10/30/2008
We honor and acknowledge with deep gratitude the great veterans from Maryland who served in every theater of the war. The history of our Firm includes many veterans, two of whom we mention here.
Of Counsel to the Firm at the time of his death, Ike fought in the Battle of the Bulge, wherein 10 soldiers in his squad of 12 were killed. In a memoir of his military experience, Ike recounted, "Two eighteen year old replacements in a hole ten yards to the left were killed instantly by direct hit, and we struggled to the company command post after nightfall with a party of four dragging their bodies in blankets." Ike was awarded the Purple Heart, Bronze Star, Combat Infantry Badge, and three campaign stars.
Click here to read Mr. Iglehart's World War II memoir, The Short Life of the ASTP, published by American Literary Press (1997), permission for which was graciously provided by Mr. Iglehart's family.
Major Jack Skeen was a young lawyer with little experience in December 1945 when General Douglas MacArthur appointed him as chief defense counsel in the war crimes trial of Japanese General Homma Masaharu, "the Beast of Bataan". Although Homma was convicted, his sentence of facing a firing squad as opposed to hanging was considered a victory -- a more honorable death for a soldier. Pictured: Major Skeen and General Homma at war crimes trial in Manila, Philippines, 1946.
Click here to read the article and view photographs, including courtroom scenes, from "The Trial of General Homma", American Heritage magazine (February/March 2007).
WC&S presents "Maryland Veterans of World War II: Our Arsenal of Democracy" at The Maryland Historical Society, November 11, 2008 through December 31, 2009.
 Francis N. "Ike" Iglehart (1925-2007) |
We honor and acknowledge with deep gratitude the great veterans from Maryland who served in every theater of the war. The history of our Firm includes many veterans, two of whom we mention here.
Of Counsel to the Firm at the time of his death, Ike fought in the Battle of the Bulge, wherein 10 soldiers in his squad of 12 were killed. In a memoir of his military experience, Ike recounted, "Two eighteen year old replacements in a hole ten yards to the left were killed instantly by direct hit, and we struggled to the company command post after nightfall with a party of four dragging their bodies in blankets." Ike was awarded the Purple Heart, Bronze Star, Combat Infantry Badge, and three campaign stars.
Click here to read Mr. Iglehart's World War II memoir, The Short Life of the ASTP, published by American Literary Press (1997), permission for which was graciously provided by Mr. Iglehart's family.
 John Henry "Jack" Skeen, Jr. (1915-1987) |
Click here to read the article and view photographs, including courtroom scenes, from "The Trial of General Homma", American Heritage magazine (February/March 2007).