Hendrix, James Richard, born, 20-08-1925, in Lepanto, Arkansas, 
the oldest child of a sharecropper with fourteen children. He left elementary school at West Side after the third grade to work in the fields in order to help his family at home, with his parents, Pearl Hendrix and James Hendrix Sr.. In 1943, at the age of eighteen He learned marksmanship skills while hunting for food. In 1943, at age 18, he was drafted into the U.S. Army 
He was sent to basic training in Florida, the first time he had been more than a few miles from his hometown. He became a member of the 4th Armored Division 
ter basic training.
The 4th Armored Division was activated during World War II on 15-04-1941 with 3,800 men (10,000 by the end of May 1941) from various other units, at Pine Camp (Camp Drum, 1951; Fort Drum, 1974), New York under its first Commanding General, Brigadier General Henry W. Baird.
James was sent to Europe as a private with Company C, 53rd Armored Infantry Battalion, 
4th Armored Division, now under command of Major General John Shirley Wood. 
Wood survived the war and died 02-07-1966 (aged 78), in Reno, Nevada, United States.
Casualties of the 4th Division during the European campaign: Total battle casualities 6.212, killed in action 1.143, wounded in action 4.551, missing in action 65 and prisoners of war 453.
After waiting out the invasion of Normandy aboard ship in the English Channel, the 4th AD landed on Utah Beach on 11-06-1944, and joined the drive across France and into Belgium as the spearhead of General George Patton‘s 
Third Army. 
Death and burial ground of Hendrix, James Richard.
Detail of mural in Lepanto, Arkansas honoring James Hendrix: During the Battle of the Bulge, on the first day 26-12-1944, near Assenois, Belgium, Hendrix a bazooka man, captured two enemy artillery guncrews, and armed with a rifle, held off the fire of two machine guns until wounded comrades could be evacuated, and then rescued a soldier from a burning vehicle. He was presented the Medal of Honor 
by President Truman at a White House ceremony on 23-08-1945; he was awarded the medal on 01-09-1945.
Hendrix’s official Medal of Honor citation reads:
On the night of 26-12-1944, near Assenois, Belgium, he was with the leading element engaged in the final thrust to break through to the besieged garrison at Bastogne when halted by a fierce combination of artillery and small arms fire. He dismounted from his half-track and advanced against two 88mm. guns, 
and, by the ferocity of his rifle fire, compelled the guncrews to take cover and then to surrender. Later in the attack he again left his vehicle, voluntarily, to aid 2 wounded soldiers, helpless and exposed to intense machinegun fire. Effectively silencing 2 hostile machineguns, he held off the enemy by his own fire until the wounded men were evacuated. Private Hendrix again distinguished himself when he hastened to the aid of still another soldier who was trapped in a burning half-track. Braving enemy sniper fire and exploding mines and ammunition in the vehicle, he extricated the wounded man and extinguished his flaming clothing, thereby saving the life of his fellow soldier. Private Hendrix, by his superb courage and heroism, exemplified the highest traditions of the military service
Hendrix re-enlisted in 1945, and became a paratrooper; during parachute training he broke his leg when his chute didn’t open. He reached the rank of master sergeant and served in combat with a parachute unit during t he Korean War and served briefly during the Vietnam War before retiring from the Army in 1966. He died 14-11-2002, aged 77, of cancer, in his home in Davenport, Florida, He was survived by his wife, Helen; four daughters and their children; and two sisters. and was buried in the Florida National Cemetery, Bushnell, Florida.
Leave a Reply