Hometown: Thomasville, GA
Branch: U.S. Marine Corps
Unit: Marine Fighting Squadron 211
Military Honors: Medal of Honor, Purple Heart
Date of Sacrifice: December 23, 1941 - KIA at Wake Island
Age: 36
Conflict: World War II, 1939-1945

Henry Elrod was born in the small town of Rebecca, Georgia, on September 27, 1905. His family, including parents Robert and Margaret and younger sister Kate, moved to Thomasville, Georgia, in 1911. There Henry graduated from Thomasville High School before attending the University of Georgia, where he played football.

After a year Elrod transferred to Yale University but dropped out a year later to join the U.S. Marine Corps in December of 1927.

He spent a year as a student aviator at the Marine Corps Basic School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, then received orders to report to Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida.

In May of 1933, Henry Elrod married Elizabeth Jackson—the niece of Navy Rear Admiral R.H. Jackson. Elizabeth would later serve as a Captain in the U.S. Marine Corps Women’s Reserve.

Lieutenant Elrod earned his wings as an aviator by February 1935. He served at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, where he was promoted to the rank of Captain on September 1, 1937. He was transferred to San Diego in 1938, then sent to Hawaii to be the Executive Officer of Marine Fighting Squadron 211.

On December 1, 1941—just six days before the surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii—Cpt. Elrod and twelve Marine fighter pilots from Squadron 211 flew their F4F-3 Wildcat fighters from the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6) to tiny Wake Island.

Wake Island was a tiny outpost in the Pacific, 2,000 miles west of Oahu. But it was a strategically important airstrip located roughly halfway between Hawaii and Japan. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor lasted hours and launched the United States into World War II (1939-1945). A simultaneous attack on undermanned Wake Island would last for fifteen days.

Cpt. Henry Elrod’s actions in defending Wake Island would earn him the Congressional Medal of Honor. In his F4F-3 Wildcat, Elrod single-handedly bombed, strafed, and ultimately sank the Japanese destroyer, Kisaragi. He was the first American pilot to sink a warship from a fighter plane. His Medal of Honor citation reads:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while attached to Marine Fighting Squadron 211, during action against enemy Japanese land, surface and aerial units at Wake Island, 8-23 December 1941. Engaging vastly superior forces of enemy bombers and warships on 9 and 12 December, Capt. Elrod shot down two of a flight of 22 hostile planes and, executing repeated bombing and strafing runs at extremely low altitude and close range, succeeded in inflicting deadly damage upon a large Japanese vessel, thereby sinking the first major warship to be destroyed by small-caliber bombs delivered from a fighter-type aircraft. When his plane was disabled by hostile fire and no other ships were operative, Capt. Elrod assumed command of one flank of the line set up in defiance of the enemy landing and, conducting a brilliant defense, enabled his men to hold their positions and repulse intense hostile fusillades to provide covering fire for unarmed ammunition carriers. Capturing an automatic weapon during one enemy rush in force, he gave his own firearm to one of his men and fought on vigorously against the Japanese. Responsible in a large measure for the strength of his sector’s gallant resistance, on 23 December, Capt. Elrod led his men with bold aggressiveness until he fell, mortally wounded. His superb skill as a pilot, daring leadership, and unswerving devotion to duty distinguished him among the defenders of Wake Island, and his valiant conduct reflects the highest credit upon himself and the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.

Lost at the age of 36, Cpt. Henry Talmage Elrod was temporarily buried on Wake Island, then reinterred in October 1947 at Arlington National Cemetery (Section 12, Site 3246), across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C.

Captain Elrod was posthumously promoted to the rank of Major. On May 12, 1984, the U.S. Navy USS Elrod (FFG-55) was named in his honor.

Sources
U.S. Department of Defense—Medal of Honor Monday: Marine Corps Maj. Henry Elrod
The National WWII Museum—The Battle of Wake Island: Nation’s Morale Lifted in 1941
National Medal of Honor Museum—Henry T. Elrod, USMC
Arlington National Cemetery: Henry Talmage Elrod – Major, United States Marine Corps
Marine Corps University: Major Henry Talmage Elrod, USMC (Deceased)
Burial Site: Find a Grave