Henry L Espensen was born on May 25th, 1918 in Iowa. He was the son of Peter and Minnie Espensen. Henry had 4 brothers: Kenneth, Laurent, Herbert and John.

Two of his brothers, Kenneth and Laurent also served with the army during the Second World war. Herbert had health problems and John was far too young. He studied at Iowa university. He studied to become an engineer.

After his studies, he left to work in New York state as a building worker.

As war was declared, Henry wanted to perform his duty so he joined the army.

He joined the 82nd Airborne in August, 1942, so he was part of the first American paratroopers group.

He served as 1st Lieutenant in Baterie D of the 376th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion.

On May 10th, 1943, Henry Espensen landed in Casablanca with his unit.

His unit would later be built-in in the 504th Regimental Combat TEAM (With 504th PIR and 307th AEB. On July 10, 1943, Henry stood in the C-47 which was part of the invasion wave of operation "HUSKY". Unfortunately, his apparatus would be shot down by supposedly the firings of a DCA friend. His body would firstly buried in Gela cemetery before being at last moved to the American cemetery of Nettune, Italy Plot F Row 4 Grave 21.