Staff Sergeant Bud Janich

Bud D. Janich was born on April 22nd, 1929 in Thermopolis, Wyoming. As a teenager, his family moved to Man, West Virginia. He graduated from high school in 1946 and was drafted into the US Army. After boot camp at Fort Knox, KY, Janich was sent overseas on November 15th, 1946 to join the ongoing occupation of Japan. Following a brief stay in the 4th Replacement Depot, Janich was assigned to Service Battery, 271st Field Artillery Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division as a clerk typist.

The 271st Field Artillery Battalion was formed in Australia from excess artillerymen in the 1st Cavalry Division. The battalion remained attached to the division, fighting in all of its campaigns during World War II as well as occupation duty in Japan. During their time in Japan, the 271st FA was charged with garrisoning various strategic positions across the Tokyo metropolitan area and training with the infantry regiments of the division to maintain combat readiness.

Janich was responsible for preparing paperwork and important documents for soldiers rotating back to the United States for discharge. With the constant rotation of the division’s combat veterans and troops who had been in the army prior to Pearl Harbor, he remained extremely busy maintaining and preparing these records. He later took a more active leadership role, overseeing the entire clerical staff of the battalion and maintaining various unit-level records like sick rolls and duty rosters.