CENTER FOR U.S. WAR
VETERANS' ORAL HISTORIES
World War II
Clifford J. Henry Jr.
World War II Oral History Interview
US Navy, USS Belleau Wood / USS Hancock
Date: June 10, 2010
Interviewer: Carol Fowler
Summarizer: Angelica Juliani
Veterans History Project
Summary
Clifford “Jack” Henry was born in April 1926 in Asbury Park, New Jersey. His grandfather had served in the Coast Guard at Sandy Hook, New Jersey, as well as there were several cousins who joined the military before Jack Henry entered the service. Henry recalled being in high school when he heard about Pearl Harbor on the radio. After the attack, students had civil defense drills and were ordered not to go to the beach due to fears of submarines.
Henry decided to join the Navy to keep up a family tradition, as there were sailors in his lineage. He had to get special permission from his parents, because he was only seventeen at the time and still in high school. In March 1944, Henry dropped out of high school, enlisted, and was told he would be assigned to an aircraft carrier. He was sent to Sampson Naval Training Station in Seneca County, New York for basic training. Henry remembered the twelve weeks of training as freezing cold and hard to endure. He said, “It was difficult, and some of the drafted men could have been my father.” Henry recalled that many of the older draftees were worried that they would not make it through boot camp. Henry learned how to use weapons and went through tough physical training.
After Sampson, Henry was assigned to the light aircraft carrier USS Belleau Wood (CVL-24). Along with the Navy personnel, there was a detachment of Marines from the Fifth Division aboard the ship. Henry’s job was on the flight deck, operating both the catapult to safely launch aircraft, and the arresting gear to halt them on landing. There were some difficult deck landings that would occasionally prove fatal. Recalling accidents that occurred, he said, “It goes along with war because nothing is ever pleasant with war.” Henry remembered the stories of two lieutenants who took off from the Belleau Wood and sacrificed their lives to sink a Japanese ship.
Oh of course, we were the best country there was, still is.
On October 30, 1944, while patrolling the Pacific Ocean, east of Leyte in the Philippines, the Belleau Wood shot down a Japanese “Kamikaze” suicide plane that crashed into the flight deck and set it ablaze. The ammunition below deck caught fire and exploded. Ninety-two men stationed below deck did not survive, while the crew conducted an organized effort to get everyone they could out. After the fire was extinguished, there was a large hole in the flight deck; and, the ship sailed back to Hunters Point, California for repairs, arriving in November.
While on the ship, Henry corresponded with his mother and sister as well as friends from high school. His sister wanted to visit him for the holidays in 1944, but her nursing school at Fitkin Memorial Hospital in Neptune, New Jersey would not let her leave. He remembered the hospital not allowing her to attend the family’s Thanksgiving dinner, because she was “a student nurse on duty.” Henry was finally able to see his sister while on furlough before he returned to his ship.
Henry also heard the progress of the war while he was on the ship, such as D-Day. He had a deep sense of victory towards the end of the war. When asked about it, Henry said “Oh of course, we were the best country there was, still is” with a smile.
Most of the things that happened on the mainland went unseen by Henry, because he was anywhere from 50 to 100 miles out at sea. While in the Pacific, the USS Belleau Wood received the news of the war in Europe ending. He remembered how happy all of the sailors were, and said that cheers could be heard from all of the surrounding ships. When Japan surrendered, the USS Belleau Wood launched planes to fly over Tokyo during the surrender ceremony as a safety precaution. After the Belleau Wood and the war, Henry was stationed on the USS Hancock, which was a much bigger ship with double the men aboard.
Henry was sent to Lido Beach in Long Island, New York and was discharged. He surprised his family, and they were incredibly happy to see him. Henry decided to finish high school and used the GI Bill to go to college. After school, he got a job as a Federal Firefighter at the Naval Weapons Station Earle in Colts Neck, New Jersey for 25 years. Among his service medals were the American Theater medal, the Asiatic Pacific medal 3 stars, and the Victory medal.
Clifford J. “Jack” Henry Jr. passed away at his home on February 2, 2018.
