World War II Articles
My father's first World War II Ranger patch. He was later with the 4th Ranger Battalion
Honoring those who returned from WW II
It goes without saying that we honor those who died under foreign skies in World War II, but in the above ad for a Ranger reunion book, which I recently found in a rarely-opened folder on my computer, I honor my father and those who did return, the majority of whom held the nightmares they had witnessed at bay and returned to the lives they left.
I also found a letter written to my mother in 1944 by a Ranger who served with Dad. That letter from James C. Roberts, along with another letter sent to Dad after the war by an 83rd Chemical Mortar Battalion (the unit Dad joined after Darby's Rangers were disbanded and with which he served until the war ended) soldier named Elwood "Long John" Guthrie, means more to me than Dad's medals. Roberts' four-page letter, written in pencil on tablet paper, follows (you may click on the pages to make them larger):
I also found a letter written to my mother in 1944 by a Ranger who served with Dad. That letter from James C. Roberts, along with another letter sent to Dad after the war by an 83rd Chemical Mortar Battalion (the unit Dad joined after Darby's Rangers were disbanded and with which he served until the war ended) soldier named Elwood "Long John" Guthrie, means more to me than Dad's medals. Roberts' four-page letter, written in pencil on tablet paper, follows (you may click on the pages to make them larger):
I honor veterans with my vote
My polling place often offers a stick-on circle that reads: My vote honors a veteran. Below is a line where I can write in my late father’s name: Lt. L. Lew Henry. Dad was a Ranger in World War II. When the Rangers were disbanded after they were decimated at Cisterna, Dad joined the 83rd Chemical Mortar Battalion (also known as the Rangers’ Artillery). “I fought alongside them in Sicily and Italy,” he once told me, “and I knew they were a good outfit.”
But I do not honor my father alone with my vote. I honor all American veterans who fought in every American war: the Revolutionary War, which gave us our freedom from Britain; the War of 1812, often called “the second war for independence” which preserved it; the Civil War which freed all of our citizens; the Spanish American War which ended Spanish colonial rule in the Americas; World War I, termed “the war to end all wars” that did not; World War II, which halted Axis plans to rule the world; the Korean War, dubbed a police action; the Vietnam War; Desert Storm, Iraq, Afghanistan . . . so many wars.
And so many veterans who fought to preserve our freedom. Many of them gave their all, dying under foreign skies. Others, like my father, came home to build homes and families and communities. I honor them all.
There is a common email that periodically makes the rounds: If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you can read it in English, thank a veteran. I do most sincerely thank each and every veteran for his or her service.
But I do not honor my father alone with my vote. I honor all American veterans who fought in every American war: the Revolutionary War, which gave us our freedom from Britain; the War of 1812, often called “the second war for independence” which preserved it; the Civil War which freed all of our citizens; the Spanish American War which ended Spanish colonial rule in the Americas; World War I, termed “the war to end all wars” that did not; World War II, which halted Axis plans to rule the world; the Korean War, dubbed a police action; the Vietnam War; Desert Storm, Iraq, Afghanistan . . . so many wars.
And so many veterans who fought to preserve our freedom. Many of them gave their all, dying under foreign skies. Others, like my father, came home to build homes and families and communities. I honor them all.
There is a common email that periodically makes the rounds: If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you can read it in English, thank a veteran. I do most sincerely thank each and every veteran for his or her service.
My father, Lt. L. Lew Henry
A Crazy Plan: Darby's Rangers'
Heroic Last Stand at Cisterna
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Available now on Kindle. A Crazy Plan: Darby's Rangers' Heroic Last Stand at Cisterna is the story of one of World War II's most heartbreaking battles, told by those who fought it. Only eight Rangers out of the two battalions who marched up the canal to Cisterna escaped; the rest were killed or captured. The 4th Ranger Battalion fought desperately to crack the ring of Germans surrounding their brother Rangers in the 1st and 3rd Battalions. In doing so, they suffered more casualties than the other two battalions combined (POWs are not considered casualties).
The book is quite short, but it contains information that has not previously been available. I originally planned for it to be longer, but one of the Rangers I interviewed was very ill and I wanted his story out there while he was still living. RIP Carl. Then last August, Micky Romine, another heroic Ranger who tells his story in the book, died a few days after Ray and I attended his 94th birthday party at a VA Home in Missouri. A medic, Micky went AWOL from a hospital where he was being treated for an injury because he was determined to march into battle should his battalion need his services. With two other medics, he set up an aid station in Cisterna. He was captured and spent the remainder of the war as a POW. You may click on the cover to buy the book on Amazon for $2.99 or to read a few sample pages. 
I produced this book for the WW II Rangers when they held their national reunion in Lawrence in 2006. It is no longer available, but I think you might like to see the book's cover, a photo of the sculpture "Scaling the Wall" which depicts Rangers climbing the cliffs at Pointe du Hoc. The late sculptor Jim Brothers created magnificent sculptures at the 50-acre monument to honor those brave Americans who fought and died at Normandy on June 6, 1944 and subsequent days.
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Micki gave a talk at the Eisenhower Museum in Abilene
about her book, A Wyoming Cowboy in Hitler's Germany.
If you would like to watch it, please click here.
Foreward to Micki Carroll's book: A Wyoming Cowboy in Hitler's Germany
As the daughter of a World War II Darby’s Ranger, I have read, researched and written much about warriors of the Greatest Generation. I know how much work goes into even the shortest of combat articles.
Therefore, I was astonished at the depth and breadth of the historical research contained in A Wyoming Cowboy in Hitler’s Germany, as well as the author’s ability to transmit it to the reader in an interesting and thoroughly enjoyable fashion.
Through the adroit use of photos, letters, documents and prose, the author brings to life — from boyhood through World War II — three All-American brothers, each of whom worked his way up to the rank of officer. All three left for war: a commander/paraskier, a submarine navigator and a photographer/paratrooper.
The two paratroopers were reported missing in action during the Normandy D-Day invasion. One of them was later documented to be a German prisoner of war. Of the three brothers who marched off to battle, only two came home.
This book relates a compelling story, skillfully written. It is a must read for those who love history and especially those fascinated by World War II history.
Marsha Henry Goff
As the daughter of a World War II Darby’s Ranger, I have read, researched and written much about warriors of the Greatest Generation. I know how much work goes into even the shortest of combat articles.
Therefore, I was astonished at the depth and breadth of the historical research contained in A Wyoming Cowboy in Hitler’s Germany, as well as the author’s ability to transmit it to the reader in an interesting and thoroughly enjoyable fashion.
Through the adroit use of photos, letters, documents and prose, the author brings to life — from boyhood through World War II — three All-American brothers, each of whom worked his way up to the rank of officer. All three left for war: a commander/paraskier, a submarine navigator and a photographer/paratrooper.
The two paratroopers were reported missing in action during the Normandy D-Day invasion. One of them was later documented to be a German prisoner of war. Of the three brothers who marched off to battle, only two came home.
This book relates a compelling story, skillfully written. It is a must read for those who love history and especially those fascinated by World War II history.
Marsha Henry Goff
Homecoming: Seventy Years after their largely
unheralded return, area World
War II veterans look back on their service and
their reentry into civilian life.
Here's a link to my recent article in Topeka Magazine about five heroic WW II veterans. Bill Stephens, the Topeka photographer with whom I worked did a superlative job on the photos. http://issuu.com/sunflower_publishing/docs/tm14w/48
Happy Father's Day to Veterans!
Click HERE to read a column entitled Dad, I hardly knew ye,
that I wrote about my soldier father.
Click HERE to read a column entitled Dad, I hardly knew ye,
that I wrote about my soldier father.
My interest in WW II history is due to my late father, L. Lew Henry, who was a Darby’s Ranger in WW II, serving as a lieutenant in both F Company of the 1st Ranger Battalion and A Company of the 4th Ranger Battalion. He began the war in Africa, fighting through Sicily and Italy, and was wounded during the Anzio invasion, causing him to miss the disaster at Cisterna. After recovering, he fought on Anzio Beachhead with the First Special Service Force under the command of General Frederick. After Darby’s Rangers were disbanded, he joined the 83rd Chemical Mortar Battalion (aka "The Rangers’ Artillery"), fighting with them through France, Alsace, and Germany until the Nazi surrender.
The invasion of Sicily was a bloody battle . . . so costly in human life that one Ranger participant said if that (or any) WW II invasion could have been shown on television, the American people would have said, "Bring them home!"
The Cisterna debacle in which Rangers of the 1st and 3rd Battalions were surrounded by an overwhelming German force and, with the exception of only eight men, were all killed or captured. Several former POWs from the Cisterna battle contributed to this article.
Click HERE for the article about 1st, 3rd and 4th Battalion Rangers.
The Raid on Cabanatuan was depicted in the movie The Great Raid. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend that you do. A force of 120 6th Battalion Rangers (the only Ranger Battalion in the Pacific Theater) and a dozen Alamo Scouts, assisted by 200 Filipino guerrillas and the help of Filipino civilians, successfully rescued 512 survivors of the Bataan Death March who were incarcerated by the Japanese at Cabanatuan. I had the good fortune to meet the late Captain Robert Prince, considered the raid’s architect, during the Rangers’ national reunion in Lawrence, Kansas in 2006. He contributed greatly to the following article
Click HERE for the article about the rescue of POWs held at Cabanatuan.
D-Day appears to be the only WW II action that many reporters of the present day are aware. That fact is readily apparent in the way they bypass interviewing brave veterans of the 1st, 3rd, 4th and 6th Ranger Battalions in favor of those equally brave 2nd and 5th Rangers who participated in the D-Day invasion. That said, D-Day was an amazing wartime feat by the allies. The assault on the Normandy cliffs was both daring and deadly and depicted by sculptor Jim Brothers in larger-than-life-size-scale at the site of the D-Day monument in Bedford, Virginia. The stories by participants and photos in the following article make it worth reading.
Click HERE for the D-Day article.
Every Memorial Day, my friend Franck, his wife and two children of Normandy, France , honor two Rangers killed on D-Day by placing flowers on their graves in Colleville sur Mer cemetery. Franck says that his “greatest ambition is to be able to pass on to our future generations the story of the veteran Rangers and other men to whom we as French people owe our freedom. We have decided to take care of two Rangers’ graves because we do not want to forget, and it is our way to say thank you to all of them.”
Click HERE to read about Franck and the Rangers whose graves his family decorates.
The invasion of Sicily was a bloody battle . . . so costly in human life that one Ranger participant said if that (or any) WW II invasion could have been shown on television, the American people would have said, "Bring them home!"
The Cisterna debacle in which Rangers of the 1st and 3rd Battalions were surrounded by an overwhelming German force and, with the exception of only eight men, were all killed or captured. Several former POWs from the Cisterna battle contributed to this article.
Click HERE for the article about 1st, 3rd and 4th Battalion Rangers.
The Raid on Cabanatuan was depicted in the movie The Great Raid. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend that you do. A force of 120 6th Battalion Rangers (the only Ranger Battalion in the Pacific Theater) and a dozen Alamo Scouts, assisted by 200 Filipino guerrillas and the help of Filipino civilians, successfully rescued 512 survivors of the Bataan Death March who were incarcerated by the Japanese at Cabanatuan. I had the good fortune to meet the late Captain Robert Prince, considered the raid’s architect, during the Rangers’ national reunion in Lawrence, Kansas in 2006. He contributed greatly to the following article
Click HERE for the article about the rescue of POWs held at Cabanatuan.
D-Day appears to be the only WW II action that many reporters of the present day are aware. That fact is readily apparent in the way they bypass interviewing brave veterans of the 1st, 3rd, 4th and 6th Ranger Battalions in favor of those equally brave 2nd and 5th Rangers who participated in the D-Day invasion. That said, D-Day was an amazing wartime feat by the allies. The assault on the Normandy cliffs was both daring and deadly and depicted by sculptor Jim Brothers in larger-than-life-size-scale at the site of the D-Day monument in Bedford, Virginia. The stories by participants and photos in the following article make it worth reading.
Click HERE for the D-Day article.
Every Memorial Day, my friend Franck, his wife and two children of Normandy, France , honor two Rangers killed on D-Day by placing flowers on their graves in Colleville sur Mer cemetery. Franck says that his “greatest ambition is to be able to pass on to our future generations the story of the veteran Rangers and other men to whom we as French people owe our freedom. We have decided to take care of two Rangers’ graves because we do not want to forget, and it is our way to say thank you to all of them.”
Click HERE to read about Franck and the Rangers whose graves his family decorates.
Heroes of The Greatest Generation
L. Lew Henry, my father, was in the 1st and 4th Ranger Battalions and in Companies D and A of the 83rd Chemical Mortar Battalion. To read a short booklet, The Lost Ranger, which I wrote about him, click HERE.
Bill Munoz was in the 5th Ranger Battalion in World War II. To read his story, click HERE.
Stitt Robinson participated in two glider invasions in World War II. To read his story, click HERE.
Crosby "Bing" Powell was in the 34 Infantry. To read his story about the battle at Monte Casino which I wrote for Topeka Magazine, click HERE.
Bill Munoz was in the 5th Ranger Battalion in World War II. To read his story, click HERE.
Stitt Robinson participated in two glider invasions in World War II. To read his story, click HERE.
Crosby "Bing" Powell was in the 34 Infantry. To read his story about the battle at Monte Casino which I wrote for Topeka Magazine, click HERE.