Albatros D.Va (O.A.W.) 6670/17

[charles]

I need some help with a very long shot..

The artifact shown below was mailed home in October, 1918, by 1st Lieutenant Leonard Godfrey Strater (note spelling) to his wife in Louisville, Kentucky. It is the lower portion of the forward leg of the left cabane strut on Albatros D.Va (O.A.W.) 6670/17, an Albatros scout.

I am assuming the aircraft crashed and Strater found it and took this piece of it as a souvenir, mailing it home to his wife. He was in a salvage squad and it would be his unit's responsibility to salvage material, such as a wrecked German aircraft, removing its machine guns and so forth.

I am trying to find out where Strater's unit was in September and October of 1918. If I can determine that, then I can narrow down which squadrons were in the area and lost aircraft which might be this one.

Strater was in the U.S. Army's Salvage Service, a part of the Army's Quartermaster Corps. He was specifically C.O of Field Salvage Squad No. 6. I contacted the Quartermaster Corps Museum in Washington, DC, and they sent me an order of battle which identified Field Salvage Squad No. 6 as being assigned to the 1st Army during the Meuse-Argonne battle in September-October, 1918. I know that after the Meuse-Argone battle he also took part in the defense of the Alsace Sector.

The problem is that Field Salvage Squads weren't assigned to a particular division (the 1st Army was comprise of several divisons) but were sent back and forth across the front as needed. So how can I figure out where they were more precisely than simply the 1st Army's broad sector during the Meuse-Argonne? I tend to think I will not be able to pin them down but I thought maybe someone would have an idea.

By the way, I found (via books/google.com, a great resource) a small bio on him in a book commemorating the military contributions of an organization he belonged to. It reads: "Leonard G. Strater, commissioned 2nd Lieutenant in the Q.M.C., U.S.N.A., at Fort Benjamin Harrison, May 15, 1917; in Salvage Service, C.O. Field Salvage Squad No. 6. Promoted to 1st Lieutenant, Oct. 31 1918. Took part in Meuse-Argonne actions and in the defense of the Alsace Sector. Discharged June 11, 1919."

Charles Gosse
The Aero Conservancy