By Johnny R. Covington
Special to THE DAILY

H. Paul Jeffers has crafted a historical story that takes the reader from Col. William Orlando Darby’s youth in his hometown of Fort Smith, Ark., to Ireland, where he is assigned the task of forming an American unit trained to function and fight like British Commandos. He then takes the reader through the invasions of North Africa, Italy and Darby’s subsequent death from a shell fragment just eight days before Victory-in-Europe Day.

Jeffers’ historical documentary follows William Darby from his high school days in Fort Smith, where his self-confidence and leadership were already becoming evident, to the time of his assignment as an artillery officer with the 34th Infantry Division and deployment to the British Islands to start training for the invasion of Europe.

There was only one problem: Gen. George C. Marshall envisioned creating an American version of the rugged British Commandos. William O. Darby, then a captain, is in the right place at the right time and is assigned the mission.

Starting with volunteers from within the 34th Infantry, then accepting men from outside the command, they slowly formed the 1st Ranger Battalion and training began in earnest when they were shipped to the British Commando training center, located in Ireland.

After months of intense training under the eyes of British Commandos, the Rangers were loaded on ships and taken to North Africa for their first combat operations. They took part in landings at Arzew, Algeria, to secure the port for the rest of the invasion force and then moved on to Tunisia.

The workload began to build for the Rangers, so the 3rd and 4th Ranger Battalions were formed and trained.

These units were trained just in time for the invasion of Sicily, then on to Italy. During operations in Italy, the 1st and 3rd Battalions were virtually destroyed in operations at the town of Cisterna di Littoria.

More than 700 Rangers were taken prisoner after being cut off from their supporting forces. I know one of these men — he lives here in Decatur.

Following their capture the prisoners of war, were paraded around the Colosseum in Rome. During the early part of their capture, several Rangers escaped and returned to friendly lines while others remained with Italian Partisans, conducting raids against German facilities and units.

My friend in Decatur killed an abusive German guard, escaped and made his way back to U.S. lines.

In late 1944, survivors from the 1st Ranger Battalion were sent stateside along with the remnants of the 3rd Battalion. Fourth Battalion served with 1st Special Service Forces for a short period, then was sent home as well.

The 1st and 3rd Ranger Battalions were deactivated in August 1944, and the 4th Battalion followed in October 1944. Col. Darby was assigned to the 10th Mountain Division and returned to Italy.

On April 30, 1945, following a conference at a hotel in the town of Torbole, artillery fire killed Col. Darby as he stood with others. He was struck in the heart by a small fragment and died instantly at age 34. Fifteen days later, his promotion to brigadier general was on record as the youngest general officer in the United States Army.

This account of one of America’s premiere fighting units of World War II is well told and doesn’t bog the reader down with detailed accounts of tactics or politics.

It is a story of a man. It has personal accounts and stories woven in to create a very easy-to-read book that is hard to put down. H. Paul Jeffers has done an excellent job of telling the story of Darby and his Rangers.

The courage of this elite fighting force lives on today in the U.S. Army, because “Rangers Lead the Way!”

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