Claude Thomas Henderson, Jr.

Boot camp at Parris Island with Fourth Recruit Battalion and 10th Separate Recruit Battalion.

Outposted to Company A, First Separate Battalion (Reinforced) on 10 December 1942.

Outfit: A/1/24th Marines
Rank: PFC
MOS: 745 (Rifleman) – served with 60mm mortars

Campaign Narrative

Outfit: A/1/24th Marines
Rank: Corporal
MOS: 653 (Squad Leader) – 60mm Mortars
Important Events:
June 22, 1944 – wounded in action (slight, cause unknown) and evacuated to field hospital.

Returned to duty before Tinian landing.

Campaign Narrative

Outfit: A/1/24th Marines
Rank: Corporal
MOS: 653 (Squad Leader) – 60mm Mortars
Important Events:
July 25, 1944 – mortally wounded in action (gunshot, neck) during Japanese counterattack; evacuated to USS Heywood, where he ultimately died.

Awarded Silver Star Medal for actions on this date.

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity as leader of a 60mm mortar section serving with the First Battalion, Twenty-Fourth Marines, Fourth Marine Division, during action against enemy Japanese forces on Tinian, Marianas Islands, 25 July 1944. When hostile units launched a violent counterattack against his company’s position, Corporal Henderson immediately moved to the front lines and, despite withering enemy fire, skillfully directed a fierce mortar barrage against the onrushing Japanese. Assuming a position on the firing line when enemy units advanced too close for further mortar attack, he unhesitatingly exposed himself to hostile fire and furnished cover for a corpsman administering blood plasma to a casualty, firing his weapon with deadly effectiveness until he himself was mortally wounded. Corporal Henderson’s daring initiative and great personal valor in the face of grave peril were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.

Campaign Narrative