DESCENDANTS OF WWII RANGERS, INC

October 21, 2017

To Ranger Family & Friends:

Our 75th Anniversary Reunion in June at Fort Benning, GA was a huge success with over 60 people attending, demonstrating that membership is growing and that the Descendants are committed to carrying on the legacy of our World War II Rangers. Ranger Arthur Wilson, 3rd Ranger Battalion and a Cisterna survivor, was the only WW II Ranger able to attend, and he garnered standing ovations at every event.

New Board members and officers elected at the Business meeting include: David Williams, President; Nancy Taube, Vice-President Membership; Andrea Buchanan, Secretary; Terry Toler, Treasurer, and Laura Moore, Board Member at Large.

This year we produced a Reunion Program Book along with the sale of Ranger Challenge coins and a 75th Anniversary Poster, all necessary fund raisers. Peter Stern, the son of famed Ranger photographer Phil Stern, made a generous donation of Ranger Stern’s prints which will be available to purchase on this website along with Program Books, Coins and Posters. Getting Phil Stern’s prints into the hands of Ranger friends helps preserve his significant contribution to WW II Ranger history.

For 16 years we accomplished our mission by hosting reunions for our WW II Rangers, but they are leaving us all too soon. Part of our stated mission is to perpetuate the history and memory of WW II Rangers. We are addressing how to accomplish our mission after our Rangers are gone, knowing that our generation must put something in place to preserve the records and memory of our Rangers’ accomplishments and sacrifices. How are we doing that ?

The answer is the World War II Ranger Library. We will collect the official and personal Ranger records from World War II. These records will be digitized and organized into a searchable data base to make this information available and easily accessible for future generations. We will also have a searchable photo section. Some of this work has begun, and we hope that Ranger family members will contribute photos as well as written materials to the World War II Ranger Library. This will be an on-line digital, searchable library of World War II Ranger information, with all data backed-up on multiple hard-drives to achieve the highest level of protection.

The WW II Ranger Library is a major effort and will take several years to complete. An Advisory Board is being created to help raise funds that will be required for the Ranger Library. The key to making the Ranger Library as complete as possible is for every WW II Ranger family to share copies of their Ranger’s military records, letters, photos and other memorabilia they possess. In the near future we will post a link with instructions on how to participate in this effort to preserve history.

If you are not a member of the Descendants we ask that you click here for a Membership Application and join our effort to preserve our Rangers’ history. Your Ranger will be proud of what we are doing, even if he is no longer with us. Join us NOW and help preserve our WW II Ranger legacy.

Rangers Lead the Way !

David Williams, President

Honoring Colonel James B. Lyle

1st Ranger Battalion, 1942-1943