• Nov. 26, 1911 – July 14, 1943
  • Shelby County, Tennessee
• Engineering – 1929-1934
• Master’s Degree at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1940
• Lieutenant Colonel
  • Fifth Army
• CO ,17th Armored Eng Bn. KIA in Sicily when he and a squad went to locate water for his unit, near Butera. Their truck struck land mines, and all were killed.
• Buried at Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia

Henry Wright Hurley (Nov. 26, 1911 – July 14, 1943) was from Shelby County, Tennessee. He graduated from the University of Tennessee with an engineering degree in 1934 and went on to achieve a Master’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1940. He volunteered in the United States Army at the start of the war in 1941 and was trained as an armored engineer because of his background. He was commissioned as a Lieutenant Colonel and placed as the Commanding Officer of the 17th Armored Engineer Battalion in the Fifth Army. He participated in the North Africa and Sicilian campaigns. He was killed in action during the initial invasion of Sicily on July 14, 1943. After landing with some of the first Allied forces on July 9th and July 10th, Lt. Colonel Hurley’s battalion fought off a German counterattack that included an estimated 35 German medium tanks. On July 13th, they were tasked with clearing minefields near the town of Butera on roads and beaches to help with the further landing of more Allied forces. Lt. Colonel Hurley was out scouting a beach on July 14th when his jeep struck a mine that killed him and his driver. Pvt. Andy Pasztorcsak. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.

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