From the USNA "Class of 1940"
John joined USS ARIZONA after graduation. He served there until she was blown up by the Japanese at Pearl Harbor. While in Hawaii, he met and married Ruth Whisler Collins in 1942.

After Pearl Harbor, he and Ruth returned to Norfolk, where USS ALABAMA was being put in commission. He served in ALABAMA until 1945 in combat operations in the Arctic, European, and Pacific Waters. While in the Pacific, he detected and correctly evaluated the initial enemy approach for attack in the Marianas Campaign in June, 1944, giving a vital warning to the Task Force, which resulted in the distruction of the enemy and the saving of many American lives. For this, he received the Bronze Star Medal with "V".

From 1945 to 1948, he was a graduate student at the U. S. Naval Posgraduate School in Annapolis, where he received his Master of Science in Engineering Electronics. From 1948 to 1951, he was the Staff Electronics officer on the Staff of CINCNELM in London. From there he went to the Naval Shipyard at Pearl Harbor, where he was Asst. Planning and Estimating Superintendent (Electronics) and Production Analysis officer.

Returning to Washington in 1954, John was Head, Communication and Computer Design Branch, Bureau of Ships. Following that duty, he was the Industrial Manager for the 10th Naval District in San Juan, Puerto Rico, 1960-1963. He was then Deputy Chief and later Chief of Development Standards at the Defense Communications Agency until he retired from the Navy in 1966. He was awarded the Joint Services Commendation Medal.

John then joined Westinghouse Electric Corporation and was a Fellow Engineer at their Leesburg laboratory until it closed in 1974. From 1974 to 1976, he was a student at Lord Fairfax Community College in Animal Husbandry. In 1976, he was asked to be a physics professor at the college. He then taught physics and sometimes mathematics until he retired in 1983.

He was a member of St. James Episcopal Church in Leesburg and also served as a Director of the Loudoun Speech and Hearing Center. He was an avid reader on all subjects but his particular interests were military history, American Civil War and animal husbandry.

John suffered a heart attack in January, 1984, and during his recovery made plans for travel with his wife. He died on January 24, 1985. He is survived by his wife, Ruth, two sons, Michael and Peter, three daughters, Sheila, Norah, and Eileen. A third son, Thomas, predeceased him.

U.S. Veterans Gravesites Information:
Name: John William Henry
Service Info.: CAPT US NAVY WORLD WAR II, KOREA
Birth Date: 29 Aug 1917
Death Date: 24 Jan 1985
Service Start Date: 1 Oct 1946
Service End Date: 1 Oct 1966
Interment Date: 24 Jan 1985
Cemetery: Arlington National Cemetery
Cemetery Address: C/O Director Arlington, VA 22211
Buried At: Section 66 Site 4792

Name: Ruth W Henry
Birth Date: 21 May 1919
Death Date: 6 Feb 2001
Relation: Wife of Henry, John William
Interment Date: 16 Feb 2001
Cemetery: Arlington National Cemetery
Cemetery Address: C/O Director Arlington, VA 22211
Buried At: Section 66 Site 4792

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