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Henry A. Mucci
1909 – April 20, 1997
Colonel Henry Mucci
Place of birth	Bridgeport, Connecticut
Place of death	Melbourne, Florida
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Army
Years of service	1936-1946
Rank	Colonel
Commands held	6th Ranger Battalion
Battles/wars	World War II Battle of Pearl Harbor Second Battle of the Philippines Raid at Cabanatuan
Awards	Distinguished Service Cross

Henry A. Mucci (1909—April 20, 1997) was a United States Army colonel and Ranger. He was famous for leading the raid that rescued survivors of the Bataan Death March during World War II. With only 128 Army Rangers, Mucci headed the January 1945 mission that freed 512 men from Cabanatuan Prison Camp despite being heavily outnumbered.

Mucci was born in 1909 in Bridgeport, Connecticut. His parents had both emigrated from Italy, and his father worked as a horse salesman in the Bridgeport area. Two years after graduating high school, Henry entered West Point, from which he graduated in 1936, 246th in his class. At West Point he was on the equestrian team, due to his early years growing up with horses.

In February 1943, the US Sixth Army put Henry Mucci in charge of the 98th Field Artillery Battalion, previously a mule-drawn pack artillery unit. Mucci announced that the Battalion was being converted from Field Artillery to Rangers, downsized the battalion from 1,000 men to 500, and held a training camp in New Guinea where he utilized commando type training techniques for over a year. Mucci survived the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. During the liberation of the Philippines, General Walter Kreuger and one of his top men, Horton White, chose Mucci to head the liberation of the Cabanatuan Prison Camp due to both the difficult and peculiar needs of such a mission. In January 1945, Mucci led 128 Army Rangers in liberating the Cabanatuan Prison Camp with the loss of only 2 men killed in action. The raid included support of some 250 Filipino guerrillas, many of whom were unarmed, who guided the Rangers through Japanese held territory and held off Japanese reinforcements while the American Rangers freed the POWs.

For Mucci's actions on the raid he was personally awarded the Distinguished Service Cross by General Douglas MacArthur. Originally, Mucci was to be awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions at the Raid at Cabanataun, this award being given by the president. However, his close friendship with General MacArthur, made him accept the award below, because he wanted the honor of his friend giving him the Distinguished Service Cross.

When Mucci returned home he was treated as a national hero in his home town of Bridgeport, Connecticut. In 1947, he married Marion Fountain and had four children together. He ran for Congress in 1946 but was defeated. He became the President of Bridgeport Lincoln Mercury as well as becoming an oil representative in India. In November 1974, the stretch of Route 25 between Bridgeport and Newtown was named the Col. Henry A. Mucci Highway.^[1] He died at 88 in Melbourne, Florida in 1997, as a result of a stroke.

The Raid at Cabanatuan was depicted in the 2005 film The Great Raid that featured actor Benjamin Bratt playing Mucci.

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