Lorain High School - Scimitar Yearbook (Lorain, OH)

Page 9 text:

M . . My Hermit Un! HE DID . . . On the fourth of june, 1942, Major Lofton R. Henderson and his small group of Marine Corps aviators took to the skies over Mid- way to defend the island from an attacking Japanese invasion force . . Major Henderson and his greatly outnumbered group of scout bombers spot- ted the Japanese fleet and launched the attack . . . His plane . . . the leader was hit . . . immediately it burst into flames . . . He deliberately maneuvered his light bomber . . . plunged into the smokestack of an enemy carrier . . . He knew what he was doing . . . It cost him his life . . . but the destruction of the carrier was assured . . . His act of heroism spurred our forces on to that historic sea and air victory . . . That day the sun set . . . A Japanese sun, too, was setting . . . Control of the Pacific was in American hands. In honor of Lofty's supreme sacrifice the United States Navy changed the name of the airfield on Midway from which he launched that epic at- tack . . . Later at Guadalcanal the fighting leathernecksn defending that island also named the blood-soaked airfield there . . . Henderson Field . . in memory of the man who delivered THEIR Answer to Tojo. The whole world knows OUR Lofton Henderson . . . The supreme Sacrifice for Victory . . . was not too great for Lofty . . . His spirit . . . fighting spirit . . . lives on iniLorain High School today. lbkfufay . . . aqencfetfon 7i'efcf . . . guadafcanaf A l I l I f 5 J

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.E hid, agAZ,'7w.f 'A' Out of retirement came Lofty Henderson's father-yes, and thous- ands of Lorain fathers, men of peace . . . building ships of war, fight- ing ships for fighting men . . . The largest freshwater shipyards in the world answered the call for more ships for our fighting men . . . They built ships . . . they launched ships . . . they built still more ships . . . Lorain sent Uncle Sam more men than any other town of our size you can name. The call was re-echoed . . . Ships for victory! The reverber- ating Crescendo of ships plunging into the waters . . . waters which have floated the men-of-war for other conflicts . . . waters which saw tradition broken . . . WAACs and SPARS . . . the first women naval officers-launching ships . . . Women helped build them . . . women launched them. Publicity . . . sure . . . the other yards get it . . . maybe you haven't heard much of Lorain and its ships but we are here . . . Everytime there are ships to be built . . . or a war to be won . . . they call on us . . . We're ready . . . we're willing . . . we're able. Jfme'4 Pano! of fl' . . .