The Heroic Efforts of William Orlando Darby - Essay Example

William Orlando Darby Eric Reeves of Arkansas History Dan Breitenberg 7th June William Orlando Darby was born on February 18 in 1911 in the state of Arkansas in Fort Smith. He belonged to a quaint family of four with a younger sister named Doris. William O. Darby’s father was a simple man who owned a print shop and was known to have a wonderful personality which, it is said, he passed on to his son, while his mother – Nell – was a homemaker1. As a chilled Darby attended the Belle Grove School until he was in sixth grade after which time he began to attend the Fort Smith High School. At the time of his graduation from high school Darby received his appointment letter from West Point Military Academy and joined the institute as a cadet. He gradually became cadet company commander and Darby, though later was known to be one of the greatest infantrymen that the country had ever seen, graduated from West Point in June 1933 as a second lieutenant with artillery as his choice of career. From west point he later was assigned for duty in the 82nd field artillery which belonged to the 1st cavalry division and was stationed in Fort Bliss, Texas. At the time that Darby joined the division, it was the only artillery unit remaining in the army which was on horse back. After serving some time there he was promoted to the rank of captain in October of 1940 and thereafter received amphibious training. Darby was soon assigned to be the aide-de-camp to Major General Russell P. Hartle who was the commander of the thirty-fourth infantry division2. Soon the bombing by the Japanese of Pearl Harbor in 1941 led to the deployment of the division to Northern Ireland in January of 1942 and Darby was also deployed. In Northern Ireland Darby was to meet General Lucian K. Truscott, who was put in charge of acquiring volunteers from the 34th infantry and the 1st armored division for the establishment of a new unit of elite commandos. These were to be acquired from the already thin contingency of troops who were in the United Kingdom at the time which was not much to work with. Furthermore, the new unit did not have any commanding officer and through one sly maneuver on the part of the chief of staff of the division at the time, Colonel Edmond Leavey3 Darby was given the opportunity to be the new commander of the Rangers. In no time Darby was the new commanding officer of his small number of soldiers who were then dubbed as Darby’s Rangers. William Darby was then promoted to the rank of a major and after the official setting up of the United States first army ranger battalion in 1942 he was made its commanding officer. A decision that was to have profound effects on those who would serve under him and besides him later. The Darby rangers saw their first incursion into the field when the force was a part of Operation orch. This operation was under the command of Major General Lloyd Fredendan and during this operation Darby’s unit was able to successfully pull off number of night attacks against the enemy4. Once the unit reached Algeria Darby served as a major there for quite one time until finally him and his soldiers were sent to Tunisian Front. Here Darby managed to climb to the lieutenant colonel rank and him and his ranger fought a few daunting battles in Tunisia amongst the difficult terrain. Yet Darby was more successful than others and at the end of the campaigning he began to spread out the rangers and raised two more battalions, the third and fourth battalions were the off spring of the success of the first5. In the battle and Sicily the three ranger battalions were in the forefront of the fight and were also the first to land on the shores of Italy later on in the invasion campaign. However, the ranger battalions were dealt a heavy blow when in 1944 the first and third battalion suffered quite a large number of casualties in Cisterna and so were consolidated with the First Special Service Force. The first and third ranger force were ordered to go behind enemy lines and capture the German town of Cisterna while the higher officials assumed that the Germans would retreat if they were pushed enough. The Germans however were one step ahead and managed to ambush the rangers who were not appropriately prepared for combat and were nearly all killed. Darby fought to save his soldiers and was continually pushed back numerous time and even his fourth battalion sustained heavy losses. Though the Fourth battalion also sustained heavy casualties they were not integrated elsewhere and from 1944 were the lone ranger force in the army. Once the rangers who were lucky to escape the Germans were dispersed in other battalions Darby was left without any unit to command and so was sent to command the 179th infantry regiment belonging to the 45th infantry division. He was then sent back to the United States in 1944 to Washington where he was placed to serve with the army general staff for a period of up to eleven months though throughout his tenure he still longed to return to combat. Then in 1945 while on a routine visit out of state along with the army air corps team in the company of General Hap Arnold Darby once again managed to secure himself a position of an executive officer when he was picked to be the assistant division commander of the 10th mountain division placed there. It was only eight days later on the 30th of April 1945 that William Orlando Darby lost his life when he was hit by German artillery fire while on a mop up6. Darby’s death was a tragedy in many sense of the word considering that on the day of his death the lit for those officers who were to b considered for promotion to the rank of brigadier general was handed over to President Truman for consideration. Though he was dead at the time on the recommendation of the then war secretary Henry L. Stimson Darby’s promotion was still considered and on the 15th of May of the same year as his death William Orlando Darby was posthumously promoted to brigadier general7. William Orlando Darby put Arkansas in the front with his heroic efforts in the field not only for his own sake but for his soldiers and his country. His devotion to the nation and the way he strived for his goals. Darby was awarded many awards of service throughout his career in the army and is a renowned officer in the United States army and was commended by many of his fellows along with superiors. He added a new chapter in the history of Arkansas with his courage and valor as well as charm and personality. William Orlando Darby is considered one of the greatest heroes of World War II and I is with great pride that every citizen in Arkansas speaks his name for he truly was not only a great American and soldier but a great human being for he held compassion not only of his own, but also his enemies. His achievements have been called legendary as he managed to organize and lead a few men to greatness. There has even been an award now established under the name of this great soldier to honor those who follow a similar path as his in their duties8. Later there were more ranger battalions established which participated in other battles and situation such as the landing at the Omaha Beach9. Work Cited Arkansas Ties. http://www.arkansasties.com/People/DarbyWilliamO.htm (7 June 2010). Bahmanyar, Mir. Darbys Rangers 1942-45. China: Osprey Publishing, 2003, pp. 5. Bryant, Russ. To be a U.S. Army Ranger. Minnesota: MBI Publishing Company, 2003, p. 157. Fredriksen, John C. American military leaders: from colonial times to the present. Vol. 2. California: ABC-CLIO, 1999, pp. 194. Radcliff, Maranda. Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture. http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=2414 (7 June 2010). Taylor, Thomas H., and Robert J. Martin. Rangers: Lead the Way. Kentucky: Turner Publishing Company, 1996, pp. 10. Tripod. http://darbysrangers.tripod.com/id3.htm (7 June 2010). U.S. Department of Defense. U.S. Army Ranger Handbook. New York: Skyhorse Publishing Inc., 2007, p. xiii. Read More