2nd U.S. RANGER INFANTRY BATTALION

By Sidney A Salomon (1913 - 2004)
2 Silver Stars; Purple Heart w/Oak Leaf Cluster

SUMMARY

The foregoing report is insufficiently documented in official Army records. However the source cited in the bibliography that follows, going back to Nov.-Dec. 1944 will help to strengthen the records of that period. As every military man, and particularly every combat man knows, certain events in combat are burned into the minds and memories of the combatant forever. The records aforesaid and the recollection of the survivors as compiled herein are accurate and reliable.

How could the assaulting and defending Rangers have been more courageous, more determined, more aggressive, more tenacious against such overwhelming odds? Had not the Rangers gone beyond the line of duty? How and in what way could the Rangers have excelled more as an effective combat unit in the finest sense of military combat tradition? Must the entire unit become casualties or all be killed in action? What more sacrifice should the 2nd Ranger Battalion have made to qualify for a Presidential Unit Citation? The truth of the matter is that no other combat unit could have done better in achieving victory than the 2nd Ranger Battalion did. Few, if any, would be willing to pay the price for such an important victory, as the Rangers did. Should not the Presidential Unit Citation Awards Board of the Army favorably reconsider and award this valued citation to the truly outstanding 2nd Ranger Battalion for a job well done? One that could not have been done better, and was, in fact, not accomplished by larger units with more fire power that attempted to secure Bergstein and capture Hill 400 prior to this outstanding Ranger victory. Should the proper army authorities ever review this matter, in all likelihood, their determination would be as follows:

U.S. ARMY REVIEW BOARD (Opinion)

(on recommendation of award of Presidential Citation
to 2nd Ranger Battalion.)

Recommendation and Petition for reconsideration for award of Presidential Unit Citation to the 2nd Ranger Battalion based upon the facts and recollections recited above is denied. The board is of the opinion that oversight, inequities and mistakes of the past, however unfair, are ancient history 47 years later.

HORIZONTAL FLOURISH LINE

The opinion of a soldier or citizen is:
It is never too late to reward heroic efforts beyond the line of duty in achieving victory in war.

HORIZONTAL FLOURISH LINE

Army regulations, of course, do not permit the 2nd Ranger Battalion to recommend itself for a Presidential Unit Citation, and that is understandable and proper. Those same regulations do not permit the 2nd Ranger Battalion to petition the Army Board of Awards, or proper reviewing authority for reconsideration of the determination of denial issued many many years ago. The General officers that made the recommendations are now deceased. Apparently, Brig. Gen. W.G. Weaver's Letter of Commendation from the 8th Infantry Division is considered adequate recognition of the 2nd Rangers' outstanding performance. General Weaver was Commanding General of the 8th Infantry Division, the unit to which the Rangers were attached during the period of this specific combat action. Immediately after the combat action that took place at Bergstein - Hill 400, General Weaver, in a letter dated 11 December 1944, praised the Rangers for their bravery and the successful completion of their objective. Further, he requested that orders be issued for the surviving members of the Rangers to be given leaves to the various Rest and Recreation Centers then existing in the ETO (European Theatre of Operations).

At a later date, 16 August 1945, Major General Ernest N. Harmon, Commanding General of the Army Corps to which the Rangers were attached at that date, submitted a Recommendation to the Commanding General 3rd U.S. Army, for an Oak Leaf Cluster to the original Presidential Unit Citation which the Rangers were awarded for their Normandy Invasion undertaking. The Oak Leaf Cluster recommendation, as per General Harmon, was for "extraordinary gallantry and heroism against overwhelming superior enemy numbers and firepower to seize and hold Hill 400 near Bergstein, Germany."

When two General officers heartily and respectfully recommend the Presidential Unit Citation extolling the courageous feats and actions of the 2nd Rangers based on facts herein described, a question arises as to the reasonableness and justification of the denial of the recommendation.

The surviving members of the 2nd Ranger Battalion proudly continue to explain to their children and grandchildren their accomplishments and sacrifice during this particular time in question and the value of the Hill 400 victory. At some time in the not too distant future, when there are no survivors alive from the 2nd Ranger Battalion, their courageous and valiant efforts will have faded in memory and into oblivion. Their outstanding and historic actions will continue to be inadequately reported. The Presidential Unit Citation Awards Committee will have missed another opportunity to give due recognition to yet another worthy combat unit.

SIDNEY A. SALAMON
Respectfully submitted,
Sidney A. Salomon
(former Company Commander)
2nd Ranger Battalion

 


HORIZONTAL FLOURISH LINE

Posted here with kind permission of the family of the late Sidney A. Salomon.
Many thanks Peter.

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