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Presidents -
Ranger Battalions
Association of WWII (RBA)
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| Michael Gargas |
1947-1949 |
| Stanley Askin |
1949-1951 |
|
Raymond F. Alm |
1951-1953 |
| Samuel J.
O'Neal |
1953-1955 |
| Arthur Salesky |
1955-1957 |
| Elmer Vermeer |
1957-1959 |
| Carl Lehmann |
1959-1961 |
| Wallace J.
Syring |
1961-1963 |
| James J.
Altieri |
1963-1965 |
| Leonard Lomell |
1965-1967 |
| Robert Fruhling |
1967-1969 |
| Ralph Goranson |
1969-1971 |
| Buckey E. Martin
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1971-1973 |
| Robert T. Chester |
1973-1975 |
| A. G. "Mac" McKinnon |
1975-1977 |
| Sidney A. Salomon |
1977-1979 |
| Robert H. Olesen |
1979-1981 |
| Francis T. Coughlin |
1981-1983 |
| William R. Brady |
1983-1985 |
| William C. Cool |
1985-1987 |
| Herbert Epstein |
1987-1989 |
| Rex Sharp |
1989-1991 |
| Jack McDevitt |
1991-1992 |
| Edward Dressel |
1992-1993 |
| Richard N. Hathaway,
Jr. |
1993-1995 |
| Jay D. Northrup |
1995-1997 |
| Edward F. Krise |
1997-1999 |
| Warren "Bing" Evans |
1999-2001 |
| Warren "Bing" Evans |
2002 |
| Roger Twigg |
2003 |
| Roger Neighborgall |
2004 |
| Bill Reed |
2005 |
| Frank South |
2006 |
| Frank South |
2007 |
| Andy Stockmaster |
2008 |
| Frank South |
2009 |
| Frank South |
2010 |
| Bill Boyd |
2011 |
The RBA was consolidated with the Sons &
Daughters Organization in October, 2011, to form the new organization:
THE
DESCENDANTS OF WWII RANGERS, Inc.
Please
click for a
Membership Form to join the
Descendants of WWII Rangers,
Inc.
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Many times over the years, I have been
approached by aspiring writers to relate to them some of my personal
experiences. Almost always, I have been disappointed by their approach. As
yet, none of them has captured the essence of being a Ranger. Always they
try to capture it with personal experiences and nearly always, miss the
story of the magnificent three thousand. Six battalions - roughly 500
men in each battalion-three thousand men total with a history so glorious
that no other group of any size has been able to duplicate it. From the
first action at Dieppe, France by ten per cent of the 1st Battalion to the
brilliantly planned and executed Cabanatuan Raid by the 6th Ranger
Battalion, from the spearheadings of the 1st, 3rd, and 4th Battalions to
the crowning accomplishments of the 2nd and 5th Battalions at Pointe du
Hoc and Omaha Beach.
Think of it. Both theaters of war. One
cannot number the campaigns, battles so numerous that one merges into
another, raids that have been publicized and glorified in books and
movies, and the countless patrols in, around, and through enemy lines.
Now, if you take any one experience
and make it stand alone, it will fade into insignificance. But, if you
view them together and realize that all this was accomplished by three
thousand. I did not take part in all of our history, but by virtue of
being one of the three thousand, that history is mine. I'm as proud of the
experiences of my buddies as I am my own. Their experiences are my
experiences.
Each of us taken alone becomes lost in
insignificance, but taken together, we become a hero of gargantuan
proportions. So, it behooves those few of us who are left to perpetuate
the memory of what has been accomplished by the magnificence of the three
thousand, rather than getting lost in the pettiness, the loneliness, the
smallness of our own little part.
Come on! Let's enjoy being heroes - an
important one of the three thousand.
-Contributed
by Warren (Bing) Evans
1st
& 3rd Ranger Battalion
Below:
Bing Evans looking through the roster of registered Rangers attending
the Reunion in New Orleans August 2002 (photo
courtesy Ranger Bill Arimond, 1st
& 3rd Ranger Battalion)
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