John Hendricks Papers

Collection — Box: AR00051

Identifier: 2025-024

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The John Hendricks Papers contain a letter Hendricks wrote to Cecil Brandy. In this letter, Hendricks details the situation on Wake Island two months prior to the Pearl Harbor attack. He discusses the growing Marine Corps presence, the 5" coastal gun, the absence of anti-aircraft defenses, and the condition of the runways on Wake Island, among other topics.

Dates

Creation: September 2, 1941

Creator

Hendricks, John B., 1913-1969 (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Permission to publish material from this collection in any form must be obtained from the National Museum of the Pacific War's Center for Pacific War Studies.

Biographical / Historical

John "Jay" Hendricks, born in 1913, was a civilian contractor on Wake Island before the Pearl Harbor attack. After the island’s capture, he became a prisoner of war and was transported aboard the Nitta Maru (later known as the Japanese aircraft carrier Chūyō) to Yokohama, Japan, and eventually to Shanghai, China, where he was held in Woosung Prison Camp. Later, he was transferred back to Japan and interned at a forced labor camp, Camp Sendai 7-B, where he mined copper. Hendricks was liberated on September 15, 1945, and died in San Antonio in 1969.