Lewis Doherty

ASN:38264231

Lewis Robert Doherty registered for the draft on June 30, 1942. Born April 3, 1922, he was from Alexandria, Louisiana. His place of employment was listed as National Bakery in Alexandria, Louisiana. This twenty-year-old was 5-9, 140 pounds with a light complexion, gray eyes, and blonde hair.

Enlisted in the Army on November 21, 1942, at Lafayette, Louisiana, Private Lewis Doherty received his training at Fort Bragg, North Carolina and later assigned to Headquarters Battery, 456th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division. This Battalion consisted of three gun sections and an anti-tank armored section.

Upon completion of his training, he was shipped out to the European Theater of Operations aboard the SS Monterey arriving in Casablanca, Morocco sometime in April, 1943. After several months of training the 456th participated in Operation Husky, the allied invasion of Sicily. On the evening of July 9, 1943, PVT Doherty jumped into combat with his unit in support of the 82nd Airborne Division, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment. Their mission was to destroy enemy troops and panzers by using indirect artillery fire. The 456th fought at the Battle of Biazza, gaining its first victory against the panzers by direct fire.

Following Sicily, the 456th was split up. As a soldier in the HQ Battery PVT Doherty would have been in support of the FIRST Services Force who also participated in the campaigns of Italy to Casino, Anzio, and Rome. The 82nd Airborne was conducting occupational duties in Naples, as well. 

Hospital admission records reveal that PVT Doherty was wounded in the elbow by shrapnel from an artillery shell in October 1943, and returned to duty sometime in the same month.

Some units of the 456th were then transferred to England in anticipation of the Normandy campaign. While stationed in Market Harborough, England on April 21, 1944, PVT Doherty was assigned and joined the A-Battery, 319th Glider Field Artillery, 82nd Airborne. His new MOS 345, truck driver, light trucks.

PVT Doherty fought in seven (7) battles and campaigns; Sicilian, Naples-Foggia, Normandy, Northern France, Ardennes, Rhineland, and Central Europe.

“Company Morning Reports” were produced every morning by the individual Army units to record personnel matters. The following events were reported:  April 21, 1944, PVT Doherty attached to A-Battery, 319th Glider Field Artillery, from the 456th Parachute Field Artillery. 

On July 18, 1944, PVT Doherty was granted 5 days of furlough to Birmingham, England returning to duty at 2200 hours on July 23, 1944. 

July 25th, 1944, PVT Doherty was again granted a 5-day furlough at 0600 hours to Birmingham, England. July 30, 1944, at 2300 hours he returned to duty.

Company Morning Reports

A promotion for PVT Doherty is listed on January 9, 1944, appointed to Private First Class, effective January 1, 1945. (see below)

March 7, 1945, PFC Doherty was listed as absent sick to the 195th General Hospital for a non-battle casualty. March 9, 1945, from absent sick to duty.

On March 31, 1945, PFC Doherty appointed to Tec 5 Sergeant. (see below)

Below, SGT Doherty and A-Battery glider men, 1944-45. Photos courtesy of the Doherty and Hein Families and Charlotte Sartain Provenza.

Lewis Doherty also appeared in the A-Battery group photo taken June 20, 1945, in Epinal, France.

SGT Lewis R. Doherty was awarded 6 Bronze Battle Stars, Bronze Arrowhead, Good Conduct Medal, the Belgian Fourragere, Presidential Unit Citation Badge, Purple Heart, European-African-Middle Eastern Theatre Ribbon, and the World War II Victory Medal.

The Adjusted Service Rating Score (ASR) was a system the U.S. Army used at the end of the war to determine when soldiers were eligible for discharge. SGT Doherty was one of many “High Point” soldiers with a score over 85 points and returned to civilian life on November 19, 1945. 

Lewis Doherty generally chose not to talk about his war experiences but on a rare occasion shared memories with his family. He proudly recalled his service with the 456th in North Africa, sadly most of his fellow soldiers were killed in action in Sicily.

Later, in combat north of Naples, Italy, he was wounded by shrapnel in the right arm. The Normandy and Holland glider landings were quite dangerous. More than half of the 319th glider men were wounded or killed during the “Mission Elmira” glider landings to take and hold Sainte-Mère-Église.

Near Nijmegen, Holland, Lewis removed equipment from his glider by chopping off the nose section while under direct enemy fire. He would always bear the memory of paratroopers hanging lifeless from trees and glider pilots executed by the enemy.

The Battle of the Bulge, weeks of swollen frozen feet, Lewis exhausted from round-the-clock combat found refuge from the bitter weather in a hay barn. As the Allied lines linked with Russian forces the 319th could never imagine nor could Lewis escape the horror and smell of the Wobbelin camp liberated near Ludwigslust, Germany. And while Germany surrendered the local citizens buried the Wobbelin dead in their town square by order of the 82nd Airborne.

May 7, 1945, the war was over. By September 1945, SGT Doherty returned home to a well- deserved long and happy life in peace.

Lewis R. Doherty, 75, died June 21, 1997.

God Bless this hero.