Page 12 - Aerotech News and Review, Sept. 20, 2019

Henry Ochsner, WWII ‘Screaming Eagle’ vet, dies at 96

by Dennis Anderson River in an effort by British Field Mar- chute Infantry Regiment, Ochsner actu-
special to Aerotech News shal Bernard Law Montgomery to end ally served with 321st Glider Artillery,
World War II in Europe in 1944. Allied which fought side-by-side with the sto-
CALIFORNIA CITY, Calif.— airborne forces, thousands, landing by ried unit, all the way to Berchtesgaden,
World War II veteran Henry L. Och- parachute and glider, arrived to meet the “Eagle’s Nest” mountaintop resi-
sner, who served with the 101st Air- fierce resistance, including heavy ar- dence maintained by Nazi leader Adolf
borne Division from the D-Day inva- mor, fielded by crack Nazi troops. The Hitler in the Bavarian Alps.
sion at Normandy through the capture war in Europe would continue into The rank, “Knight Of The Legion of
of Hitler’s “Eagle’s Nest” alpine re- May 1945. Honor” is the highest award bestowed
doubt, has died. He was 96 years old. Ochsner served throughout the cam- by France, and was originated by Napo-
Ochsner, who died Sept. 7, was paign to liberate Europe, including the
known to many friends and family as historic siege of Bastogne, where the leon Bonaparte in 1802. It is awarded to
“Len.” 101st Airborne was encircled by Nazi World War II veterans “in recognition
In recent years in the Antelope Val- forces during the Battle of the Bulge of their heroic actions and precious con-
ley, he emerged as a living symbol of during the coldest winter in Europe in tribution to the liberation of France dur-
the spirit of “The Greatest Generation” 50 years. ing the war.” Additionally, Ochsner was
of World War II veterans, named by au- The California City man reminisced awarded the Presidential Unit Citation
thor Tom Brokaw from his book of the in interviews that he joined a buddy (as unit), the Europe-Africa-Middle Ease
same name. who used a light Army truck to break Campaign Medal with four battle stars,
On Sept. 19, 2017, Ochsner, wearing into a Belgian wine cellar, and they car- the World War II Victory Medal, the
his World War II “Ike” Jacket and 101st ried bottles of wine and spirits to share French Croix de Guerre, and the Belgian
Airborne baseball cap, was decorated Courtesy photograph with troops. Fourragere, a ceremonial rope worn from
at Los Angeles National Cemetery with let, he recently celebrated 72 years of Ochsner’s combat began with the D- “We’d give ‘em a bottle, and tell ‘em the shoulder on dress uniform awarded to
the Legion of Honor, the highest deco- marriage. He died at home, with fam- Day invasion. In the pre-dawn hours of to stay warm,” Ochsner said. units that distinguished themselves.
ration bestowed by the government of ily, from complications of age. D-Day, Allied forces dropped 13,000 At one point in the Bastogne siege, According to the Department of Vet-
France. Christophe Lemoine, Consul Ochsner served in the 101st Airborne paratroopers into Normandy, with more Ochsner said he failed to start a Jeep erans Affairs, World War II veterans are
General to France in Los Angeles, pre- Division, the “Screaming Eagles.” Ex- than 100,000 the seaborne forces of in the extreme cold weather, with the dying at the rate of more than 320 a day.
sented the medal to Ochsner and nine ploits of the division and one of its Operation Overlord coming up through engine going “ugh ... ugh ... ugh,” and
other veterans who gave “extraordinary most famous units were recounted in the beaches in the early morning hours jumped away from the vehicle on a Of the 16 million Americans who served
service.” the Stephen Ambrose book, which be- and into the days that followed. warning from a buddy with a German in World War II, fewer than 500,000 re-
“You left your homes and families came the Steven Spielberg-Tom Hanks “I didn’t think we were going to get 88 mm round whistling in that destroyed mained as of September 2018.
to liberate us,” Lemoine remarked. miniseries for HBO, Band of Brothers. out of there alive,” Ochsner remarked the vehicle. With a piece of shrapnel Ochsner was born in Feb. 2, 1923, in
“France will never forget you.” What soldiers of “Screaming Ea- many years later. “It was terrifying.” lodged in his boot, he said, “That’s Hellgate, Mont. He married Violet Jen-
After the war, he joined millions gles” division achieved and sacrificed Ochsner also participated with the as close as I came to a Purple Heart.” son, “the love of his life,” on March 5,
of returning veterans and worked as a has been recorded in countless films division’s airborne landings in The He said he dressed the small shrapnel 1947, in Seattle, and is survived by her,
truck driver with a superior safety re- and books, including Saving Private Netherlands, the ill-fated “Opera- wound himself, “a scratch,” he said. and four daughters, Susan, Jacqueline,
cord, and for many years in aerospace Ryan, The Longest Day and A Bridge tion Market Garden” mission to press Often identified as one of the “Band Sandra, and Lenelle; also two grand-
until his retirement. With his wife, Vio- Too Far. through the Netherlands to the Rhine of Brothers,” Easy Co. of the 506th Para- daughters, Ashley and Tamara.

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