Maj. Gen. John P. Henebry, 89, who played a leading role in the Army Air Forces’ innovative low-level bombing of Japanese ships in the South Pacific during World War II, died Sept. 30 in Evanston, Ill., his family said.
Henebry flew 219 missions in World War II, mostly in the Solomon Islands chain while piloting the B-25 Mitchell bomber. He helped plan attacks utilizing “skip bombing,” a newly developed tactic. The bomb runs were harrowing and difficult affairs. The B-25s carried delayed-action bombs, which were dropped into the water as the pilots practically skimmed the waves. The bombs skipped along the sea for a few seconds, then slammed into the sides of enemy ships while the B-25s made their escape, barely clearing the ships’ masts, at times under a hail of enemy fire.
Henebry’s decorations included the Distinguished Service Cross, the Army’s highest award for valor after the Medal of Honor.
After World War II, he was promoted to brigadier general in the Air Force Reserve, then oversaw aerial supply operations in the Korean War. He retired from the reserve as a two-star general in 1976 and later operated a company in Chicago servicing private aviation.
John Furrer, 87, a longtime panelist on the “Backyard Farmer” show on Nebraska public TV, died Wednesday in Lincoln, said his wife, Ferne. He was an agronomist with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Cooperative Extension Service and a panelist on “Backyard Farmer” for 33 years.
He served in the Army in World War II and was awarded the Bronze Star and Combat Infantry Badge for his service in the 10th Mountain Division.
The show has aired for more than 50 years and features a panel of gardening experts who answer viewers’ questions about insects and disease, fruits and vegetables, landscape design and general horticulture topics.
Joe D. Waggonner, 89, a former congressman who represented northwestern Louisiana for nine terms from 1961 to 1979, died at a Shreveport hospital, his secretary said Sunday.
Waggonner was elected as a Democrat in 1961 and eventually served as a key leader of Southern conservative Democrats. He also served on the House committee administering the space program and the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee. He decided not to seek re-election in 1978. He was appointed in 1981 by President Reagan to the National Commission on Social Security Reform.
