Tommy McGaha/Photo

Staff Sgt. Victor Wade pins the South Carolina Governor’s Prisoner of War Medal onto the jacket of his grandfather, Pickens resident Al Henderson, during a celebration in Henderson’ honor at Pickens Presbyterian Church last week.

By Olivia Fowler
For The Courier

ofowler@thepccourier.com

PICKENS — Al Henderson thought he was going to be the guest of honor at the party celebrating his 92nd birthday Thursday evening at Pickens Presbyterian Church.

And so he was.

What he didn’t know was that there was more than a birthday cake and a celebration with friends and family awaiting his arrival.

His grandson, Staff Sgt. Victor Wade, flown in from Oklahoma, was on hand to present him with the South Carolina Governor’s Prisoner of War Medal. In addition, Henderson was presented with a proclamation from the state attesting to the extraordinary story of his service and his grueling years as a German prisoner of war.

The ceremony was a complete surprise, as it had been a well-kept secret.

 On June 1, 1944, Henderson was an 18-year-old paratrooper with the 101st Screaming Eagles. He’d lied about his age and joined the Army at 17 after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. He was among those who jumped out of planes into the black night. When he hit the ground, he was in Normandy, armed with a gun, ammunition and a clicker. Once on the ground, the clicker was supposed to be the signal allowing paratroopers to identify each other. If they heard a click, they didn’t shoot.

One out of four never made it to the ground. The Germans were waiting for them, and they spent days battling inland during intense fighting. This was D-Day.

The fighting continued as they fought for every inch of ground.

After many days of constant battle, they returned to England to prepare for their next drop.

They were dropped behind enemy lines into occupied Holland during Operation Market Garden on Sept. 17, 1944. As a first scout, Henderson was sent into an area with two others — one was a replacement — when they came under fire.

One man — Lyle — was shot, and Henderson selflessly rendered aid instead of seeking safety for himself, and they were both captured. The replacement ran and reported that Henderson and Lyle had been shot. After their capture, the two were separated, with Hendreson being sent to Stalag 12A POW camp.

Thus began his life as a German prisoner of war. Despite the terrible risk involved, he and a buddy, Mike, helped six others to escape. Two were recaptured. Those recaptured endured intense interrogation. When the Germans learned of his involvement in the escapes, Henderson was severely beaten, and he and Mike were both placed in an infamous train car full of Polish POWs, where they traveled for three days and nights in standing room only with no food or water.

They arrived at a POW camp for Russian prisoners, Stalag 2A, on the border of the Baltic Sea. Here the treatment from the Germans was much harsher and with less food. Hunger, thirst and freezing cold were all part of prison life. Henderson witnessed and survived countless horrors at the camp. They knew the war was finally ending when they saw the Germans retreating, and one day the Russian Army arrived and plowed down the wire around the fence. Now the Americans were under the control of the Russian army.

Father Samson, the Chaplain of the 101st Airborne, was also a POW, captured in Bastogne. After the retreat of the Germans, a U.S. commander arrived in a car and took Father Samson to help locate a German scientist whose location was known to the priest.

Once reunited with the American Army, Father Samson reported that there were several American POWs under the control of the Russian Army. American forces went into the area and demanded the return of all of them, and the Russians surrendered them.

During Henderson’s imprisonment, his family didn’t know whether he was dead or alive. No one, including the Allies, even knew of the existence of the POW camp.

After he came home, Henderson set about the business of living a normal life.

He earned a college degree in accounting and economics at Susquehanna University in Pennsylvania, married the love of his life, Bonnie, and had three children: Arthur, Beth and Carol. He was a successful businessman at Singer and later at Brunswick Mills until his retirement in 1990.

At the age of 78, Henderson was reunited with his 101st Airborne “Band of Brothers” friend, John Cipolla, from Rochester, N.Y., at a reunion of the 101st Airborne 501 Regiment reunion. It was there that Henderson learned that he and Lyle had been reported as being killed in Holland, and that indeed, Lyle died the day after their capture. When Cipolla saw Henderson at the reunion, he described this experience as “seeing a ghost.”

Since then, Cipolla and Henderson have had the opportunity to travel together overseas with the Living History Program at The College of the Ozarks to revisit Normandy, Holland and even to the exact point where Henderson was captured. It is from the reunions and the Living History Program that his family learned of his amazing story, which he never discussed prior to seeing the movie “Band of Brothers.”

At this time, he had been a respected member of the Pickens community and Pickens Presbyterian Church for more than 60 years.

During Thursday’s celebration at the church, Henderson was also presented with a state proclamation by Rep. Davey Hiott which reads: “It is because of God’s protection, Al’s faith, strength, and character, and Father Samson, that the State of South Carolina has the distinct honor of recognizing Alvin R. Henderson with the S.C. POW award today. His family and friends gather around him to celebrate this recognition of his story, his survival and his life well lived.

“The prisoner, having reached the depth of his depression, gradually reawakens to the life around him. He licks himself and his wounded pride, opens his eyes and finds that far away on the horizon there is still a ray of sunlight left.”

Finally, more than 70 years after Henderson walked out into freedom, he received his medal. The medal is a small acknowledgement of the hardships and sacrifices this Fighting Eagle made for his country and his comrades in arms.