Mir Bahmanyar — Shameful Behaviour by David Williams of The Descendants of WWII Rangers, Inc. UPDATED

A long time ago this was the WWII Ranger Battalions Association, then it became the Sons & Daughters to todays version.

David Williams, the president, decided not to share Ranger research I requested last year as he sees this request a threat, a competitor to his work. Additionally, 2.5 months later, the “board” rejected my general membership application to join their FB [I stand corrected not FB but to join their members only section of the website - see below] page because “that would open the door to others.” But hey what’s this from their website?

If you are requesting General Membership:
A General Member (previously called Honorary Member) is defined in the By-Laws as being someone who is not related to a WWII Ranger as a spouse, son, daughter, niece, nephew or any descendant of these categories. If you are a General Member (meaning not Ranger family), when you send in your annual dues, please list on the back of this form, or on an additional sheet which follows for those joining on-line, your intended contributions ( non-monetary) to the Descendants of WWII Rangers, Inc., and explain how you might further the above purposes of the Descendants of WWII Rangers organization.

Okay - Gollum has his “precious” and David has his although it is extremely unprincipled to exclude a former member of the association, a fund raiser, and an associate historian of it. Very un-author like and certainly not in the spirit of the Ranger Brotherhood to aid, assist and preserve all things Ranger…

He signs off his emails with “honoring my uncle” - a former Darby Ranger officer. I am certain his uncle would not approve - David’s behaviour is disrespectful and dishonourable.

It is also a shame that previously I was looking for a home with them for all the Ranger research I have but now I’ll look elsewhere.

This is not unexpected because Darby Ranger Jim Altieri (former president of RBA) and Combat Camera Phil Stern had told me they did not like the people that replaced them. Oh well - if only they knew.

I am not the only one who has complaints about David (other descendants and researchers do as well) but hey, life goes on - Rangers lead the way or they stagger onwards…

From David with my responses as a matter of fairness and truth:

Mr. Bahmanyar: To say that I was stunned when I learned of your slanderous remarks on your website about me, also implicating the Descendants of World War II Rangers, Inc., is an understatement: www.mirbahmanyarya.com. You have damaged my reputation as well as that of our organization, and I hope you will take down the Blog immediately. Here are the facts.

1. You contacted me asking for my files on WW II Rangers, saying you needed them to complete a book that you have under contract to be published in 2025. I responded by saying that I have written a book on the same subject and am not willing to turn over the files that I have collected over a 25 year period. It is a matter of academic integrity that I keep these files at least until my book is published. When and if it is in the public domain it can be shared. As an author and researcher I would expect that you understand that. What a mean, damaging comment for you to call my behavior “shameful” - and to do it in public.

[I did not ask for files that I needed to complete my book. This is what I sent: Hello David

I am writing a book on Darby’s Rangers to be published in 2025. Unfortunately, I do not have a lot of time to deliver the manuscript - end of summer latest.

Phil Stern and Jim Altieri were friends. Not sure if you had asked me about Stern’s photographs a long time ago?

Anyway, I am looking for any help I can get to craft a good book historically but importantly a personality driven one. The idea is to tell the story through the eyes of some 12-24 Rangers. Although I have a list I’d like to also write about men who were killed early on or Rangers who joined later. So personal details matter. I’ll also cover the First Special Service Force.

I do have thousands of pages of material including most of Bob Black’s archives, the sealed court judgment on Shunstrom, 100+ Stern photos and so forth. I have been to Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland a couple of times and will revisit Sicily and Italy next year.

I am an author and researcher and understand sharing material since it belongs to all (to be fair this holding onto material is something new to me) – it has always been about preserving and sharing Ranger history. Accumulating material as a member of an association that is supposed to preserve history and then not willing to share anything – not everything - because it might help a “competitor” is shameful or maybe just selfish. Additionally, David’s book is with a publisher so he is well ahead of me – so what’s the problem? Many others have supported this effort as it is intended to preserve some Ranger history for future generations. I have shared research, stories etc with numerous writers, researchers, associations, and a museum as well as Darby Rangers and it has always been supportive and for the greater good.]

2. You sent $50.00 to the Descendants to join the organization, hoping to gain access to the Descendants’ Members’ Only site where we keep Morning Reports and Records. In this case Members Only means voting members, which are defined in our Constitution as lineal descendants of WW II Rangers. Perhaps our message on the web was unclear to you. Nevertheless, I sensed ill feelings on your part and therefore, to step aside, I took the matter to our nine member Board of Directors who voted that access to the Members Only site is for Voting Members only. You then said that if you could not have access to the Members Only site, you wanted your $50 back, and it was returned to you.

[Actually the intent was primarily to reach out to members to see if anyone had anything they’d be willing to share – I do have all of the Morning Reports and Rosters generously shared by Bob Black, Jim Altieri, the Donovan Technical Library, Carlisle Barracks etc. I never asked for the fee to be returned – I asked about the status of the membership application after 2 months. Instead of refunding the credit card I was sent a check.

Also note – you should probably remove this from your website: A General Member (previously called Honorary Member) is defined in the By-Laws as being someone who is not related to a WWII Ranger as a spouse, son, daughter, niece, nephew or any descendant of these categories. If you are a General Member (meaning not Ranger family), when you send in your annual dues, please list on the back of this form, or on an additional sheet which follows for those joining on-line, your intended contributions ( non-monetary) to the Descendants of WWII Rangers, Inc., and explain how you might further the above purposes of the Descendants of WWII Rangers organization.]

3. Finally, you mention a Facebook page. That group, which is named the World War II Rangers and Descendants, is independent of the Descendants of World War II Rangers, the formal group which is a non-profit foundation which I currently chair. The Descendants has nothing to do with management or over-sight of the Facebook page. The Descendants, the formal group which you slandered, has no involvement with the Facebook group except that a number of us belong as members. If you were turned down on Facebook, I had nothing to do with it and did not even know about it.

[This is a legitimate point – I did not know this. I stand corrected. UPDATE - actually I was correct as originally both worked together.]

Against my better judgment, I answered your three slanderous complaints. As a matter of fairness and truth, you should take down the post. You do not know me!