LaVor "H" Jenkins was born in Freedom, Wyoming November 14, 1924, the son of Raymond and Lula Haderlie Jenkins, and the fifth of eight children born in this family. He attended grade school in Freedom and about two years of high school at Star Valley High before he had to drop out of school to run the family farm because of the illness of his father. His older brother, Darrel, was on a mission at the time. His entire life before going into the military service was spent helping his family on the farm which he enjoyed very much.

LaVor escaped being killed twice while very young. In the fall of 1929 his dad moved the family back downtown for the winter so it would be easier for the kids to go to school. Grandmother Haderlie was very ill with cancer of the stomach and one day, while LaVor's mother was up taking care of her, LaVor and Darrel were suppose to get the wood in for the night. Their dad was up on the ranch feeding the sheep. Darrel and LaVor decided to see who could drive the axe into the side of the chopping block the furthest. Darrel stood on top of the block for the first try. LaVor stepped up close to get a good look and Darrel brought the axe down on the middle of his head. Darrel was nine years old at the time, and not too strong, or he would have killed him. LaVor was five years old. Darrel was scared since LaVor was bleeding like a stuck pig, so he ran and hid in the barn. Leona and Elva rushed LaVor down to the neighbor (Mrs. Pearl Robinson) who took care of his wound. He survived this but later, while the two of them were getting a load of hay, Darrel threw the pitchfork on top of the load and it stuck in the top of LaVor's head.

Elva said when LaVor was a baby, she and Leona were holding him by the wood burning stove, which had an oven door, and it was down; they accidentally dropped him on the hot oven door, burning the side of his face.

Darrel remembered LaVor used to wear a heavy sheepskin coat during the hot summer months. He didn't know why, unless it was the only coat LaVor had.

LaVor had a run-in with his school teacher who was also principal about the hear LaVor was in the eight grade, and the teacher kept him in during recess one day. All the school kids could hear the teacher giving LaVor a good whipping. Afterwards, LaVor made his sister, Lera, promise not to tell the folks because he knew he would get another whipping when he got home if they knew. The next day the teacher brought a plate of homemade fudge and gave it to LaVor, to let him know he still liked him.

One year LaVor built a nice-sized toboggan that had to be pulled by a horse. Darrel remembers that LaVor caught a two-year-old colt that had never had a rope on it before; he put a harness on it and hooked it to the toboggan and would drive it to town and all over, giving kids a ride or taking his sisters to mutual and, occasionally, his mother to Relief Society. The toboggan had a canvas top over it to keep the storm off and to help keep the riders warm. Darrel said it was a good thing the colt wasn't too lively or LaVor may have really had some fun! Instead, that horse was the dumbest, slowest horse the family ever had. Maxine remembers the horse's name was Molly.

LaVor was a fun-loving kind of person, but willing to help anyone who might need his help. One lady told Maxine she never forgot how LaVor, while he was still quite young, gave up his seat at a ward party for her to sit in, because when she got there the chairs were all full. She thought that was such a generous gesture for a boy that young.

Maxine said when she was in the 7th grade she had never missed one day of school, but this one winter day the weather was really bad and the snow was deep. Back then there were no school busses to take kids to school from where the Jenkins family lived, so they had to walk or get there the best they knew how. Maxine really wanted to go to school, but knew she couldn't walk it and didn't have any other way to go. So LaVor put the saddle and bridle on Snap, a very frisky horse they owned, and put Maxine on behind him and took her to school. Normally Snap was hard to control, but this day they had no trouble, as the snow was up to his belly and it was all he could do to get through it. After school LaVor was there to get Maxine and bring her home.

One year after harvesting a field of grain, the straw was put into sheaths and stacked around the field. The sheaths of straw weren't needed anymore. One night after dark, to the delight of LaVor's two younger sisters and brother, and some of the kids from the neighboring house, LaVor ran from sheath to sheath setting them on fire. The kids all ran from one to the other, chasing each other, and playing in the dark.

But LaVor also loved to torment and tease his siblings. The oldest, Leona, would really get upset with him. More than once Leona took after him with a broom or mopstick, but could never catch him--or LaVor might have had another close call with death.

LaVor had his patriarchal blessing shortly before going into the service. It was a good blessing but never really pronounced any earthly blessings for him while on this earth except that "Heavenly Father will give thy Guardian Angel charge concerning thee that thy life may be preserved from thine enemies and that thou wilt live upon the earth to fulfill the measure of thy creation..." This blessing was probably fulfilled several times in the short time LaVor was in battle, as it was a very fierce battle from the time the Marines went on the soil of Iwo Jima. This was a testimony to his family that he was not meant to linger long on this earth and that his death was meant to be.

When Darrel came home from his LDS mission he was drafted, but when he went off to take his physical, the military doctors found he had a broken ear drum and wouldn't take him. LaVor then was called up and was able to get into the Navy. He was sent up to northern Idaho to a place called Farragut, Idaho (which no longer exists; it was up near Cour d'Alene, Idaho). LaVor was in training there, but he hadn't been there long when a recruiter for the Marines went up there and said they needed some volunteers for the Marines. The recruiter said they needed so many men and, with the men in formation, the officers went down the lines and said "You, you, you.." etc. until they got the number they needed. LaVor was one of those picked, so he ended up being drafted into the Marine Corp. He was sent to San Diego, California for his boot camp training. There he won a medal as a sharpshooter, being one of the best shots in his outfit. Later, he trained at Camp Pendleton, California and became a qualified machine gunner in the 68th machine gunnery. He went into the service on March 19, 1944, according to the life history of his mother (written by her).

While in California LaVor met a nurse that the family feels he quite liked, and she liked him because, after his death, LaVor's parents received a letter from her wondering about him, and saying she hadn't heard from him for quite some time.

LaVor went overseas to Hawaii in August of 1944, where he finished training until he was sent into battle on Iwo Jima island February 19, 1945--just eleven months from when he went into the service. He was in the 27th regiment of the 5th Marine Division. They landed on Iwo Jima in the second wave of soldiers to go on the island. Afterwards LaVor expressed to someone how glad he was that he had been in the second wave since the Japanese soldiers never opened fire on the Marines until the fifth wave went in.

He and about nine other men were sent on a reconnaissance mission ahead of the front lines and were told at the time that there might not be any of them make it back alive. But only LaVor died. The morning of March 5, 1945 his company was being relieved on the front lines by another unit. The terrain was rocky to the northwest of Motoyama Airfield #2 and offered excellent positions for the Japanese snipers who had bothered them all the preceding night. About nine o'clock in the morning, LaVor's platoon was ordered to move out. It was while making this change that LaVor was struck in the head by a bullet from an enemy rifle, which caused instant death. LaVor was carried to the rear and buried on March 15th in the division cemetery, with all the honor that his comrades could bestow on one who did his job so well. His burial place was in plot #6, Row 1, Grave 1524, Fifth Marine Division Cemetery, Iwo Jima Volcano Island.

On December 11, 1948 LaVor's body was returned home to his family in Star Valley, Wyoming. The snow was so deep there was only a one-lane road to Montpelier, Idaho from Afton, Wyoming. This particular day, there was a heavy snowstorm, with blizzard conditions at the time. The family had to follow the hearse, which was following a snowplow, all the way to Montpelier, where they met the train bringing his body home. On December 12, 1948 LaVor was buried in the Freedom Cemetery with full military honors.

Darrel was told by a cousin, Arnold Jenkins (who was working for the military in their mortuary at Hill Field), that when the body came in, it had stickers on the casket showing it had been in travel for nearly a year, and had even gone to the Phillippines Island before getting to America. He said there was a smell coming from the casket, so they opened it and the mortician relined the casket with new fabric. Arnold Jenkins said the body showed a bullet wound that had entered the jaw and exited out his neck, and that he was missing a front tooth. When LaVor went to get off the ship at Iwo Jima, he slipped and fell and knocked out his front tooth that had a cap on it. So he was missing a tooth when he went into battle. The last letter his folks got from him mentioned that he had knocked his tooth out. So with those two statements, they felt like LaVor had truly come home. From the moment his body arrived home there was such a peace that came over his folks that his brothers and sisters, who didn't want his body brought home (because they figured it would only bring all the heartbreak up again), were glad that it was.

His captain, Capt. Edward M. O'Herron said LaVor's courage and coolness under fire was a continual source of inspiration to those men near him in action. Because of the natural ability he possessed as a leader, he was always in the forefront when danger was the greatest. Both in training and in combat, the highest tribute I can pay LaVor is that he was a "good Marine."

His parents, Raymond and Lula Jenkins, were awarded the Purple Heart and the Asiatic- Pacific Campaign medals for LaVor's service in the Asiatic-Pacific area.

At the time of his death he was survived by his parents; four sisters, Leona, Elva, Lera and Maxine; and two brothers, Darrel and Theron. A sister, Wilda Marie, preceded him in death.

This biography was written by Lera Buttars, with help from Darrel Jenkins, Maxine Sanderson and Elva Hebdon.

PHOTOS

LaVor Jenkins, age 16 (last school photo)

LaVor Jenkins with his younger sister, Lera

LaVor Jenkins with his older brother, Darrell, and younger sister, Lera

LaVor on first leave home from the marines

LaVor with sisters, Elva (left) and Lera (right)

Memorial Certificate from Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt

Death notice--letter from U.S. Marines commandant

Iwo Jima Cemetery

Eye witness account of battle on Iwo Jima

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