We Remember a Hero
My Dad and Jedidiah’s Grandfather, U.S. Marine Corporal Lucket (Lucky) Lamar Henderson, went to be with our Lord on April 6, 2015. He was 91 years old. He took with him 17 pieces of hand grenade, embedded in his back since the age of 17, from Iwo Jima. A war which also made him a hero and a survivor. He was more than that though, a recipient of the Purple Heart, father of five kids, builder on the Alaska Pipeline, single-handedly built a house, and the man who put up with my crazy Aviation aspirations.
The funeral service was Friday, April 10, 2015, at Jordan Funeral Home Chapel in Kosciusko, Mississippi, and burial followed in Parkway Cemetery. Rev. James Burrell officiated.
Gene R Monteleone
Mr. Henderson, how lucky and blessed we are as a nation to have had great men like your Dad to protect and serve
our way of life in this free country.
I did not know your Dad but as I raise the American flag on the pole at my farm every day I will do it to honor your Dad and all other Patriots who sacrificed in many ways. Semper FI! Gene Monteleone Cpl. USMC 73 to 77
Randy Henderson
Thank You Sir and as a fellow Veteran myself(Vietnam ERA-I did not got to Nam but was a U.S. Air Force Medic first at England AFB in Alexandria, La. and then at Bentwaters AFB, England 1969-73), I salute you ALSO.
Sincerely
Texas TCart Pilot
Randy Henderson
Mike Lane
Randy,
You will not remember me, but I grew up watching up practice in the skies above my home near Hackberry. It was so awesome to watch your maneuvers and imagine what it must have felt like strapped into the seats. I stopped by a couple of times to talk with you and remember your small dog would often go up for a flight. This must have been around the time you got married because I remember you planning a proposal where you intended to fly inverted above Lake Lewisville until she said “Yes!” (I never heard how that turned out for you.)
I was pretty inspired to get into aviation in one form or another and later spent 6 years working on the F-14 avionics. Fast forward about 25 years and I am back in Texas now working for a police department. A Sergeant I work with recently purchased a house in a new Hackberry subdivision and I told him about your practice flights as we looked at an aerial map of his new neighborhood.
So sorry to hear about your dad. He sounds like an incredible man who was quite the inspiration on your future. Thanks for inspiring my own Sir.
Randy Henderson
Wow! The days of sweating, pushing the limits of exploring the envelope of flight!
I have been very blessed!
The practices paid off culminating with being fortunate enough to win the U.S. National Intermediate Championship in 1988! We had a saying in competition
that the size of the Trophy was directly porportional to the amount of gas and sweat
put thru the Texas TCart!
Thanks for jogging my memory with the proposal! (sorta sad as she bailed out on me
after 25 years as I dealt with Prostate Cancer Surgery (now CANCER FREE!).
The proposal flight went perfectly except for ONE SMALL DETAIL. I had never tested
how long the Texas TCart would sustain inverted flight without running out of fuel in the inverted tank(it refills slowly with each return to upright which is fine for
aerobatics, BUT sustained hadn’t been tried–WELL, I FOUND OUT THE HARD WAY!)
Always safety minded in this hazardous business, I flew over by Lake Dallas Airport with my Bride to Be, climbed to a descent altitude, and rolled upside down, with the ring falling outta my pocket(planned) with a string attached to it! It fell right down
in front of her face, starting an TOO LONG sequence of TOO MUCH excitement!
We flew along OBVIOUSLY TOO LONG with the emotions of the minutes instead of moments, and ALL OF A SUDDEN, there was the sound every pilot trains for but hates, SILENCE FROM THE ENGINE-it ran out of inverted fuel and the ENGINE QUIT!
Remember that I said OVER LAKEVIEW AIRPORT, well one can get TEMPORARILY DISORIENTED(read LOSS of geographical situtational awareness)-UHHHHHhhhh,
NEED KNOW where the blasted airport is and NOW, plz GOD!
After the blood returned to my brain, but fuel not returning to the Brain of the TxTcart, WOW! That AIRPORT is the most BEAUTIFUL AIRPORT I have EVER SEEN.
As we were turning and descending and were going to make the airport in the
“DEAFENING SOUND OF SILENCE”, the engine now came to life, We Climbed to a VERY HIGH Altitude for gliding in case it did it again NOT PILOT INDUCED(dummy me), flew back to home base at CottonPatch Aerodrome at Witt Rd. and King Road,
landed, uhhhh, sat down in OUR yard as Newly Weds to be with the endurance of the inverted fuel tank well etched into my memory!
Thank You So Much for saying Hello!
Randy