Born on March 29, 1921, John Henry Hendrix was the son of James A. Hendrix and Matilda Alice Boutwell of Molino, Florida. He was working for the Adderly Tung Oil farm in Molino before enlisting in the US Marine in WWII. Assigned to the 4th Marine Division, he and his fellow Marines were shipped out to the Pacific on January 13, 1944. Following the fighting on Kwajalein, the 4th readied for the bloodbath of Saipan on June 15, 1944. There, John was wounded and was sent to the Naval Hospital at Honolulu to recuperate. With him, he took a Japanese battle flag that he had captured during the fighting. Upon his recovery, he returned to the 4th Division to prepare for their biggest battle of all on Iwo Jima.
On February 19, 1945, his division boarded their landing craft and headed for the black sands of Iwo Jima hoping that the pre-invasion bombardment had reduced the enemy’s capability to resist. He was wrong! The Japanese resistance was fierce and sadly John was killed the first day of the battle. When the battle for the island was finally over, he and his comrades would have fought four battles (Kwajalein, Saipan, Tinian, and Iwo Jima) in a thirteen-month period at the cost of 17,000 casualties. Buried in a temporary grave, his body was removed to the Iwo Jima Cemetery after the island was finally conquered.
In November 1948, his remains were removed and shipped home to his family where he was reburied in the Barrancas National Cemetery in Pensacola, Florida with full military honors.
Pensacolian John Henry Hendrix, USMC KIA Iwo Jima, 2-19-1945
The 4th Marine Division Storms Ashore the First Day of Battle
USMC John Henry Hendrix Reinterred
November 1948 at Barrancas Cemetery