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| Lt. Henry Citty was the only officer from the 325th Regiment killed while it was fighting in Italy. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/36490458/henry-bishop-citty http://www.327gir.com/325GIR.html |
Henry Bishop Citty never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on April 28, 1919 in Arkansas. His parents Daniel and Lucy were also both born in Arkansas. His father worked as a farmer and later as a plumber. Still later he worked as a salesman. Henry had three older brothers and one older sister. His mother died in 1939. By 1940 Henry had completed two years of college and was working as a driver while living at home.
He enlisted in the army on December 21, 1940 when his Arkansas National Guard unit was federalized. It became the 153rd Infantry Regiment which was stationed in Alaska. While there he reached the rank of staff sergeant. He was picked to attend Officers Candidate School and became a first lieutenant in January 1943. That same month he married Christine Phillips. He became a second lieutenant in Company F, 2nd Battalion, 325th Glider Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division.
The 325th GIR first saw action when the were sent to Salerno in September 15, 1943, arriving in landing crafts, not gliders, to reinforce Rangers who had landed a week earlier. Lt. Citty was killed on September 24, 1943 as the Allies advanced toward the Volturno River. He was only officer from his regiment killed in action in Italy.
His grave is at St Paul Methodist Church Cemetery in Ozan, Arkansas. I don't know what happened to his widow.
Last year on this date I profiled Medal of Honor hero Roger Young, a young man who by all rights should not have been in the army due to his disabilities. You can read about Roger here.
On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!
I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100
Thank you. Henry was my uncle, killed before my birth. This is information that I have never seen. Thank you so much.
ReplyDeleteIf you have more details about Henry, let me know and I can update his profile. Don Milne
DeleteThank you Don,
ReplyDeleteThis is actually themost information that I have seen of him. I do know that when he wasn in New Mexico living with my dad, his brother, his nickname was "Whiskey".
Is there a way taht I can include this information on Ancestry.com?
Thanks again,
Steve Citty
Do you have an Ancestry account? You can communicate with me at ww2fallen100@gmail.com Don Milne
Delete