Waskow, Henry Thomas, born 24-09-1918, in DeWitt County, Texas, USA, 
the seventh of eight children, children of German immigrants. to Frank Carl August Waskow (1882-1957) and his wife Mary, born Goth, Waskow (1877–1944). Henry had four brothers and three sisiters, George Carl Waskow Sr. (1902–1984), 
Bertha Johanna Waskow Tippit (1904–1992), 
John Otto Waskow (1906–1981), 
Paul Frank Waskow (1909–1982), 
August Waskow (1912–1977), a WW2, Korea and Vietnam veteran, 
Selma Rosa Waskow Barr (1915–2014) 
and Mary Lee Waskow Barr-Cox (1922–2012). 
Henry’s parents were cotton farmers, and moved around in various places in Texas until settling in Belton, Texas, when Henry was two years old.
Henry attended the public schools and graduated from Belton High School in 1935, as president of the student council, receiving top grades and showing a particular aptitude for mathematics.
He attended Temple Junior College on a scholarship, often commuting by foot from his parents’ home, and taking on custodial duties on campus. During his college years, he enlisted in the Texas Army National Guard, 
in the 143rd Infantry Regiment, part of the 36th Infantry Division 
the “Lone Star” division, under command of Major General Claude V. Birkhead 
with his two older brothers, John Otto Waskow, and August Waskow. Birkhead died age 70 on 19-11-1950
Following his two years in junior college, Waskow was offered a position as a teacher but turned it down to attend Trinity University, which was then in Waxahachie, Texas. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree on 05-06-1939, and was offered a job at Belton High School. He turned it down, expecting to be called for full-time military duty.
When President Franklin Delano Roosevelt 
put the National Guard under federal control and activated the 36th Infantry Division, the Waskow brothers were transferred to Camp Bowie, Texas in January 1941. Waskow was given his commission as a second lieutenant on 14-03-1941 and received training at Fort Benning, 
Georgia before being assigned to ‘B’ Company of the 1st Battalion, 143rd Infantry Regiment. 
nickname “Third Texas”
As an officer, Waskow proved to be a principled and compassionate leader, giving those under his command individual attention. He attended various training programs throughout the country before rejoining his unit at Camp Edwards in Falmouth, Massachusetts. While there, he was promoted to captain.
In early April 1943, the 36th Division, commanded by Major General Fred Livingood. Walker,
was shipped from New York Harbor to Oran, Algeria, and was then stationed in Rabat in Morocco. Though slated to participate in Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily, the division was not used in Sicily, and was kept in reserve.
The defence in Cicily consisted of 365,000 men [source?] Italian and 40,000 German troops under the command of the Italian General Alfredo Guzzoni
It had at least 47 tanks and 200 pieces of artillery at its disposal. The Axis powers had an estimated 1,800 aircraft available in southern Italy. The Italian battle fleet had withdrawn to La Spezia. After the war, Guzzoni tried in vain to have his leadership in the defense of Sicily recognized.Nothing is known about the further course of his life. On 15-04-1965, aged 88, he died in Rome.
Although the Germans were able to withdraw thousands of first line panzer and airborne troops to mainland Italy across the Strait of Messina, the loss of Sicily was a disaster for the Axis powers. The Allies sustained about 23,000 casualties in their conquest of Sicily; among the killed, wounded, and missing were some 9,700 U.S. troops, 2,400 Canadians, nearly 11,000 British, and almost 100 French. The Axis powers suffered about 165,000 casualties, of whom 30,000 were Germans. Of the Axis casualties, 30,000 were killed or wounded and 135,000 were captured. The Germans were also forced to leave behind scores of tanks and armoured cars and hundreds of artillery pieces.
On September 9 the 36th Division was landed in Italy as part of Operation Avalanche, the Allied invasion of Italy. The division was landed on Red Beach near the ancient city of Paestum in the Campania as part of the U.S. Fifth Army. Waskow saw combat for the first time in the struggle to hold and enlarge the Salerno beachhead and for the Chiunzi Pass, 
where he commanded Company ‘B’. His brother August was wounded during the battle and sent home. The 36th Division sustained very heavy casualties in the battle, and was held in Fifth Army reserve for the next few weeks, absorbing replacements and training for future combat operations.
Returning to combat in mid-November, Waskow and his men fought their way north past Naples, relieving the 3rd Infantry Division 
under command of Major General Lucian King Truscott Jr.,
near Mignano and then marched on, largely on mountain trails to Monte Sambucaro (Hill 1205), 
near San Pietro Infine. The battle for San Pietro was one of the worst of the Italian Campaign. After a week, Waskow’s company had been reduced to the size of a platoon, but participated in the assaults. On the evening of December 14, on his way up from the treeline to launch an attack on a ridge known as Hill 730 (41.470°N 13.959°E).
Death and burial ground of Waskow, Henry Thomas.
Waskow’s unit was attacked, with a shell landing near him and his men. Fragmentation hit Waskow in the chest and killed him almost instantly.
Riley Tidwell, 
who had been Waskow’s assistant throughout the war, left Waskow’s body where he had died and went down from the mountain to notify Waskow’s superiors that he had been killed. On the way, he encountered Ernie Pyle Taylor “Ernie”. 
the noted war reporter. Two men unlashed his body from the mule and lifted it off and laid it in the shadow beside the low stone wall. Other men took the other bodies off. Finally there were five lying end to end in a long row, alongside the road. You don’t cover up dead men in the combat zone. They just lie there in the shadows until somebody else comes after them.
Pyle waited the three days it took to recover Waskow’s body. It was when the body was unloaded from the back of the mule in the middle of the night along with several other casualties, and his men made their emotional farewells with their commander, that Pyle was inspired to write the dispatch that memorialized Waskow. Pyle’s column was published on 10-01-1944 — and soon stacks of letters to Waskow’s survivors started arriving in Belton. His sister released a photograph of Waskow taken while he was a lieutenant, after adding another bar to reflect his captain’s rank when he died.
Following his wishes, Waskow was buried in Italy. His grave is at the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery in Nettuno. His grave is on Plot G Row 6 Grave 33.
A memorial was held for him in his home town when his mother died a few months later, and he was posthumously awarded the Legion of Merit. 
He was also awarded the Purple Heart.
Riley Tidwell, who had been Waskow’s assistant throughout the war, left Waskow’s body where he had died and went down from the mountain to notify Waskow’s superiors that he had been killed. On the way, he encountered Ernie Pyle, the noted war reporter.[9]
Pyle waited the three days it took to recover Waskow’s body. It was when the body was unloaded from the back of the mule in the middle of the night along with several other casualties, and his men made their emotional farewells with their commander, that Pyle was inspired to write the dispatch that memorialized Waskow. Pyle’s column was published on January 10, 1944 — and soon stacks of letters to Waskow’s survivors started arriving in Belton. His sister released a photograph of Waskow taken while he was a lieutenant, after adding another bar to reflect his captain’s rank when he died.[10]
Following his wishes, Waskow was buried in Italy. His grave is at the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery in Nettuno. His grave is on Plot G Row 6 Grave 33.
A memorial was held for him in his home town when his mother died a few months later, and he was posthumously awarded the Legion of Merit. He was also awarded the Purple Heart 
.
Waskow was inducted into the Texas Military Hall of Honor in 1980.
A large white stone memorial to Captain Waskow is located in the side yard of Ernie Pyle’s former Albuquerque New Mexico home, now a branch of the Albuquerque Library system, reciting in stone some of Pyle’s tribute to Captain Waskow: “I sure am sorry, sir,” said one soldier, his voice trailing off. Another knelt down and, for several minutes, held his friend’s hand, lost in thought. Before joining the others as they moved up the road to the next assignment, he paused for an extra moment, to “gently straighten…the points of the captain’s shirt collar, and then he sort of rearranged the tattered edges of his uniform around the wound.”
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