US Marine PFC John Henry Hendrix (aka Hendricks) was born on March 29, 1921, son of James Asa Hendrix (1881-1955) and Matilda Alice Boutwell (1885-1971) of Molino, Florida. John's father moved the family to Molino in the early 1900's and was a farmer on the E. Y. Morgan farm and later became a school bus driver. As for John, he went to work for the Adderly Tung Oil farm in Molino before enlisting in the Marines in WWII. After ten weeks in boot camp, he was sent to Cuba for special training for one year. He returned to the states for three months after which he was sent to the Pacific. His family was very aware of the dangers of war since they had lost John's Uncle Rufus Preston Hendrix (1897-19187) in WWI. Rufus was killed in action with the 167th Regiment in the Battle of Croix Rouge Farm in France on July 15, 1918.
In the meantime, he was assigned to Company "B", 1st Battalion, 25th Regiment, of the 4th Marine Division, as they headed overseas 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 the 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 horribly 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 1948, his remains arrived home where he was reburied in the Barrancas National Cemetery in Pensacola, Florida on November 2nd with full military honors.
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