Ranger Howard M. Henry, American hero

One of the great things about history is that you never know all there is to know. There's always some new little detail to discover, some small piece that makes what you puzzled over more complete.

Readers are often filling in those puzzles. That's been especially the case with my book Rangers at Dieppe, where I had the privilege of helping to bring a previously unknown story to light. There's a lot about the battle and the Rangers who were there that I don't know; new information is always welcome.

The other day, I got a short book written by a member of Howard Henry's family. Tech 4 Howard Henry gave his life at Dieppe; he was among the first Americans to die in combat in the European theater.

His brother, Donald Henry, supplies a number of details about Howard, who was his older brother. Howard was drafted, either during the latter part of 1940 or the early part of 1941. This was before the U.S. was in the war, of course, but already the country was getting prepared. Mr. Henry notes that he was attached to a cavalry unit - an interesting reminder of exactly how much the world was changing at the time.

Howard went to England in March or April 1942. He would have learned about the formation of the new combat unit sometime afterwards, and volunteered to join it. He was one of the first members of the battalion, which was modeled on the British commandos. To make it, he had to pass a number of physical and mental tests, and survived a fairly rigorous winnowing process. The fact that he was chosen to go on the raid indicates he must have been one of the best of the best - a total of fifty Rangers accompanied the Canadian and British troops who landed at Dieppe. The Rangers' job was to fight, then report back on what they learned. (You can get more information on the Rangers at my website, www.rangersatdieppe.com and of course I hope you'll read my book, which goes into greater depth.)

Mr. Henry's book is a family history, privately created and published only for his family. But it's a trove of interesting information about how people lived in the 20th and 21st centuries. It's been donated to a number of libraries in Kentucky; I'm sure some future researchers and historians will be grateful.