Veteran Hendon remembers WWII

Russellville resident Doug Hendon has served in many capacities throughout his 86 years.

He has served as a husband, a father, a pastor, a builder and a teacher. Doug Hendon has also served in one capacity that places him in a very distinguished group: Doug Hendon served his country during World War II.  

Hendon joined the United States Navy on Dec. 28, 1941, just after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. 

He received his training in Norfolk, Va., and received his rank of seaman before being assigned to the USS Vincennes. Hendon boarded the ship in Brooklyn, N.Y. and began his tour of duty with the U.S. Navy early in 1942.

After completing the ship’s test run in the waters of the North Atlantic, the USS Vincennes was assigned to the Pacific Fleet and set out for the Mare Island, Calif., Navy Yard by way of the Panama Canal. 

Once the USS Vincennes had been painted, the crew headed for Pearl Harbor where they were to receive their assignment of escorting the USS Hornet, an aircraft carrier transporting B-26 bomber planes, to Tokyo, Japan.

The mission was a bombing raid on the city of Tokyo led by Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle and according to Hendon, it was a morale turning point in the war.

A month after being involved in the Battle of the Coral Sea in May of 1942, the USS Vincennes received orders to head towards Midway to intercept the Japanese. Once they arrived, the crew of Hendon’s ship spent the next 84 hours fighting for their lives, receiving no sleep and little more than a sandwich to sustain them the whole time.

“The Battle of Midway was the tactical turning point in the war,” Hendon said. “We sank four Japanese aircraft carriers and two of their battleships. We felt the U.S. was on its way to victory after that battle.”

During this time Hendon was serving as a helmsman, which he said was ironic since he had never even driven a car before he joined the Navy.

“My father wouldn’t let me drive his automobile, so I went from never having driven before to steering a 685-foot-long ship with 1200 men on board,” Hendon said. “I remember coming home and looking my father right in the eye and telling him it was funny that he never trusted me to drive his car but the U.S. Navy trusted me to steer a multi-million dollar ship.”

Hendon was steering the USS Vincennes during Doolittle’s bombing raid on Tokyo and he was also steering the ship on a night that he will never forget: the night the USS Vincennes sank.

In August of 1942, the USS Vincennes headed for the Solomon Islands and became involved in the Battle of Guadalcanal. According to Hendon, the Japanese ships had snuck up on the U.S. naval ships during the night of Aug. 8 and the early morning of Aug. 9, 1942. In a matter of minutes, the USS Vincennes had sunk plunging all 1200 of the crew into the Pacific Ocean.

Hendon was in the water for seven and a half hours and he can still recall the event that took place 68 years ago.

“Every second felt like a minute, everyone minute felt like an hour and every hour felt like a day when I was out there,” Hendon said.? 

“I saw a fellow sailor who had been injured and I took my lifejacket off and put it on him. I ended up getting onto a lifeboat after that, not knowing what was going to happen.”

Hendon said that when they were finally rescued by the USS Helm, it was the most wonderful feeling in the world. 

“We were so happy to see the ship coming and to see the American flag flying on it,” he said.

After being transported back to Pearl Harbor following the sinking, Hendon became an instructor at the submarine chaser school in Miami. Some time later, he returned home on emergency leave for his mother’s funeral. 

While back home during this 45-day period, Hendon met the woman he knew he wanted to marry.

“I was introduced to Martha through a friend of mine, and I knew that I wanted her to be my bride,” he said. “She was the most wonderful woman, smart, and had the greatest personality.

“We were married on Feb. 23, 1944, and we headed back to Miami on March 1.”

Before meeting Martha, Hendon had planned to make the navy his career. After he met her, he served a short time longer at the submarine chaser school, served time at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., and was discharged on May 23, 1947, as a carpenter mate second class.

Hendon and Martha made their home in Florence where he began working as a general contractor and eventually went to school to become a pastor.

Hendon served as a Church of the Nazarene pastor for 47 years before he and Martha retired to Florida. During this time the Hendon’s had four children, who all attended college and entered into professional careers.

“Martha was very smart and had always wanted to attend college, too,” Hendon said. “She married me before she was able to go to college and I told her that if she would marry me, I would make sure she got a college degree.

“She took correspondence classes through the University of Alabama later in life, but at the time, there was a requirement that you had to spend the last semester at the college,” Hendon said. “Since we weren’t living in Alabama then, she couldn’t finish her degree. But I found out later that they did away with that requirement, and when she was finally able to complete her degree, it ended up being only three months before she passed away.”

“I always keep my promises,” he said with a smile.

Hendon was married to Martha for 66 years before she passed away. He said during that time they were always together, and she was always a great source of support and love.

Hendon said that while he values his time in the service, God and his family have always been his biggest priorities.