INDIANAPOLIS — One of the few surviving veterans of World War II calls Indianapolis home. On Wednesday, Thurman Henderson celebrated his 100th birthday surrounded by friends, family and a century’s worth of memories.
“The doctor said as long as I can get up and stay moving, I might live a long time,” he said. “The doctor said I may have another five to 10 good years in me,” said Henderson.
Friends say living to 100 was once a bold prediction.
“He’d say, ‘I’m gonna live to be 100,’” a friend recalled. “Now he’s 100, he says, ‘I never thought I’d live to be 100.’”
Over the past 10 decades, Henderson has watched Indianapolis grow and change.
“Indianapolis has grown a great deal,” he said.
Henderson was drafted into the Navy at 18. At the time, he was working at a Coca-Cola bottling plant on Massachusetts Avenue.
“When I registered, they said, ‘What do you want? The Army, Navy or Marines?’ I said Army, but they said you look like a damn good sailor,” Henderson said. “They put a big ‘N’ on my application, so that’s where I was.”
During World War II, Henderson was stationed at Pearl Harbor after the bombing.
“They knew I had a little mechanical experience at that time,” he said. “They were coming out with the new diesel engines, and that’s why I ended up with poor hearing, because I was down at the bottom of the ship making sure the engines were functioning properly.”
He also carries the weight of outliving many of the men he served alongside.
“I’m not a very emotional person, but when I think about some of my brothers who were killed in Europe and blown apart and all that, it kind of gets to me,” Henderson said. “It almost brings me to tears when I think about it. I’m still here.”
Still here and still largely independent, Henderson continues to drive and says he even has a certified letter from his doctor clearing him to do so.
Dozens gathered to celebrate his birthday.
“I’m still excited and overwhelmed by this crowd,” Henderson said.
He may take a moment to remember a name. “I know you,” he joked with one guest, but he has not forgotten the lessons he’s learned in 100 years.
“Good health is the most precious thing I know for longevity,” he said.
And, he added, how you treat others matters just as much.
“If you give respect, you get respect.”
