Sherman, Hebert A. lll

Description

Herbert Augustus Sherman

Herbert Augustus Sherman was born on March 16, 1923, in Port Chester, New York, to Katherine Winchester and Herbert Augustus Sherman He had one brother, Winchester and in Rye his family lived at 734 Boston Post Road. Herbert attended Chapman Technical High School in New London , CT. He was a direct descendant of Roger Sherman, the only man to sign the four charters of American liberty, including the Declaration of Independence.

Herbert enlisted March 1943 and served in the U.S. Army during World War II. He served with the 26th Infantry Regiment of the US Army First Infantry Division in Italy, Northern France, and Germany. He was at Normandy Beach on D-Day, and received a Purple Heart and four service stars.

The 26th Infantry Regiment, part of the famed “Big Red One” (1st Infantry Division), was a highly decorated unit in WWII, known as the “Blue Spaders,” participating in major campaigns from North Africa (Operation Torch) and Sicily (Operation Husky) through the Normandy invasion (D-Day, Omaha Beach), the Battle of Aachen, the H├╝rtgen Forest, the Battle of the Bulge, crossing the Rhine, and advancing into Germany and Czechoslovakia. They led America’s first amphibious assault, earned numerous awards, and served as honor guard for the VE Day parade and Nuremberg Trials.

Pfc. Sherman Lost Pipe in Invasion

Pfc. Herbert A. Sherman lost his pipe in the invasion of the continent and has written home for another; otherwise he has nothing to complain about. He had to swim ashore, sleep in a ditch and collected a few gray hairs as a result of it all, but the loss of his pipe troubled him most of all. The son of Mr. and Mrs. Herbert A. Sherman and nephew of Judge Roger Sherman of Rye, he is in the First Division and has been In the Army since March 1943. He first saw action in the Sicilian campaign. I got through the invasion, he writes, but it was very close there while on the beach. Shells were bursting just a few feet from me, so you can imagine how I felt. I finally got off that beach and into a pillbox to rest for a few minutes. When I got off the LCI, I had to wade through water up to my chest. I hit a hole and had to swim part of the way. That night, I slept in a ditch along the road and, boy, was it cold. Snipers raised hell with us the next day, but we soon got them underhand. Pfc. Sherman is a brother of 1st Lieut. Winchester Sherman, who was brought home from England to convalesce from illness and is now on leave with his father near Willimantic, Conn.

Friday, July 14, 1944 THE RYE CHRONICLE PAGE FIVE

Pfc. H. A. Sherman In Army Hospital

Pfc. Herbert A. Sherman, wounded at Aachen, Germany, has been returned to this country on a hospital ship and is now at Lovell General Hospital, Mass, Visited last weekend by his uncle. Judge Roger Sherman of Rye, the 21 year old infantryman was found in good health, but still carrying a piece of shrapnel in his left leg. He was virtually buried alive when a direct shell hit near his dugout at two o’clock in the morning. Pfc. Sherman had 128 days of steady fighting with the 26th infantry of the First Division. He had been in the service since enlisting in February, 1943. The son of Mr. and Mrs. Herbert A. Sherman, former Rye residents, the young soldier attended Milton School, Rye High School and graduated from New London Conn. High School. He has received the Purple Heart, the Combat Infantry Badge and his unit was awarded the Presidential Citation.

PAGE FOUR T H E RYE CHRONICLE Friday, February 1, 1945

After his discharge in June 1945 Herbert returned to school. He was a 1947 graduate of the University of Hartford. He was a product specialist with Winchester electronics, a division of Litton Industries, Watertown, retiring in 1977.

He lived in Newtown since 1958, where he was a member of Trinity Episcopal Church. Mr. Sherman was an active member of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla 77, Fairfield. He was also a member of the Candlewood Lake Power Squadron, the Candlewood Lake Authority, and the Newtown Fish and Game Club. A member of the Newtown Post, Veterans of Foreign Wars, he was also a sustaining member of the Society of the First Division.

Herbert Augustus Sherman Jr., 57, husband of Dorothy Johnston Sherman, died June 2, 1980 at Danbury Hospital after a long illness. He was survived by his wife Dorothy Johnston Sherman, two sons, George Sherman and Edward H. Sherman, and a daughter, Miss Mary Kay Sherman, all of Newtown; and a nephew, Winchester Sherman of Hagerstown, Md.