The United States officially entered World War II on December 8, 1941, but troop buildups had been going on for some time. The first group of American GIs landed in Belfast on Jan. 26, 1942, to aid the British in the liberation of Europe. Military publicity units on both sides of the pond knew this was a big story, and needed a "hero" to represent those 500 men in the papers. They had disembarked in a hurry after eleven days at sea. Despite being near the end of the line, Private First Class Milburn H. Henke found himself chosen to the the "first."
Henke was with his company when a Colonel asked for a volunteer. Henke’s Lieutenant put his name forward and the Private expected he was going ashore to unload equipment.
“I was sitting on some barracks bags, and this colonel came up the gangplank, and there were about fifteen of us,” Henke would later recall. “There was a lieutenant there and he said: ‘I want a man from Company B, 133rd,’ and Lieutenant Springer, he turned around: ‘Henke, you go with him.’ When I got by the gangplank, General Hartle came to meet me. He said, ‘Do you think you can talk over a radio?’ And I said, ‘Well, if I have to, I think I can.’”
Henke met with Major General Russell P. Hartle, commanding officer of 34th Infantry Division. There was some surprise when Hartle discovered the ceremonial first soldier to go ashore was from Minnesota rather than his home state of Iowa. Yet Henke had the look of a typical United States doughboy, with an easygoing nature and good looks. The irony that the first American GI in Europe had a German surname was conveniently overlooked.
Henke posed for pictures for some time and gave interviews to the press. But his day in the sun stretched to weeks as his persona as an everyday soldier was harnessed for the war effort. Read the story of Milburn Henke at Military History Now. -via Strange Company
(Image credit: War Office official photographer, Bainbridge (Lt))
Who wrote the quote 'Imagine if they had a war and nobody came' ?