Prologue
He wanted something more with his military service, Private (PVT) Herbert Stanton Hull had explained in a February of 1943 letter home to his sister Doris from Camp San Luis Obispo as a member of the 35th Infantry Division, 320th Infantry Regiment. By summer of 1943, he had found what he had been looking for. He had volunteered for and was accepted as a member of the newly formed 5th Ranger Infantry Battalion, B Company in September 1943. Since joining the Rangers, he had risen from the rank of PVT to the rank of Staff Sergeant (S/Sgt) and was now assigned as a Platoon Sergeant in one of the most élite units of World War II all in less than five months by the early spring of 1944.
He had survived the bloody June 6, 1944 D-Day invasion on Omaha Beach. It was now September 2, 1944. On this date, the Battalion had been split into two groups for combat operations around the Brest area. Companies B, D, F and Headquarters of the 5th Ranger Infantry Battalion were engaged at Fort de Toulbroc’h. The 5th Ranger Infantry Battalion, B Company, 2nd Platoon, was under the command 1st Lt. Louis J. Gombosi. The platoon moved to the south down a long and deep ravine as part of an ordered reconnaissance in force. Upon reaching the sea, the platoon separated into two Sections, the first led by Gombosi, the second by Hull. Hull’s section moved back slightly to the north and then east up a secondary ravine toward the outer perimeter defenses of the northwestern edge of the objective. This fortification has stood sentinel over the port of Brest, France since at least 1884. Under German occupation, it acted as one of the formidable coastal defenses to the west of the German fortress of Brest as part of the vaunted German “Atlantikwall.” Within it were many pieces of artillery capable of firing into the flanks and rear of the rapidly advancing 29th Infantry Division to the north of the fort who were closing in on the Port of Brest which lie to the east. The capture or elimination of this important strongpoint was just the sort of mission that the 5th Ranger Battalion was created for.
During the recon by 2nd Platoon, 2nd Section of the fort’s perimeter, one of the men in the section to the left of Hull tripped a landmine. Hull warned his men to drop to the ground with hand motions, but it was too late. The mine went off sending shrapnel into his right hand, back and most importantly impaling his left knee rendering him unable to walk.
Moments after Hull was wounded, Lt Gombosi was in position just outside the fort. He requested permission to attack, having observed no enemy within. The permission to attack was granted and the 2nd Platoon advanced into the base going slowly from dugout to dugout. It was nearly half an hour before they struck any enemy, but when they did, the 2nd Platoon found themselves outnumbered more than ten to one and were forced to withdraw to the northwest. The dead and wounded soldiers were pinned down under intense fire. By 2007 hours the report to the Company Headquarters that soldiers were tied down and unable to be reached resulted in orders being issued for every available man in the Battalion to bear arms and join the fight.
The U.S. Army Ranger Creed states: “I will never leave a fallen comrade to fall into the hands of the enemy.” Even though this portion of the creed is more modern, the United States Army Rangers have a long history of not leaving a man behind. The entire portion of the Battalion engaged in this action rose up in what must have been quite a measure of indignation focused at a stubborn enemy on the night of September 2, 1944 in order to save the situation from imminent disaster.
The thoughts of “Am I going to die?” must have passed through his mind as a fierce firefight waged all around him for several hours while his fellow Rangers were unable to rescue him. I never had the chance to ask if these thoughts were accurate of this particular soldier, my grandfather, but I am confident that these thoughts crossed his mind while under heavy enemy fire as he lay wounded on the battlefield. The thought of one’s own mortality is one that is not often heard voiced from one of this extremely special generation of Americans. As warriors, they exhibit a quiet dignity of men who simply did what their nation asked of them in order to help secure freedom for the world. The quiet demeanor and dignity of such men would not let them boast of their role in World War II in such grandiose terms.
S/Sgt Hull was rescued and his life saved after several hours by his fellow Rangers. He was sent to the rear for medical treatment. In an ironic twist of fate, he was lost. He was physically lost to the unit with whom he had spilled blood in France. He was lost administratively to the official records of the unit compiled throughout the remainder of the war and beyond. He was lost to history for nearly seventy years, he became a lost Ranger.