Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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”.