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| 1st Lt. Harmon Buckley served in the 45th Infantry Division at Salerno. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/34489462/harmon-leon-buckley https://www.okhistory.org/kids/45th2.php |
Harmon Leon Buckley never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
Harmon was born on July 1, 1920 in Oklahoma. His parents Samuel and Ibra were both born in Arkansas. His father worked as a farmer and later as a dairyman. Still later he was an automobile salesman. Harmon had one older sister, two older brothers, and two younger sisters. By 1940 Harmon had completed four years of high school and was still living at home. He attended college and participated in the Oklahoma National Guard.
He enlisted in the army in September 1941. While still stateside he married Anita Evans in August 1942. They had one son that Harmon never saw. He became a first lieutenant in the 179th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division (nicknamed "Thunderbirds"). The 45th Infantry Division took part in the invasion of Sicily in July 1943.
The 45th ID landed in Salerno on September 10, 1943. The Germans put up heavy resistance and Lt. Buckley was killed by machine gun fire the next day, September 11, 1943, when his regiment tried unsuccessfully to advance seven miles to take the Ponte Sele bridge.
World War II touched the Buckley family more than most. Harmon's older brother Edgar was twice wounded by explosions while serving in the South Pacific and spent much time in hospital being treated for burns. Brother-in-law Orville Roberts was a B-17 pilot who was shot down over Germany.
Harmon's grave is at Holdenville Cemetery in Holdenville, Oklahoma. I don't know what happened to his widow or son.
This is one of the final 100 stories (64) to be written as part of this project which ends on September 2, 2020, the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. At that time more than 1,370 men and women will have been profiled. The project will live on in an expanded program to write the stories of all 400,000+ US World War II fallen. Visit www.storiesbehindthestars.org to learn more. We welcome your continued support and interest and encourage you to help write some of these stories.
Last year on this date I profiled Gunners Mate Andrew Karson. You can read about Andrew 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
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