Glenn Huston Henry was the son of Wiley Preston Henry and Sarah Ethel Clabough.

Private First Class Henry was born in the shadow of the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee in 1926. Glenn attended Williamsburg School but, like many young people during the Great Depression, left school early to help his family on the farm by raising crops and caring for livestock. Life on a mountain farm in east Tennessee was tough. As the eldest son, Glenn cut firewood, carried water, and plowed fields to help provide for his younger siblings.

Glenn’s youngest brother Lonnie remembered several stories of Glenn playing on the farm with his brothers and sisters who idolized their eldest brother. Glenn’s family described him as “small, quiet, and a friend to everybody.”

Henry was drafted into the 66th Infantry Division, 262nd Infantry Regiment, Company E in 1944. He reported to Camp Shelby, Mississippi. His basic training was in Camp Blanding, Florida. He then reported to Camp Rucker, Alabama, for embarkation to England. He stayed in Southampton where he and his division waited to be transported to Cherbourg.

His division boarded the Belgian ships the HMS Cheshire and the SS Leopoldville on December 24, 1944. Henry was on the SS Leopoldville. As the ships traveled across the English Channel, a German U-Boat fired a torpedo at the Leopoldville. As the ship sank, the soldiers had to decide whether to jump or to stay.

Henry chose to stay on since he could not swim. Another Sevier County soldier, L. V. Flynn, described pleading with him: “I begged and begged Henry to jump. But he just wouldn’t. I think he might have thought a British ship would return and that he stood a better chance staying on.” In total, 763 soldiers died and 493 bodies were never recovered. Henry was one of the 493 men lost to the sea.

Information from Silent Heroes Profile

He is memorialized at Normandy American Cemetery, Colleville-sur-Mer, France

 

  • Rank: Private First Class
  • Date of birth:
  • 29 January 1196
  • Date of death: 25 December 1944
  • County: Sevier
  • Hometown: Sevierville
  • Service Branch: Army/Army Air Forces
  • Division/Assignment: 262nd Infantry Regiment, 66th Infantry Division
  • Theater: Europe
  • Conflict: World War II
  • Awards: Purple Heart
  • Burial/Memorial Location: Normandy American Cemetery, Colleville-sur-Mer, France
  • Location In Memorial: Pillar XVIII, Top Panel
  • Contact us to sponsor Glenn H. Henry

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