134th Infantry Regiment Crest

134th Infantry Regiment

"All Hell Can't Stop Us"

35th Infantry Division emblem

S/Sgt. Herbert Stanton Hull

Company M

 Herbert S. Hull

Photograph taken July 22, 1943

 

Staff Sergeant Herbert S. Hull, 35597467, was inducted as a Private on January 14, 1943. Originally a member of the 320th Infantry Regiment he served at Camp San Louis Obispo, California. He traveled with the 320th Infantry Regiment to Camp Rucker, Alabama on April 1, 1943 where he was transferred to the 134th Infantry Regiment on April 5, 1943. He left the 134th Infantry Regiment to join the newly formed 5th Ranger Battalion in early September 1943 at Camp Forrest, TN.

S/Sgt Hull was awarded the European-African-Middle Eastern Theatre Ribbon with Bronze Star for Battle of France Campaign, Good Conduct Ribbon, Unit Citation, Purple Heart for wounds received in France on September 2, 1944 and the Combat Infantry Badge.

Thanks to Noel Mehlo, S/Sgt Hull's grandson for this information and the photograph. He has done extensive research and has written a book about his grandfather's service.  Here is a description of the book which is available from Amazon:

The U.S. Army Ranger Creed states: "I will never leave a fallen comrade to fall into the hands of the enemy." What if the enemy is time? Staff Sergeant (S/Sgt) Herbert Hull was in the 5th Ranger Infantry Battalion in World War II. He was wounded in France in 1944, and then he was physically lost to the unit with whom he had spilled blood in battle. He was lost administratively to the official records of the unit compiled through the war and beyond. He then tragically died as a young father of four and police officer ten years after the war. When he died, all detailed knowledge of his service died with him. He was lost to history for nearly seventy years, he became a lost Ranger. Take a journey to rediscover this lost veteran and learn about one of the most elite units of World War II.

The Lost Ranger: A Soldier's Story goes beyond this single veteran. It is also about the infantry training required as a member of the 35th Infantry Division and how men became Rangers in the 5th Ranger Infantry Battalion during World War II. It is a story of valor and fortitude. It is a complete analysis of the history of the battalion from 1943 until September 1944. This is the story of S/Sgt Hull's service. He survived the bloody June 6, 1944 D-Day invasion on Omaha Beach. He was wounded by a landmine while assaulting a fort at Brest, France on September 2, 1944. The fighting was so severe that seventy-five percent of the unit became casualties where the collective memory of the unit was decimated. After lying on the battlefield for hours he was found by his fellow Rangers only to become lost.

After exhaustive research, collaboration with historians and authors in the States and Europe, and through interviews with Ranger veterans and their families, this story details this specialized unit, where they went, what they did, and why they did it. This tells the story of one final mission for several of the remaining veterans of the 5th Ranger Infantry Battalion to "not leave a fallen comrade behind". More importantly, it examines how S/Sgt Hull was restored to history and brought home to a family who never really knew him. "Rangers Lead the Way!"

Amazon.com - paperback edition     Kindle edition
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