William Orlando Darby
American World War II Army colonel
William Orlando Darby (February 8, 1911 – April 30, 1945) was a career United States Army officer who fought in World War II, where he was killed in action at age 34 in Italy. He was posthumously promoted to brigadier general. Darby was the founding commander of the First Ranger Battalion, which evolved into the United States Army Rangers. He was subsequently portrayed by James Garner in the 1958 theatrical film about Darby's career titled Darby's Rangers, which was also the title of his memoir, the source for many of his exploits.
Early military career
William O. Darby graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, Class of 1933. where he was the cadet captain of "I" Company. His fellow classmate, William H. Baumer Jr., would later co-author the book Darby's Rangers, We Led the Way with Darby.
Darby's first assignment was as assistant executive and supply officer with the 82nd Field Artillery at Fort Bliss, Texas. In July 1934, he transferred to Cloudcroft, New Mexico, where he commanded the 1st Cavalry Division detachment. He received intensive artillery training from September 1937 to June 1938 while attending Field Artillery School at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
“William Orlando Darby” enters the record as american World War II Army colonel. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what William, Orlando and Darby can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 6, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q327702. VIAF identifies the subject as 6223511. The Library of Congress control number is n80008265. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1911, 1945, 1958 and 1933.
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This entry incorporates text from “William Orlando Darby” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.