The American Army arrived in Norway in June of 1945. Task Force A, and its subordinate units was about 5,000 US servicemen. I have heard of about 50-80 War Brides came to the US in Oct Nov 1945. Here is some information about the largest unit:
The 474th Infantry Regiment (Separate) was made up of the soldiers of the First Special Service Force, the 99th infantry Battalion (Sep) and the 552nd Anti-Tank Company. They were bolstered by over 800 replacements to create the new regiment during January 1945, in France. Separate means it did not belong to a Infantry Division.
The Regiment was created for a classified mission and formed by Eisenhower for that purpose. They also became involved with the Monuments Men, moving the Nazi Gold and Art treasures out of the Merkers Mine complex in April 1945.
I have created a Facebook page for the 474th, 552nd and the US element they served under called Task Force A.
The 99th Infantry Battalion has its own Web Page and Facebook Group that is very active.it also addresses the 474th’s history.
http://www.99battalion.org/The First Special Service Force (FSSF) has many Facebook groups and I would be happy to do introductions to them. The 1st, 3rd and 4th Ranger Battalions known as Darby’s Rangers under the Ranger Force in Italy were reorganized under the FSSF in April 1944 and many Rangers (400) ended up in the 474th.
Here is a site you can check to see if your soldier may have been a Ranger at some time in WWII:
http://www.rangerroster.org/SearchPage.aspIf you have a Ranger, I can also introduce you to the Webmaster and get you in their FB Group. I would be happy to help interpreting any military files or militaria you may have.
Erik Brun
President, 99th Infantry Battalion Foundation
Erikwak59@yahoo.com