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Claude Thomas Henderson, Jr.

"Hank"
Marine Corps Reserve | Service Number 434661
Born

June 11, 1920
in Norfolk, VA

Parents

Claude Thomas Henderson, Sr.
Mary Louise (Tripple) Henderson

School

Maury High School (1940)

Pre-War Employment

File Clerk
Norfolk & Southern Railroad

Entered Service

October 12, 1942
at Norfolk, VA

Joined First Battalion

December 10, 1942
from 10th Separate Recruit Battalion

Left First Battalion

July 25, 1944
Died of wounds suffered on Tinian

Left Service

July 25, 1944
Died of wounds

Home Address and Next of Kin

530 Massachusetts Avenue, Norfolk, VA – address of mother, Mrs. Mary Henderson

Service & Campaigns
Before joining battalion

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.

Roi-Namur

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

Campaign Narrative

Saipan

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

Tinian

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

Individual Decorations

Medal
Silver Star
Purple Heart
– with Gold Star

Campaign
Tinian (July 25, 1944)
Saipan (June 22, 1944)
Tinian (July 25, 1944)

Citation
See above

Service Stories

Claude wanted to become an NCO so badly. He was from Virginia, really a nice guy. We found out he had a blouse with corporal stripes on it in his seabag [he was still a PFC] and boy! Nobody would let him go! He just had this thing where he wanted to become a corporal, and sometimes he sorta acted like a corporal before he was, and it alienated some people.

– George Apple Smith

[Howard] Haff didn't see him get hit, but when Haff was on the hospital ship, he looked over and saw Claude beside him. He spoke to him – and then Haff realized that Claude couldn't talk. He didn't go out easy. Claude had been hit in the throat and was strangling on his own fluids. He died that night. It was a shame.
Claude is buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery, Norfolk, Virginia.
Gallery

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