Lofton Russell Henderson (May 24, 1903 – June 4, 1942) was a

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...

aviator An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators because they a ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. He commanded Marine Scout Bombing Squadron 241 (VMSB-241) at the

Battle of Midway The Battle of Midway was a major naval battle in the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II, Pacific Theater of World War II that took place on 4–7 June 1942, six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and one month after the Battle of t ...

and died while leading his squadron in an attack against Japanese aircraft carriers.

Biography

Early years

Lofton Henderson was born on May 24, 1903, in

Lorain, Ohio Lorain () is a city in Lorain County, Ohio, United States. It is located in Northeast Ohio on Lake Erie, at the mouth of the Black River (Ohio), Black River about west of Cleveland. It is the List of cities in Ohio, ninth-most populous city in O ...

. He attended Lorain High School and was captain of the football team. He graduated from the

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (USNA, Navy, or Annapolis) is a United States Service academies, federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as United States Secre ...

in 1926 along with Howard W. Gilmore, Carlton Hutchins, Max Leslie, and C. Wade McClusky.

Early Marine Corps career

Henderson departed the United States on November 3, 1927 from

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

and arrived at Chingwangtao,

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

on December 16, 1927. He was assigned as a platoon commander with the 15th Machine Gun and Howitzer Company, 12th Regiment, 3rd Brigade at

Tientsin Tianjin is a direct-administered municipality in northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities, with a total population of 13,866,009 inhabitants at the time of the 2020 Chinese census. Its metropoli ...

. After passing a flight physical while in China, he received orders to report to Observation Squadron 8 (VO-8M) in

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

, California. He departed China on July 28, 1928 onboard the USS Chaumont (AP-5) arriving in San Francisco on August 17, 1928. He also served in various

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

stations, and on the

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and hangar facilities for supporting, arming, deploying and recovering carrier-based aircraft, shipborne aircraft. Typically it is the ...

s ''Langley'' (CV-1), ''Ranger'' (CV-4), and ''Saratoga'' (CV-3).

World War II

On June 4, 1942, as Japanese forces approached

Midway Island Midway Atoll (colloquial: Midway Islands; ; ) is a atoll in the North Pacific Ocean. Midway Atoll is an insular area of the United States and is an unorganized and unincorporated territory. The largest island is Sand Island, which has housi ...

in the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

, Major Henderson, the commanding officer of VMSB-241, led 16 Marine Corps aircraft in the attack. Henderson split his squadron into two flights, one with SBD Dauntless and one with

SB2U Vindicator The Vought SB2U Vindicator is an American Carrier-based aircraft, carrier-based dive bomber developed for the United States Navy in the 1930s, the first monoplane in this role. Vindicators still remained in service at the time of the Battle of ...

dive bomber A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the bomb it drops. Diving towards the target simplifies the bomb's trajectory and allows the pilot to keep visual contact througho ...

s in a glide bombing attack on the

''Hiryū''. His left wing burst into flames as he began his final approach. Henderson continued the attack and perished as his plane dived toward the enemy carrier. He was posthumously awarded the

Navy Cross The Navy Cross is the United States Naval Service's second-highest military decoration awarded for sailors and marines who distinguish themselves for extraordinary heroism in combat with an armed enemy force. The medal is equivalent to the Army ...

Honors

Navy Cross citation

HENDERSON, LOFTON R.
Major, U.S. Marine Corps
Marine Scout-Bombing Squadron 241 (VMSB-241),

Marine Aircraft Group 22 Marine Aviation Training Support Group 22 (MATSG-22) is a United States Marine Corps aviation training Group (air force unit), group that was originally established during World War II as Marine Aircraft Group 22 (MAG-22). Squadrons from MAG-22 ...

(MAG-22), Naval Air Station, Midway
Date of Action: June 4, 1942
Citation:
''The Navy Cross is presented to Lofton R. Henderson, Major, U.S. Marine Corps, for extraordinary heroism as Squadron Commander of Marine Scout-Bombing Squadron TWO HUNDRED FORTY-ONE (VMSB- 241), during action against enemy Japanese forces in the Battle of Midway on June 4, 1942. With utter disregard for his own personal safety, Major Henderson, with keen judgment and courageous aggressiveness in the face of strong enemy fighter opposition, led his squadron in an attack which contributed materially to the defeat of the enemy. He was subsequently reported as missing in action. It is believed he gallantly gave up his life in the service of his country.''HallofValor

Legacy

In August 1942, the partially constructed Japanese airfield on

Guadalcanal Guadalcanal (; indigenous name: ''Isatabu'') is the principal island in Guadalcanal Province of Solomon Islands, located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, northeast of Australia. It is the largest island in the Solomons by area and the second- ...

was captured at the outset of a six-month campaign to expel the enemy from both Guadalcanal and nearby and smaller

Tulagi Tulagi, less commonly known as Tulaghi, is a small island in Solomon Islands, just off the south coast of Ngella Sule. The town of the same name on the island (pop. 1,750) was the capital of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate from 1896 t ...

. It was named Henderson Field (now

Honiara International Airport : Honiara International Airport , formerly known as Henderson Field, is an airport in the province of Guadalcanal in the nation of Solomon Islands. It is the primary international airport in the country, the second being Munda Airport in Wester ...

) in his honor. Another Henderson Field (IATA: MDY, ICAO: PMDY) is today a public airport on Sand Island in Midway Atoll, an unincorporated territory of the United States. The airport is used as an emergency diversion point for ETOPS operations. The airfield provides access to Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. It operated until 1993 as Naval Air Facility Midway. The original Henderson Field was on Eastern Island (Midway Atoll). In 1945, the was named after him. The 21st Street Bridge in his hometown of

, was renamed the Lofton Henderson Memorial Bridge.

Citations

Bibliography

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Henderson, Lofton 1903 births 1942 deaths United States Marine Corps personnel killed in World War II Aviators from Ohio Aviators killed by being shot down Battle of Midway Military personnel from Ohio People from Lorain, Ohio Recipients of the Navy Cross (United States) United States Marine Corps officers United States Marine Corps pilots of World War II United States Naval Academy alumni