Army Ranger jumps into Normandy to honor his World War II Ranger grandfather
The judge advocate with the 75th Ranger Regiment was inspired by his grandfather, who fought in the 2nd Ranger Battalion in World War II.
BY NICHOLAS SLAYTON | PUBLISHED JUN 9, 2024 4:31 PM EDT
In the summer of 1944, the soldiers of 2nd Ranger Battalion arrived in France, driving into Europe from the edges of Normandy, eventually pushing deep into Nazi-held territory. Among them was Pvt. Jim Shalala, a Cleveland resident who joined the Army in 1943. Shalala was with the Rangers through some of the fiercest fighting of 1944, including the Battle of the Hürtgen Forest. Eight decades later his grandson, a fellow Ranger, was back in France.
Maj. Jack Gibson, part of the 75th Ranger Regiment, was one of the thousands of active-duty troops and veterans who went to France this past week as part of commemorations for the 80th anniversary of D-Day and the Allied invasion of Normandy. Part of his personal involvement was jumping out of a C-47 plane like the paratroopers of World War II did.
Taking part in the journey is helping him connect in his own way with his late grandfather Jim Shalala, who died in 2006, Gibson told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Gibson is the regimental judge advocate for the 75th Ranger Regiment, essentially the top legal expert for the regiment, and is based out of Fort Moore in Georgia. His journey to the Rangers wasn’t direct. When he initially joined the Army, he served as Medical Service Corp officer in the the 3rd Infantry Division. After earning a law degree from the University of Georgia he served with the 101st Airborne Division as a judge advocate. He went to Afghanistan twice, with each division, but found himself drawn to the Rangers and remembered his grandfather’s service.
https://taskandpurpose.com/history/army-ranger-d-day-jack-gibson/
