The United States Navy Memorial Stories of Service Program is honored to announce the January 2026 story of the month has been selected to recognize the memory of United States Marine, Private Robert F. Horr. This year, the Story of the Month publication will honor and recognize the service memory of those lost by commemorating our Untold Stories of Service work with Richard Sherman, author of “Never Home: Remembering the Military Heroes Who Never Returned.” The following was researched, written, and presented to the Story of the Month publication by Richard Sherman.

“America began its attack on the Axis forces in World War Two with Operation Reservist, the first stage of Operation Torch in North Africa. British warships HMS Wanley and HMS Hartland departed Londonderry in Northern Ireland and arrived in Gibraltar on 5 November 1942. There they embarked their full complement which included 6 United States Marines. Their mission was to invade the port of Oran ahead of the main battlegroup, on an anti-sabotage mission intended to stop the Vichy French from scuttling the fleet of important merchant ships laying in port.

D-Day was 8 November 1942.  A message had been sent back to Gibraltar by undercover spies in Oran warning the ships to “Expect Resistance Everywhere” but that message was never forwarded. H-Hour was 0300 hours, and shortly thereafter, the HMS Wanley entered the harbor first, followed some 600 hundred yards by the HMS Hartland.  

Onboard Hartland was Marine private Rober F. Horr.  Born and raised in Providence, Horr was part of the National Youth Administration vocation training in Quoddy Village near Eastport, Maine in 1941. However, he joined the Marine Corps and left his mother Bertha in Rhode Island and arrived at Parris Island in early January 1942.  From July to October 1942, Horr was stationed in Londonderry Northern Ireland providing base security. Here the men were referred to as “The Irish Marines.”

Now onboard HMS Hartland steaming into the port of Oran on 8 November 1942, Horr and the US Navy detachment, the Royal Navy men, US Army soldiers and Marines, were heading into a holocaust, The element of surprise had been compromised and efforts to soften resistance by the Vichy French had failed, As Operation Reservist began, the two ships immediately faced heavy gunfire. The Hartland had all of its gun crews either killed or injured before entering port. Then the captain suffered temporary blindness due to an eye injury from the gunfire, and the Hartland crashed into the jetty. There she continued to take heavy fire.

 Freeing herself and showing her valor, the Hartland continued headlong toward the dock. With no significant defenses she was battered by the Vichy French, including the destroyer Typhon which opened fire from as close as 100 yards away.

Both the Wanley and the Hartland were engulfed in flames and were abandoned by 0415 hours. Of the 200 men aboard HMS Hartland, only two reached the shore. With a casualty rate of more than 90% for the two ships, it is no wonder that Operation Reservist has been referred to in subsequent years as “the suicide charge of Oran.”  The 2 US marines onboard HMS Hartland, PFC James Earhart, Jr., and Robert F. Horr, were both killed. 

A few hours later, the allies would exact their revenge, sinking the Typhon along with 26 other enemy ships and creating a beachhead for the allied armies. By the end of the day, the entire city of Algiers was under allied control. Army engineers set up a temporary cemetery on a hillside outside Oran that would hold the remains of 189 men, including 29 unknowns. Robert Horr was originally listed as MIA but by 17 November he was listed as KIA in the official records.

Also on 17 November 1942, the commander of the US Naval Detachment for Operation Reservist wrote back to the flag officer now commanding forces in Algeria recommending all KIA on HMS Hartland “be advanced to the next higher pay rating” for their valor but that never happened. So Private Robert F. Horr, US Marine, and recipient of the Purple Heart, remains a private today. Horr spent just 11 months as a Marine.  Nonetheless, a road on the US Marine Camp in Londonderry was named in his honor.

18-year-old Robert F. Horr is buried in Plot D, Row 2, Grave 9 at North Africa American Cemetery.  In closing a special thanks to Captain Isaac Lamberth, USMC, for his assistance in this research.”

The United States Navy Memorial honors United States Marine, Private Robert F. Horr featured within this Story of the Month. Each month, this series honors a Veteran’s story recorded by the Stories of Service Program at the Navy Memorial. To learn more about this story and to explore the Navy Memorial archive, visit the Navy Memorial Stories of Service site at https://www.navymemorial.org/stories-of-service

Richard Sherman is a published author, professor, Navy Gulf War Veteran, and contributor to the Untold Stories of Service Program. Richard also joined the ranks of the Navy Memorial Stories of Service Program and actively interviews Veterans which has enriched our program by conducting extraordinary interviews which are now part of the Navy Memorial Interview Archive. To further explore the work of Richard Sherman, visit:  www.NeverHomeHeroes.com