Carroll E. Hendrix
Biography: Carroll Eugene Hendrix was born on April 22, 1916, in Greenville County, South Carolina. He was the son of Dr. Elisha Barnwell Hendrix and Lula Willimon and attended Greenville County schools. He continued his education at Clemson College, where he was known as “Charlie”, and graduated in 1939 with a B.S. in Agricultural Engineering.
Service Time: Carroll entered the service in June of 1936 and, after the start of WWII, was assigned to the Headquarters Company of the 608th Tank Destroyer Battalion. On July 4, 1942, he married the former Lida Elizabeth Garrison who was the daughter of the Reverend Edward King Garrison and Clelia Bannister. The new couple made their home in Dillon, SC.
The 608th was stationed at Camp Atterbury, Indiana, in December of 1943, when the unit was deactivated and all of its members were sent to other units. Carroll and another soldier, Cpt. William L. Boyleston, were sent to the 9th Tank Destroyer Group, with Boyleston assigned as Assistant S-2 and Liaison Officer and Carroll assigned as Commanding Officer of Headquarters Company and Communications Officer as of December 31, 1943.
The photo at left shows Carrol during his time at Clemson.
The 9th TD Group arrived at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey, on March 31, 1944, and began staging procedures in preparation for shipment overseas. The men boarded the H.M.S. Highland Monarch on May 1st and sailed on the 3rd. Their ship was part of a 60 ship convoy, which docked at Avonmouth Port, England, on the 16th. That same evening, the group traveled by rail to Bwedley, Worcestershire, England. On July 5th, Cpt. Hendrix assumed duties of the Assistant S-1 and Special Service Officer.
On July 29th, they boarded the S.S. William Pepperrell under the cover of dusk and shipped to France, landing at Utah Beach on July 31, 1944. They initially acted as the XII Corps Advanced Information Center. They moved into Luxembourg on December 21st and later into Germany on March 9, 1945. On June 5th, Cpt. Hendrix was promoted to Major. Later that month, he and an advance party left for Regensburg, Germany, and the Assembly Area of Command’s Camp Chicago, in France. The rest of the unit followed on July 3rd and began preparations for shipment home.
Letter Home – December 31, 1944
The unit shipped back to the U.S., arriving in Hampton Roads, Virginia, on Aug. 9, 1945. Carroll left active service but then joined the Army Reserve. In 1946, he went to work for the Dillon Company and Border Belt Tractor who were affiliated with John Deere. He remained there until 1986. Carroll went back into active service during the Korean War and retired from the Army Reserve, in 1976, at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.
In his spare time, he enjoyed gardening and always produced enough to share with neighbors. Carroll and Elizabeth had three children, Edward, born in 1950, Thomas in 1951 and Susan in 1956. Elizabeth passed away, in 1980, and he later married Frances Adams Leatherman. Carroll was a member of the Dillon Lions Club and received the Melvin Jones Fellow Award by the Lions International Foundation in 2007. He served as the Lions Club treasurer for a number of years. He was honored, in 2003, by being named the Dillon County Veteran of the Year. He was active in the American Legion and the VFW and for 44 years, he was the treasurer of the Main Street Methodist Church where his father-in-law was minister.
His greatest pleasures were serving his Lord, his family and his community. Carroll passed away on October 21, 2009, and was buried in the Riverside Cemetery in Dillon, SC. I want to thank Erwin Verholen and Helen Belden Moody for providing information and materials for this tribute for this tribute. I also want to thank E-Yearbook.com for the photo of Carroll at Clemson. I want to thank Carroll’s daughter Susan for her support of this project.