Henry F. Wister

STAFF SERGEANT HENRY F. WISTER was born in Pennsylvania in 1921. He had completed two years of high school before dropping out. Before the war Henry Wister served a hitch in the regular army, and reenlisted in the United States Army at Fort Bragg NC on September 19, 1941, designated to be sent to the Philippines as a Sergeant with the Field Artillery.

Sergeant Wister volunteered and qualified for parachute training. He was assigned to the 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment, and became a member of Headquarters Company, Second Battalion.

Elements of the 503rd Regimental Headquarters and other subordinate elements left the states for the Pacific Theater on October 20, 1942. After conducting a cross-country rail movement, the Regiment left the port of San Francisco on the MS Poelau Laut. During the movement west the 501st Parachute Battalion, which embarked in the Panama Canal Zone, was redesignated as the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment. This redesignation occurred about the same time its twin sister the 2-503 PIR was conducting a combat jump in North Africa against the Vichy French.

The newly formed 2-503 remained at sea for forty-two days and landing at Cairnz, Australia where it trained for combat in a training camp 18 miles inland as part of the Regiment. Later, the Regiment was expanded into Combat Team with assignment of the 462d Parachute Artillery Battalion, and the 161st Parachute Engineer Company on 13 September 1944.

During its more than three years service in the Southwest Pacific Theater, the 503d served in five major combat operations.

1. In July of 1943, the 503rd moved to Port Moresby, New Guinea, where it made final preparations for its first combat operation in the Pacific Theater. On September 5, 1943 the Regiment jumped into the Markham River Valley, New Guinea for Operation ALAMO; the first airborne operation conducted by US forces in the Pacific Theater. During this operation, the Regiment forced the Japanese evacuation of a major base at Lae, in which the Third Battalion of the 503d battled the rear guard of this exodus. This successful employment of airborne forces in the Markham Valley has been credited with saving the concept of vertical envelopment from being abandoned following several less than successful engagements in Europe. After two weeks of fighting, the Japanese were defeated and the 503rd reassembled at Port Moresby for the return to Australia.

2. For Operation CYCLONE, 2-503 along with 1-503 conducted an airborne assault on the island of Noemfoor off the coast of Dutch New Guinea early in July 1944. In support of the 1st and 2nd Battalions airborne operation, 3-503 conducted an amphibious landing a few days later. Fighting as part of the Regiment on Noemfoor, 2-503 was responsible for destroying the Japanese garrison and enabling the construction of airfields, which played a significant role in supporting the advance of Allied troops from New Guinea to the Philippines. Sergeant Ray E. Eubanks earned the Medal of Honor, posthumously, for his actions on Noemfoor.

3. Following an unopposed landing on the Island of Leyte, in the Philippines, the 503d Parachute Regimental Combat Team made a major amphibious landing on the Island of Minoro, in the central Philippines on December 15, 1944. Originally, it was intended for the 503d to jump onto Mindoro but because of inadequate airstrip facilities on Leyte, an airborne assault was not possible. The purpose of the eventual landing was to secure sites for an airhead, thus providing forward Army Air Corps bases to support later actions. The Regiment was subject to intense enemy air attack and naval bombardment throughout this action.

4. The mid-December 1944 operation on Leyte provided the Regiment a staging area for its assault on the Philippine fortress island of Corregidor, nicknamed �The Rock,� from which the Regiment would later take both its nickname and motto. At 0830 on February 16, 1945, after weeks of naval and aerial bombardment, the 503rd hit Corregidor conducting the most vicious combat action in which the Regiment was engaged during its existence to date. The mission commenced with the combat jump on Fortress Corregidor codenamed Operation TOPSIDE. Corregidor Island was the bastion that withstood a fierce Japanese siege for nearly five months in 1941 and 1942, thereby interrupting the Japanese advance toward Australia. The 503d was proud to have been bestowed the honor of re-patriating the �The Rock�. The first jump, made in thirty-five mile per hour winds at an altitude of 550 feet, was made by the 3-503 with the 2nd Battalion following at 1240 that afternoon. Due to the high number of injuries during the first two jumps, the 1st Battalion jump was cancelled and the battalion made an amphibious assault the following day. The surprise created by the airborne assault into the island interior and the inability of the Japanese to react to both an airborne and amphibious assault enabled the US Forces to defeat the numerically superior Japanese forces. After two weeks of vicious fighting the island was subdued, and on March 2, 1945, the third anniversary of the 503rd Infantry Regiment�s activation, the island of Corregidor was formally turned over to General Douglas MacArthur. An estimated 6,550 Japanese soldiers were on the island when the 503d jumped, and of those only 50 survived. In turn, the 503d lost 169 paratroopers killed in action. For its actions during this operation, the 503d was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation and Private Lloyd G. McCarter was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for bravery on Corregidor.

5. Almost immediately after returning to Mindoro from Corregidor, the Regiment was called upon to reinforce the 40th Infantry Division which was bogged down on the Island of Negros, in the central Philippines. The Regiment was inserted by landing craft, although it had been alerted for another combat jump. The objectives of the proposed airborne operation were a strategic bridge and a large lumber mill, but retreating Japanese forces subsequently destroyed them both. The 503d engaged in fierce battles against frantic Japanese resistance in the mountainous areas of Negros for more than five months. The 40th Infantry Division was re-directed to other operations on Mindanao, leaving the 503d to battle the Japanese alone.

Promoted to Staff Sergeant, Henry Wister was killed in action alongside PFC Herman D. Buchanan of Ohio on Los Negros in the Philippine Islands while serving with the Headquarters Company, Second Battalion, 503rd Parachute Infantry Battalion.