WWII History Question

[blume357]

Okay smart folks I've run into a mystery that I can't find the answer to online.

Here's what happened... I was being bored and checked on an order I've placed with Duluth trading and it says it left Sparks NV ... so for the heck of it I look up Sparks NV on Google Maps it is near Reno and then I happened to see just North West of there is Herlong, CA. My mother was a Herlong and so I'm half Herlong.. there are a bunch of them in this area of S.C. but I look up this town in CA and discover it was formed as in 1942 to house workers for some Army base right after the attack on Pearl harbor... but here is where the mystery starts.. It is names after Henry W. Herlong (who might be a relative) who is the first officer killed in world war II... now he died in a airplane crash on June 22nd 1941......... June 22nd 1941 is the day Germany invaded Russia... but I thought we did not officially become part of the war until after we declared war on Japan ... Dec. 1941 and then Germany declared war on us... Can somebody explain this?

 

[Coogs]

Don't know if this may be the answer, but. We did have some troops in Britain prior to Pearl Harbor, advisory? I'm not sure. I believe they were part of the LBC, London Based Command. I've never done much research on that...............so..............I guess this may just be an educated guess. Though not technically in a state of war with any one at that time...US troops were serving in a war zone. JMHO, Coogs.

 

[graygun]

As noted,I believe "officially" is the word...regarding 7-7-41.

 

[pisgah]

I do know we were hunting U-boats (and some claim sinking -- one former boss of mine, retired Navy and since deceased, swore his destroyer sank some in summer of '41)) in the North Atlantic, and attacking a German weather station in Greenland, long before Pearl Harbor and the declaration of war.

 

[pete44ru]

.

It's a documented fact that many Americans volunteered for various foreign armed forces in the early days of WWI & WWIII, before the US became involved.

Witness the Lafayette Escadrille, The Lincoln Brigade, the Eagle Squadrons, Chennault's Flying Tigers, the Blue Legions, etc, etc.

.

 

[Enigma]

The US Navy was escorting convoys headed to England long before Pearl Harbor. Google 'USS Reuben James,' and read about an American destroyer sunk by a Nazi U-boat on 31 October 1941 off Iceland.

 

[Colonialgirl]

Name: Capt Henry Walter Herlong
Birth Date: 27 Aug 1911
Death Date: 22 Jun 1941
Cemetery: Oaklawn Cemetery
Burial or Cremation Place: Jacksonville, Duval County, Florida, United States of America
Has Bio?: N
Mother: Kathryn Herlong
URL: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-...

 

[Colonialgirl]

CAPTAIN HENRY WALTER HERLONG, the man for whom this community was named, was a native of Jacksonville, Florida, born August 27, 1911.

In June 1941, he met his death in line of duty in an airplane accident at LaGrange, Georgia, along with three companions who had set out to survey a military base in Tennessee. Ten minutes after the plane took off, it plummeted to the ground.

In his military career, the captain served as a private in the First Chemical Regiment, Fort Benning and in July 1929 was appointed to the US Military Academy at West Point, from which he was graduated in 1933; then he served in a variety of assign�ments in the states and in the Philippines, enrolling in the school of aviation at Langley Field, Virginia in 1940. He was assigned to the 35th Air Base Group at Savannah, Georgia at the time of his death.

He was the son of Mrs. Harold W.H. Herlong of Florida. His father was a veteran of the Spanish-American War and World War I and was a commissioned officer in World War II. The Herlong family emigrated from Holland in 1750.

 

[Wyandot Jim]

As noted,I believe "officially" is the word...regarding 7-7-41.

Well "officially" it is December 8th 1941 when war was declared against the Empire Of Japan :wink:

 

[pete44ru]

As noted,I believe "officially" is the word...regarding 7-7-41.

Well "officially" it is December 8th 1941 when war was declared against the Empire Of Japan :wink:

Yeah, but - Japan started WWII on 7/7/41 when they pulled the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor.

.

 

[blume357]

Actually, if you read ... I think somehow later 'officially' our entrance into WWII began on June 22nd 1941... as is noted, this is when Germany invaded the Soviet Union... which at some time later we become their 'partner' in that conflict. Thus, when Captain Henry Herlong went down that day in a plane, seems the other two soldiers were not officers, he became the first officer to die during WWII. At least that is what the town of Herlong in California claims. He did not die in combat or such but just on a routine flight that hit a storm. In fact from what I read he may have just been a passenger that hitched a free ride on the flight.

 

[Wyandot Jim]

As noted,I believe "officially" is the word...regarding 7-7-41.

Well "officially" it is December 8th 1941 when war was declared against the Empire Of Japan :wink:

Yeah, but - Japan started WWII on 7/7/41 when they pulled the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor.

.

Makes no difference who started it. War was "Officially" declared by Congress on Dec. 8, 1941 against Japan ONLY. Congress has to declare war. That was hard for them to do late Sunday Yes if somebody is shooting at you you will probably shoot back. :wink:

Blume,
Just because we supplied Lend Lease Material to other countries at war doesn't mean we were at war.

 

[Colonialgirl]

Actually, if you read ... I think somehow later 'officially' our entrance into WWII began on June 22nd 1941... as is noted, this is when Germany invaded the Soviet Union... which at some time later we become their 'partner' in that conflict. Thus, when Captain Henry Herlong went down that day in a plane, seems the other two soldiers were not officers, he became the first officer to die during WWII. At least that is what the town of Herlong in California claims. He did not die in combat or such but just on a routine flight that hit a storm. In fact from what I read he may have just been a passenger that hitched a free ride on the flight.

GO LOOK at what I posted !!