Bio
In early 1944, the commander of the Sixth U.S. Army selected West Point graduate Lieutenant Colonel Henry A. Mucci to organize, train, and command the 6th Ranger Battalion, a unit which had its origins in the the 98th Field Artillery Battalion, a pack mule unit that had trained heavily in New Guinea.
A charismatic and demanding commander, Mucci developed and led his soldiers through a grueling program of physical training, hand-to-hand combat, bayonet drills, marksmanship, small unit tactics, and long range patrols. This prepared the Rangers to conduct amphibious reconnaissance and raids in support of MacArthur’s landings at Luzon.
In January 1945, Mucci’s Rangers, with support from the Sixth Army Special Reconnaissance Unit (“Alamo Scouts”) and Filipino guerillas, executed its most famous action when it raided a Japanese Prisoner-of-War camp near Cabanatuan, Philippines. Against overwhelming odds, the operation freed more than five hundred Allied prisoners.
For his leadership in the Cabanatuan raid, Mucci earned the Distinguished Service Cross, the nation’s second highest award for valor, and in 1998 he was inducted into the Ranger Hall of Fame.