Family lore has it that Lucian Jacob Henderson attempted to join the Army at 15 or 16 as World War II was in full rage.  He was finally able to enlist on 28 October 1944, his 18th birthday. Though his home address was 1109 Queen Street, Wilson, he was working as a deckhand for the Norfolk & Washington Steamboat Company at the time and signed up at a draft office in Washington, D.C.

The following year, Henderson qualified as an infantry rifleman after spending four months in basic and advanced training at the Infantry Replacement Training Center in Fort McClellan, Alabama.

Lucian J. Henderson, probably 1945-46. His shoulder patch bears the insignia of the Sixth United States Army, with whom he served occupation duty in Japan at the end of 1945.

Lucian J. Henderson, at left.

U.S. WWII Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947, [database on-line], http://www.ancestry.com; photographs from the collection of Hattie Henderson Ricks.