Just nosing around the IWM photo collection & sa wthis pic, not seen it before. Wondered if he survived the war & it seems he did. http://www.newsletter.co.uk/features/70-years-on-remembering-when-the-yanks-arrived-1-3451181
Good story. I never thought much about this, but somebody had to be designated "first", even though many others were already there.
a mate shared this one of him on Facebook yesterday. https://www.facebook.com/DerryPast/ Private First Class Milburn H Henke was officially the first American Soldier to land in the United Kingdom when he stepped off HMTS Strathaird at Dufferin Quay in Belfast on 26th January 1942.
Great story but one correction I'd like to make. The original story noted, "Note his M1918 helmet, M1903 Springfield rifle and jacket and tie." I noticed in the other photos in the thread that he was armed with an M1 and not an '03 Springfield, so I wondered if they were taken at a later time. Went back and looked at the original picture and you can see the barrel and you can clearly see the gas cylinder under the barrel identifying it as an M1 and not an '03.