News

VFW to make lasting tribute to WWII MIAs

By Lightning Reports, Published: May 19, 2025

The Wall of Honor program of Hedrick Rhodes VFW Post 5206 will make a lasting tribute to all 11 Henderson County service members listed as Missing in Action from World War II duuring a presentation at 10 a.m. Thursday, May 22.

The Memorial Day weekend event will take place at the Hedrick Rhodes Veterans Center at Five Points, 900 N. Main St., when the VFW will add shadowboxes for the 11 MIA soldiers, sailors and airmen to the Wall of Honor.
Retired U.S. Navy Commander Gerry Lawton, an experienced military historian and member of Post 5206, did extensive historical research to help determine which awards each veteran had earned during their service. Shadow boxes were constructed using this and other data.
More than 70,000 service members are listed as missing in action since WWII. Among the 11 from Henderson County are two that survived the Bataan Death March but later perished in a Japanese Prisoner of War camp. Others were either lost at sea or killed in aircraft crashes. One, Paul Hedrick, for whom Post 5206 is co-named, died on the U.S.S. Arizona at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.  Like all 11 Henderson County MIAs, his remains were never recovered.