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Corporal Richard “Dickie” LeGrand Henderson, Jr.

  • Unit: 7th Infantry Division, 57th Artillery Battalion, Headquarters Battery
  • Date of Birth: April 8, 1932
  • Entered the Military: October 31, 1949
  • Date of Death: December 31, 1953
  • Hometown: Lansing, New York
  • Place of Death: Hagaru-ri, Chosin Reservoir, North Korea
  • Award(s): Purple Heart, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal
  • Cemetery: Courts of the Missing, Court Six, Honolulu Memorial, National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Honolulu, Hawaiʻi. Pine Grove Cemetery Annex, Lansing, New York
Contributed by Mr. Patrick Henderson
Bronxville High School (Bronxville, New York)
2024/2025

Early Life

Richard LeGrand Henderson, Jr., known as “Dickie” to his friends and family, was born on April 8, 1932, in Barton, New York.  His parents, Richard, Sr. (“Skip”) and Hazel, moved the family to the larger town of Lansing, New York. The family lived in a small hamlet called Ludlowville, within the town limits of Lansing, just north of Ithaca. Richard grew up as the second oldest of six siblings – four boys and two girls.

According to his younger sister Shirley, Richard was outgoing and friendly to his neighbors. She recalled that he had a small motorized scooter and he gave rides to the other kids in the neighborhood. Richard was always looking for fun and fellowship. His first love was basketball, and could often be found in the local school yard practicing. He was also on the school team, where he wore his lucky number, 6. 

School

Richard attended the small, now defunct Ludlowville Union School with the class of 1949, but school was tough for him. He had a difficult time sitting still and focusing in class. He always seemed to get in minor trouble for talking out of turn and missing assignments. He was left-handed and struggled with basic penmanship. By the time he reached his teens, he was totally uninterested in school. He frequently fought with his parents about his goals and direction. By the time he reached his senior year, he felt lost and needed a different path. He ultimately dropped out of school in order to enlist in the U.S. Army.

The Henderson family lived in Tioga County, New York, in 1940. National Archives and Records Administration.
The 1950 U.S. Census noted Henderson’s service in the U.S. Army. National Archives and Records Administration.
The now abandoned Ludlowville Union School building where Richard attended middle and high school. Lansing Historical Association.

Homefront

Ludlowville, New York, was a very small town. It had a few brick buildings that housed a post office and a few shops at the center of the hamlet. Doctors appointments, shopping and most major business was conducted in nearby Ithaca. 

It was a small, tight knit community that was known mostly for a popular swimming hole under a waterfall where kids enjoyed recreating. Salmon Falls was a favorite spot for Richard Henderson. He spent much of his free time in the woods and trails surrounding the community.  

By the 1940s, Lansing and its communities had lost the importance they once held as a center for mills and factory production. Richard Henderson’s high school class had fewer than 25 students. His sister, Shirley, recalled his last day in town, when Richard and his friends went to the school and played basketball together for the final time. 

Salmon Creek Falls, located in Ludlowville Park, remains a popular attraction and swimming hole. Adventures New York.
A map of Lansing, New York, 1920. Historical Maps of Ithaca and Tompkins County, New York Heritage.

Military Experience

Richard Henderson’s enlistment occurred on Halloween in 1949. He trained at Fort Knox, Kentucky, and later Fort Lawton, Washington. He was assigned to the 7th Infantry Division, 57th Artillery Battalion, Headquarters Battery. Officially designated as a “Field Wireman,” Henderson’s job was to organize, install, maintain, and repair communications between artillery battalions. His training would have included how to clean, maintain, transport, load, and fire the M101 105mm Howitzer.  

Combat

The Headquarters Battery of an Artillery Battalion managed logistical support for the other batteries, coordinated fire missions, and managed communication. Henderson’s job would have required extensive knowledge of wiring and the ability to lay, maintain, test and repair wires. It would have been physically demanding with constant travel between various artillery units. He served in proximity to enemy fire in his duties to support ground missions with artillery fire.

Although Henderson’s file was partially destroyed in the 1973 fire at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, it is known that the 7th Infantry Division deployed to Camp Fuji, Japan, in June 1950. 

 31st Regimental Combat Team

In mid-November 1950, parts of the 7th InfantryDivision were attached to the 31st Regimental Combat Team, also known as “Task Force MacLean” and later “Task Force Faith.” This unit was created to support U.S. Marine Corps units advancing towards the Chinese border. Just as many felt the conflict was coming to an end, hundreds of thousands of Chinese troops counterattacked United Nations (UN) forces in North Korea in late October. The 31st Regimental Combat Team was dispatched to resist this attack. 

Battle of the Chosin Reservoir

What became known as the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir was one of the most challenging campaigns in U.S. military history. The terrain was extremely mountainous with few roads and difficult topography. Temperatures reached as low as -38 degrees. Soldiers were burdened with frozen food and medical supplies, malfunctioning equipment, and insufficient winter clothing. Thousands suffered frostbite. The approximately 3,200 members of Task Force Faith encountered constant and extreme close combat and suffered heavy casualties. In total, the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir led to over 15,000 UN casualties.  

While it was a tactical defeat, it is recognized as a moment of great courage for both the Army and Marine Corps. The veterans of this campaign are called “The Chosin Few.”

Private First Class Richard L. Henderson was last seen fighting the enemy in the area of Hagaru-ri, south of the Chosin Reservoir, on December 6, 1950. His unit’s position was overrun and he was declared missing a few days later.

Members of the 31st Regimental Combat Team, also known as “Task Force Faith,” marched through subzero temperatures and rugged terrain, 1950. HistoryNet.
In the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir, UN Forces, including U.S. Army and Marine Corps units were overrun by Chinese forces in the winter of 1950. U.S. Army.
This photograph of Richard Henderson appeared in The Ithaca Journal on September 12, 1953, nearly three years after he was declared missing.

Commemoration

Richard Henderson was officially declared dead on December 31, 1953. Shirley Kelly, Richard’s sister, recalls that their home was never quite the same. Henderson’s parents had not been in agreement over his decision to join the Army, and when he passed, there was a bitterness between his father and mother.  His mother would start crying at random times for the rest of her life. Henderson’s father, who encouraged and permitted him to enlist, never forgave himself for his decision. He suffered constantly from vivid nightmares. Even though his parents and siblings moved away, Richard’s sister, Vera, purchased a plot in their hometown in case he was ever recovered.  

There was no news of Richard Henderson for over 50 years.  

On August 1, 2018, 55 boxes of remains were returned to the United States from North Korea. On June 30, 2020, the remains of Corporal Richard L. Henderson were identified. He was laid to rest in the plot purchased by his sister Vera in Lansing, New York on July 23, 2021. HIs funeral was well attended by his surviving family and friends, including his two sisters and many nieces and nephews.  

Richard Henderson is the epitome of a Silent Hero. He never graduated from school, had a job, got married, or had children. He never owned a house or purchased a car. He was a young man who was well-liked by his friends and loved by his family. He was from a small, out-of-the-way place, and his life was cut tragically short in the freezing mountains of North Korea. But his brief life impacted the people around him in profound ways, and those who remember him do so fondly. His sacrifice deserved to be commemorated.

Official document declaring Richard Henderson’s date of death as December 31, 1953. Individual Deceased Personnel File.
A news article noted the return of several servicemembers to New York and listed Richard L. Henderson’s as still missing. The Ithaca Journal, May 28, 2018.
Richard L. Henderson’s obituary was posted in the newspaper before his burial in New York in 2021. The Ithaca Journal, July 20, 2021.
Richard L. Henderson’s memorial marker at the Pine Grove Cemetery Annex in Lansing, New York. Find a Grave.
Richard Henderson’s name is permanently engraved on the Honolulu Memorial at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi. The bronze rosette next to his name indicates that his remains were later identified. American Battle Monuments Commission.

Bibliography

Primary Sources

Clock System Rural Index Lansing Township 1920. Map. 1920. New York Heritage Digital Collection. https://nyheritage.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15085coll6/id/4635/rec/1. 

Kelly, Shirley. Phone interview with author. January 14, 2025.

New York. Tioga County. 1940 U.S. Federal Census. Digital images. https://ancestry.com. 

New York. Tompkins County. 1950 U.S. Federal Census. Digital images. https://ancestry.com. 

Richard L. Henderson, Jr. New York State, Birth Index, 1881-1942. Digital images. https://ancestry.com. 

Richard L. Henderson, Jr. U.S., World War I, World War II, and Korean War Casualty Listings. Digital images. https://ancestry.com. 

Secondary Sources

“522nd Field Artillery Battalion.” Go For Broke. Accessed May 9, 2025. https://goforbroke.org/history/unit-history/522nd-field-artillery-battalion/.

“Battle of the Chosin Reservoir.” Chosin Few. Accessed May 9, 2025. https://chosinfew.org/.

Conlon, Jennie H. Echoes of Lansing Yesteryears. DeWitt Historical Society of Tompkins County, 1970. https://www.tcpl.org/sites/default/files/content/archive/Echoes_of_Lansing.pdf.

“Corp. Richard LeGrand ‘Dickie’ Henderson Jr.” Find a Grave. Updated October 24, 2013. Accessed May 9, 2025. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/119233648/richard-legrand-henderson.

“Corporal Richard Legrand Henderson, Jr.” The Ithaca Journal [Ithaca, NY], July 20, 2021. Newspapers.com (750394769). 

“CPL Richard LeGrand ‘Dickie’ Henderson Jr.” Find a Grave. Updated July 13, 2018. Accessed May 9, 2025. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/191349901/richard-legrande-henderson. 

“CPL Richard LeGrand Henderson.” Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. Accessed May 9, 2025. https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt00000001UzdEAE.  

 “CPL Richard LeGrand Henderson Jr.” Korean War Project. Accessed May 9, 2025. https://www.koreanwar.org/html/12895/korean-war-project-new-york-ra12348967-cpl-richard-legrand-henderson-jr/.

“Richard LeGrand Henderson Jr.” American Battle Monuments Commission. Accessed May 9, 2025. https://www.abmc.gov/decedent-search/henderson%3Drichard. 

“Lansing soldier who went MIA during Korean War has been accounted for and will be buried July 23.” Finger Lakes 1, July 2, 2021. https://www.fingerlakes1.com/2021/07/02/lansing-soldier-who-went-mia-during-korean-war-has-been-accounted-for-and-will-be-buried-july-23/. 

Martin, William. “Lansing Historical Association Fall 2023 Newsletter.” Lansing Historical Association. Fall 2023. https://lansinghistory.com/home/newsletters/current-newsletter.

Parish, Isabelle  H. It Happened in Lansing, DeWitt Historical Society of Tompkins County, 1964. https://www.tcpl.org/sites/default/files/content/archive/It_Happened_in_Lansing.pdf.

“Richard Legrand Henderson.” American Battle Monuments Commission. https://www.abmc.gov/decedent-search/henderson%3Drichard.

“Richard LeGrand Henderson.” Honor States. Accessed May 9, 2025. https://www.honorstates.org/profiles/177984/.

Seelinger, Matthew J. “Nightmare at the Chosin Reservoir.” The Army Historical Foundation. Accessed May 9, 2025. https://armyhistory.org/nightmare-at-the-chosin-reservoir/.

“Soldier Accounted for From Korean War (Henderson, R.)” Press Release. July 1, 2021. Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/ID-Announcements/Article/2245324/soldier-accounted-for-from-korean-war-henderson-r/. 

“Those who came home.” The Ithaca Journal [Ithaca, NY], May 28, 2018. Newspapers.com (435283224). 

This profile was researched and created through the Researching Silent Heroes program, sponsored by the American Battle Monuments Commission.