Larner, Henry Charles

Was awarded the Légion d'Honneur (Chevalier degree) posthumously on November 11, 2011.

HENRY LARNER, on December 8th, 1943 was wounded by an enemy shell which struck him as he was entering the Medical Inspection room of an Advanced Dressing Station, to which he was attached. He put up a gallant fight for life and for a while it looked as though he would win through. However, on January 27th, 1944, he died in a hospital in Italy as a result of the wounds received. In giving his life, he gives still greater significance to the great effort now being made by humanity the effort toward decent living toward justice and the high purposeful meaning of all human life. His death is a great loss to his family and to all of us who had the privilege of knowing him and serving with him.

__ AFS Letters No. 22

A star man is 28-year-old Henry Larner of Albany, N. Y. He is a corporal in charge of a section and though that might not seem a very exalted rank, in A. F. S. organization it is the most forward command of all and involves first-go at all the hazards of war.

Coming and Going.

Harry Larner gets it both ways. Up in front when he goes there with the section; rearward when he stays behind to organize the come and go of his drivers and bearers. He has been doing this job all the way from El Alamein to the Rome front. He is a handy man with a camera and his skill has earned him the title of official photographer to the American Field Service.

__ Newspaper clipping in "A Mother's Scrapbook: John Newlin Hobbs and the American Field Service, 1942-1945."

"Competitive spirit and satisfaction at being the first to reach a captured town persevere to a surprising degree in the Eighth Army. And the 'opening night' complex animates members of the Field Service as much as anyone else," H. Larner wrote of his participation in this victorious action. "My car-mate at the time, Joe Jarrell, and I received the privilege of being the first Americans to enter fallen Sfax. Like many of our AFS predecessors in this game, we had the honor bestowed on us ex officio, simply by being the ambulance attached to the 11th Hussars. . . .

__ George Rock. Chapter 5. "Middle East 3. El Alamein to Tunis (October 1942 to May 1943)" History of the American Field Service, 1920-1955. New York 1956.

"Well, about 10 that night I was pretty tired, so I got up and went across the street to the room where we slept. Jim Andrews and Henry, along with the Colonel, walked past me to go down to the MI Room to see whether there were any patients to be evacuated. No sooner had I entered the house than crash down came a shell no more than 10 yards away. I don't want to go into any details of what happened after that. . . . Jim was struck by a piece of shrapnel in the back of the neck and died instantly. Henry was very severely wounded."

Although he made a hard fight for his life, Henry Larner died of his wounds on 27 January 1944.

__ George Rock. Chapter 7. "Italy 1. Termoli, Volturno-Monte Camino, Trigno-Sangro-Ortona (1 October 1943 to 14 January 1944)" History of the American Field Service, 1920-1955. New York 1956.