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About Harmon Buckley
by Michael P. May
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Harmon Buckley |
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After high school, Harmon joined the Oklahoma National Guard to help pay for college. Less than a year later, Harmon's guard unit, the 45th Infantry Division, was mobilized at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and Harmon was commissioned as an officer and promoted to First Lieutenant. From 1940 to 1943, the "Thunderbirds" were stationed in Texas, Massachusetts, New York, and Virginia.
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During these years, Harmon met and courted my grandmother, Anita Evans, and they were married on August 22, 1942 at Worcester, Massachusetts. Anita returned to her mother's home in Texas a few months later, as the 45th prepared for overseas duty. On May 21, 1943, just before Harmon shipped out from Virginia, Anita gave birth to Russell Evan Buckley. Harmon was not granted leave, and he never met his son.
In early June, the 45th Division embarked for North Africa, and after final preparations, the Thunderbirds engaged German and Italian forces during the Allied invasion of Sicily. After capturing Sicily, the Allies assaulted mainland Italy, and on September 11, 1943, Harmon Buckley was killed by German machine gun fire near Salerno. Harmon, 22 years old, was buried at a battlefield cemetery in Italy, though his body was eventually returned to Holdenville, Oklahoma. The 45th Division continued to fight in Italy, France, and Germany.
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In 1945, Anita Buckley married Billy Jack May, another army officer and war veteran. Jack adopted Russell Evan, whose name was shortened to Russ E May. When Russ, my father, died from complications related to multiple sclerosis in 1998, I inherited some of Harmon Buckley’s letters and photographs, many of which now appear at this web site.
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Russ May, late 1940s. |
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Related documents:
Company I Roster (PDF, 100 KB) At the time of his death, Harmon Buckley was the commanding officer of Company I, 3rd Battalion, 179th Infantry Regiment, 45th Division. This roster appears on a menu from the company's 1942 Christmas dinner at Pine Camp, New York.
179th Infantry Killed at Sicily and Italy (PDF, 684 KB) This is a list of 179th Regiment, 45th Division soldiers killed in action at Sicily and Italy from July 10, 1943 to June 5, 1944. The list is from The Story of a Regiment: A History of the 179th Regimental Combat Team by Warren P. Munsell, Jr. (San Angelo, Texas: Newsfoto Publishing Co., 1946), pages 142 to 148. Please note that this list is not an official document; the list could be incomplete or inaccurate.
The two documents above can be viewed with free Adobe Acrobat Reader software.
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