ROCK ISLAND ARSENAL, Ill. -- Decorated World War II Veteran, Mr. Henry Langrehr, visited the U.S. Army's Joint Munitions Command headquarters here, Aug 8, to share some of his wartime experiences.
Brig. Gen. Kristin K. French, JMC commanding general, invited Mr. Langrehr and his family to visit the command. He was accompanied by his wife, Arlene; daughter, Karen; son-in-law, Rob Winters and grandson, Hobs Winters.
Langrehr and his family visited with French and the JMC staff to understand what the command does to support Department of Defense. In addition, he had an opportunity to respond to questions about his World War II experiences and was provided a tour of historic Quarters #1.
Langrehr, a 91-year-old Clinton, Iowa native, began his military service in 1943 at Camp Dodge, Iowa.
"I was eager to enlist," said Langrehr. "A lot of my friends were leaving school to go into the service."
Langrehr was trained as a demolition specialist and combat engineer at Camp Cooke, California, and was later trained at Fort Benning, Georgia, for infantry and parachute skills.
Langrehr was assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division and sent to England prior to D-Day. Mixed units of the 82nd and 101st Airborne dropped into Sainte-Me're-Eglise, France, on the morning of June 6, 1944, four hours prior to the landings at the Normandy beaches.
"I had made 66 parachute jumps by D-Day and my drop into France was my 67th," said Langrehr. He and another Soldier crashed through a greenhouse roof and were only a few of the men who survived that drop. Langrehr jumped with his friend John Steele, who got hung up on the steeple of the village church and survived by feigning death. Both were highlighted in the 1962 movie 'The Longest Day.'
The early morning landings directly on the town resulted in heavy casualties for the paratroopers. Many of Langrehr's unit were killed as they landed or were shot hanging from trees and utility poles before they could cut loose of their parachutes. Some of the buildings in the town were on fire, which illuminated the sky and made the paratroopers easy targets for the German forces.
"Everybody has a story," Langrehr continued. "God was good to me. I was very, very fortunate. I have a lot of friends buried in Normandy."
The goal of Operation Boston was to control the main road of the village of Sainte-Me're-Eglise to prevent the Germans from mounting a counterattack on the troops landing on Utah and Omaha beaches.
"Our mission was to go the Meredith River, and if we couldn't hold the bridge, we were to blow it," Langrehr added. "We always knew the objective, but we just didn't know where it was."
As the demolition man, he was the first man out the door of the plane. Langrehr carried a Thompson submachine gun, a 45-caliber pistol and a 30-pound demolition package attached to his leg. "I had about 150 pounds of equipment on me, which was as much as I weighed," he said.
For several weeks Langrehr battled German forces. "We had a lot of hand-to-hand combat," he added. "You saw the face of your enemy."
On June 30th, Langrehr was hit by shrapnel, while his platoon was defending a bridge. He was injured and captured by the Germans. After recovering from his injuries, he was sent to the Stalag 12A Prisoner of War camp and was forced to work at a coal mine, but eventually he escaped, while marching back to the camp one evening.
Langrehr has been awarded two Bronze Stars and two Purple Hearts for his service. In 2007, he also received the Legion of Honor, France's highest award, for his role in liberating France from the Nazis. Although most people consider him a hero, Langrehr believes he is not. "The real heroes are buried in France," he concluded.
JMC produces small-, medium- and large-caliber ammunition items for the Department of Defense. JMC is the logistics integrator for life-cycle management of ammunition and provides a global presence of technical support to U.S. combat units wherever they are stationed or deployed.
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