Captain Henry Waskow was killed December 14, 1943 in Italy when a shell fragment tore open his chest. Rick Atkinson in The Day of Battle describes him as someone who was never young, probably because he was one of eight children in a poor family of German Baptists. He was class president at Belton High School and graduated with the highest grade-point average in twenty years. At Trinity College he joined the Texas National Guard and earned an extra dollar for each drill session.
Rick Atkinson says this was perhaps the finest expository passage of WW II. Ernie Pyle by then believed the enormity of what he had experienced could not be captured by words and said, “I’ve lost the touch. This stuff stinks”.
Henry Waskow in a letter to his sister wrote, “I would have liked to have lived. But, since God has willed otherwise, do not grieve too much, dear ones, for life in the other world must be beautiful, and I have lived a life with that in mind all along. I was not afraid to die; you can be assured of that. I have done my share to make this world a better place in which to live. Maybe when the lights go on again all over the world, free people can be happy and gay again….If I failed as a leader, and I pray God I didn’t, it was not because I did not try”.
Audie Murphy served in the 36th, I was proud to serve in the 36th, you should have heard the stories the WWII 36th guys told at their reunions.
If anyone can find the old 1980s oath to the state of Texas National Guard ping me, it was very strong for Texas.
Thank you for posting this very touching story.
Robert Mitchum played the Captain in “The Story Of GI Joe” in 1945 and Burgess Meredith did an excellent job of portraying Ernie Pyle. Ernie Pyle was killed by a Jap machine gun in the Pacific not too long after.