one in October of 1919).

Looking through his available military records, nearly every term of service for David Nemetzky was for three years. His term of service was almost completed in April of 1917 when the United States entered World War One, so it is very likely that his term of service was changed from three years to serve for the duration of the war (I don't have any record to back this up, but this seems to be a possible scenario). It is also interesting to note that while serving in the Army during World War One, he did not serve overseas. Even though he was in the Medical Department and there were a number of base hospitals in France, he was stationed stateside during the war and served at a number of base hospitals during this time (Nogales, Az. (Feb-April 1917), Vancouver Barracks (March-September 1918); Camp Lewis, Washington (November 1918-February 1919), and the Presidio of San Francisco (April 1917-March 1918 & September-November 1918). Following his discharge in August of 1919, he again re-enlisted on September 9, 1919 at New York City, and continued his military career. His service number was altered to R-850422; the 'R' prefix indicating that he was Regular Army. This remained his service number for the remainder of his military career.

By 1920, the ranking system in the U.S. Army had become unwieldy. There were hundreds of different ranks and insignias used to identify each classification and specialization within the U.S. Army.  The Army took major steps to streamline the ranking system within the U.S. Army. For David Nemetzky, this meant that his rank of Master Hospital Sergeant (which was a specialized rank within the Medical Department) would be done away with. For him, and all enlisted personnel within the U.S. Army, the new rank he would receive would be based on a combination of his previous rank, service and pay grade. With the realignment of ranks in the U.S. Army effective July 1, 1920, his new rank was that of Sergeant. He was promoted to Staff Sergeant in December of 1920 (the same rank that exists in the U.S. Army today) and remained a Staff Sergeant for the rest of his Army career.

At the beginning of this year, I was hoping to add to the information that I have found for David Nemetzky. However, with the current worldwide pandemic, this pursuit has been placed on hold. The National Archives in Washington, D.C., and at College Park, Maryland hold several additional records that will help piece together additional information and records regarding David Nemetzky's military service. These records include:

Record Group 94.12.4 - Muster and Pay Rolls of the Hospital Corps 1886-1912
- Fort Morgan, Alabama - 1906
- Fort Moultrie, South Carolina - 1906-1907
- Fort Porter, New York - 1909
- Fort Howard, Maryland - 1909
- Fort Wadsworth, New York - 1911
- Division Hospital, Manila, Philippines - 1912
- Tientsin, China & Wali, China - 1912

Record Group 94.2.2 - Muster rolls of Regular Army Organizations 1784-1912

- Troop A, 7th Cavalry - 1904
- 99th Coast Artillery Corps - 1904-1906
- Co. B, 12th Infantry - 1907-1909

Record Group 94.2.3 Cards Containing Medical Records-Regular Army: 1894-1912

Record Group 94.2.3 – Enlistment papers/Orders, discharges, medical and burial records, and other records concerning regular army personnel ("Personal Papers"): 1812-1912 

Record Group 407.2.1 - Records of the Adjutant General's Office - Decimal Correspondence: Name and Subject Index: 1917-1947

Record Group 407.4.2 - Records relating to recruiting, transfers, furloughs, pay allotments, & discharges: 1916-1922

Record Group 94 is housed at Washington, D.C. The muster rolls, housed in Washington, D.C., are similar to the ones that I have found on Family Search, giving additional notes and details on his military service, including transfers and promotions. These ones go from the beginning of his military career in 1904 and go through 1912.

(Update April 25, 2020). I recently reached out to the National Archives in Washington, D.C., asking about the availability of searching through the Muster Rolls for the Regular Army Organizations. I was told that because of the fragile condition of these records, as well as the availability of other records, that the Muster Rolls were not available to search through. I asked about the possibility of these records being digitized, and basically that there are no plans to digitize or otherwise preserve these records. I didn't ask about the Muster Rolls for the Hospital Corps, but I imagine that the same restrictions are in place as well. (It breaks my heart that these records are just sitting there in a continual state of deterioration. Even though I have found additional records for David Nemetzky, the fact that the Muster Rolls are not available for searching is tragic as there is information in these records that is not to be had in the other records that are presently available).

Record Group 407 is housed at College Park, Maryland. The correspondence index from 1917 onward, housed at College Park, Maryland, will add additional correspondence information into his service, including promotions, enlistments, transfers and discharges, adding to the correspondence index that I have found on Family Search.

I'm hoping that I can resume this research and finish piecing together the military record for David Nemetzky.