James Henry

Date of birth: Jan. 5, 1914

Dates of service: 1941 through 1962 (Career)

Hometown: Birmingham, Michigan

Lives in: Clovis

Theater or location of service: Oregon, California, Colorado and Lake Tule

Branch: National Guard, Army, Army-Air Force, Air Force

Rank: Staff Sergeant

Unit and Specialty: Mechanic, vehicles. Motor pool

After discharge: Clovis, Retired from Cannon in 1962

Veteran organizations: Lifetime member of NCOA

In his own words:

During his lengthy military career, Henry served in Japan, Korea and Germany among other places. During W.W.II, Henry worked as a security guard at both German POW and Japanese internment camps within the United States. The prisoners were kept “in an enclosure” as he describes it, which typically consisted of barracks and common areas. They were only allowed to go outside the boundaries to work. They were taken daily, by truck, to work in the fields doing farm labor. The prisoners also maintained schools within the camps so they could continue their studies during confinement. Lake Tule, California was one of the locations for the internment camps to which Henry was assigned. He recalls his duties at the camps as uneventful, telling that they didn’t have any problems and never experienced any trouble. Explaining how he felt about the duties he performed during the war, Henry says “I didn’t mind, I did my job”.