How did the 'points' system work and where can you find a list of it for the American soldiers in Europe?

Answer 1

Can't find who to credit for this but here is what I was able to pull up: http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?disc=26521;article=817;title=Military%20Message%20Board Bonnie Re; Point System Tue Jul 27, 2004 16:59 150.199.101.10 Hi Ellen, welcome. I found a nifty little newsletter called WWII Musings and it some good details about the point system used as of 1 Sep. 1945. Soldiers earned points according to # of months in the Army (1 pt. per month), # of months overseas (1 pt. per month), # of months in a combat zone (3 pts. per month), # of wounds received (6 pts. per Purple Heart) and # of dependent children under 18 (12 pts. per child). Additional credits were given for service performed with 5 pts. for every DSC, DSM, Legion of Merit, SS, DFC Soldiers Medal, BS, Air Medal, PH & Bronze Service Stars (Battle Participation Stars). Included were awards and decorations of foreign countries accepted and worn under War Dept. Regs. Each rank had its own required points for discharge. Colonels thru Majors needed 100 pts., Captains thru 2nd Lt's 85 pts., Warrant officers 80 pts. and enlisted men 80 pts. though that was dropped to 60 pts. by Nov. Because of his rank Audie would've needed a total of 85 pts. to get his discharge. I don't know if he listed his little sisters and brother as dependents but when he counted up all his months in service and overseas, time in combat, wounds and medals Audie said he had 146 pts.! Audie Murphy was never one to do ANYTHING half way! The Advanced Service Rating Score was a scoring system that awarded points to a soldier and was used to determine who were sent home first. At the end of the war in Germany and Italy, a total of 85points were required for a soldier to be allowed to return to the States. After Japan's surrender, the total points required dropped to 75 and was really only used to stage troops on the return voyages. Points were awarded for the following:
+1 Point for each month of service (between 16 Sept 1940 - 12 May 1945)
+1 Point for each month overseas (between 16 Sept 1940 - 12 May 1945)
+5 Points for first & each award received: DSC, LM, SS, DFC, SM, BS, AM, PH
+5 Campaign stars worn on theater ribbons
+12 Points for each child (< 18 yrs) up to a limit of 3 children. [I am not aware of points assigned to Officers.] As it turned out, thesoldiers assigned to support unitsusually had higher point score. Theaverage infantryman did not live long enough to collect enough points. If you have a copy of a service man's discharge papers, his ASRscore was entered in Block 55 at the bottom of the form.
For example: ASR (12 May 45) 86. See the Link on Points System for an explanation and an example of how to calculate the ASR score and some quotes from various sources about it. Custermen