George Adolph Henkel Jr.
Rank: Private First Class, U.S. Marine Corps
Unit: 23rd Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division
Entered service from: New Jersey
Died:
Burial: Locustwood Cemetery, Route 70 and Cooper Landing Road, Cherry Hill, NJ
Awards: Purple Heart
Introduction
Private First Class George A. Henkel was born on February 25, 1923, in Germany, to George Adolph and Louise M. Henkel. His parents came to America when he was an infant. The family lived initially in Pennsylvania, where his sister Erica was born. By the spring of 1928 the family had moved to New Jersey, where sister Louisa was born, and by 1930 the Henkel family owned a home at 220 Pennsylvania Road in Brooklawn, NJ, and George Sr. was working as a foreman in a bakery. George Jr. had attended Gloucester High School, where he was prominent in athletics.
George A. Henkel Jr. joined the Marines in early 1943. He had seen action in the Marshall Islands. Mortally wounded on Saipan by a sniper on July 11, 1944, he died of his wounds the following day. (Note: The Camden Courier-Post of August 6, 1944 reported him as having died on Tinian.) He was survived by his parents, George and Louise M. Henkel, of 200 Pennsylvania Avenue, Brooklawn, NJ, and two sisters. Funeral services were held at Bethany Lutheran Church, 4th and Powell Streets, Gloucester City, NJ, on October 1, 1944.