From the March13, 2014, Military.com. "Ashes of Pearl harbor Survivor's Ashes Spread."
Machinist's Mate, 1st Class William Henderson's ashes were scattered in the water by the USS Utah Memorial at a ceremony on March 10th.
He was born in 1922 and joined the Navy the day after his 18th birthday, November 13, 1940. When the attack came, he was asleep in his rack on the USS Helena when he was awakened by a general alarm calling for the men to report to their battle stations.
Mr. Henderson was quickly getting dressed when a Japanese torpedo hit the ship, knocked out the Helena's power and flooded the engine and boiler rooms. Mr. Henderson was knocked unconscious for a short time and then was able to get to his battle station.
The Helena was repaired and saw service in the Battles of Esperanza, Guadalcanal and Kula Gulf. In this last battle, the USS Helena was hit by three torpedoes and broke into three pieces before sinking.
He survived that and was later assigned to the attack transport USS President Polk.
--GreGen
The USS North Carolina (BB-55) My all-time favorite warship. As an elementary school student in North Carolina, I donated nickels and dimes to save this ship back in the early sixties.
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