Biography

On the night of July 9, 1943, the paratroopers of the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment loaded aircraft and departed the coast of North Africa for the island of Sicily. The 1st Battalion, under the command of the 28-year-old Gorham spearheaded the first regimental-sized airborne assault. Winds were high as they jumped in the early morning hours of July 10 and the paratroopers were scattered across and well beyond their drop zones. Assembling into small groups, the men began to wreak havoc among the German and Italian defenders of Sicily.

On July 10, at about 6 a.m., Gorham with 30 men from his headquarters company joined up with CPT Ed Sayre who had gathered up about 50 troopers from A Company. LTC Gorham congratulated Sayre for capturing an Italian fortified farmhouse and over 20 machine guns and then they began organizing a defense, anticipating an enemy attack from the north on the road from Niscemi. Bolstering the lightly armed paratroopers’ firepower were the 20 captured machine guns with 500,000 rounds of ammunition. The troopers, now about 90 strong, did not have long to wait.  

At 7 a.m., a German armored column approached from the north, Preceded by an advanced guard of two Motorcycles and a Volkswagen. The paratroopers, following Gorham’s command, allowed the advance guard to close to within point blank range, then opened fire killing or capturing them. The tanks deployed and stopped. The Germans then sent in two companies of about 200 men, of a Panzer Grenadier unit. The German infantry advanced on foot across open ground. The troopers, again following Gorham’s command, allowed them to close within about 100 yards, then opened fire. Throughout the engagements, Gorham exposed himself at personal risk to encourage his troops and direct their fire.

The Germans were decimated. Only a handful escaped. The German tanks did not advance. The reasons for the tanks not doing so are not clear, but it is not hard to imagine that the crews were stunned by the volume of fire the troopers put out with their 20 machine guns.

Later that day, the paratroopers married up with 2-16 Infantry of the First Infantry Division. LTC Gorham attached his band of troopers, as required in the Regimental plan, to the 2-16 IN commanded by LTC Joseph Crawford. Anti-tank firepower was only slightly improved, however, as 2-16 IN had only a single 57 mm anti-tank gun. Using a 2-16 IN radio, a report was sent to the 1st ID command post, where MG Matthew Ridgway, the 82d Airborne Division Commander was located, that Gorham’s intrepid band of troopers had seized Objective Y, meant to be taken by the entire 505th PIR. 

Writing after the war, then-Colonel James M. Gavin, Commander of the 505th PIR, who was fighting with another band of his paratroopers to well to the east of Objective Y, said “Colonel Gorham and his small group of troopers...Accomplished all the missions assigned to the entire regimental combat team. It was a remarkable performance, and I know nothing like it that occurred at any time later in the war”. 

 The next day, July 12, Gorham and his unit came face to face with another German tank near Niscemi, Sicily. William B. Breuer in Drop Zone Sicily describes the action: Gorham “grabbed a rocket launcher and edged his way within range of a menacing Tiger Tank which had continued to roll forward. Gorham, out in the open and in full view of enemy tankers, kneeled to take aim at the tank. Gunners in the Tiger spotted the parachute leader and fired an 88mm shell at Gorham at point blank range. Gorham, hardnosed to the end, fell over dead." 

 Gorham's death was first reported by Bill Ryder in a March of Time radio broadcast on August 19, 1943. "One of the outstanding examples of heroism was Lt. Col. Arthur Gorham whose unit was attacked by tanks. When one of his bazooka teams was wiped out by an approaching tank, he manned the weapon himself and got the tank single-handed before being killed himself by another tank on their flank."  

For his actions on Sicily, Gorham was awarded two Distinguished Service Crosses. Gorham was also posthumously awarded the Purple Heart, the Combat Infantryman Badge and a combat star to his jump wings.

The citation for the Distinguished Service Cross he was awarded for his actions reports: “Lieutenant Colonel Gorham personally manned a rocket launcher and destroyed one tank. While attempting to destroy another with hand grenades and a rifle, Lieutenant Colonel Gorham was killed.”  This second description is consistent with the reports relayed to Gorham's family by Chicago Tribune reporter John Hall Thompson in December 1943.

In August 1948, Gorham's remains were returned to the United States. He was interred in Bellevue, Ohio, in a family plot.