134th Infantry Regiment Crest

134th Infantry Regiment

"All Hell Can't Stop Us"

35th Infantry Division emblem

Pfc. Richard L. Hensley

Company C

Pfc Richard L Hensley

Richard L. Hensley from his high school yearbook

Pfc. Richard L. Hensley served as a rifleman in the 2nd Platoon of Company C. He was assigned to Company C on January 8, 1945 from the 48th Replacement Battalion. On January 20, 1945 he was treated for frostbite but he remained on duty. He served with the Regiment until returning home on the Queen Mary in September 1945. In August of 1974 Richard Hensley and his wife were killed by a drunk driver. He was 48 years old at the time of his death.

His son John, shared the following recollections:

"Having lost him at the age of 18 I really have very little information about his involvement in the war. I know his first day in the military was June 6, 1944. Yes, his first day of basic training was D-Day. I can't remember how I learned this but I learned his first day with the 35th was in January 1945. It all got off to a quick start for my then young 18-yr.old father. I think it was his first or second day in Belgium he was sitting on a log and smoking a cigarette and just ahead of him a German topped the hill and their eyes connected. Both reached for their weapons and my father got the first shot off (thankfully for me). He was born in Exira, Iowa and I think he enlisted in the Army in Council Bluffs, IA.

I commend you very fine men of the 35th and wish there were more like you today. I had the great honor of wearing the 35th patch in Iraq in 2004. I was a member of the National Guard in Alabama and for a brief time the 35th was our higher headquarters. I jumped at the chance to wear the patch and it is a high point of my National Guard career. I would be anxious to connect with anyone who might remember my father."

Anyone who remembers Pfc Richard L. Hensley can contact his son John at jhnhnsly@yahoo.com

John Hensley John Hensley
John Hensley (right) with Gen. Myers (center)
John Hensley

Photos of John Hensley taken while serving in Iraq

Thanks to John Hensley for the photographs and information about his father.

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