Henry M. Rector Korean War Collection

Image to left: Henry M. Rector, unidentified location, Korea, ca. 1951.
Location in collection: Box 2, Item 70.





Born: August 24, 1931, in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Korean War Service: 1st Regiment, 1st Marine Division, 1950-1951.

Henry Massey Rector, a descendant of Arkansas Governor Henry Massey Rector (1860-1862), was born in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1931. Rector enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1948 at the age of seventeen and remained in the Reserves until his unit was called for active duty. Rector served in the Korean War for one year and one day beginning in November of 1950. He served as a Gunner on the 75mm Recoilless Rifle, an anti-tank weapon, and fought in the Battle of Chosin Reservoir. He currently lives in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Henry M. Rector outside entrance to Chinese Bunker on hillside, unidentified location, Korea, September 1951.
Location in collection: Box 4, Item 7.


North Korean POWs on hillside, unidentified location, Korea, ca. 1951.
Location in collection: Box 3, Item 29.


Three unidentified Marines with M20 Recoilless Rifle next to foxhole, unidentified location, Korea, ca. 1951.
Location in collection: Box 3, Item 11.
The Henry M. Rector Collection consists of four boxes containing documents and photographs relating to his Korean War military service. Rector was interviewed on November 25, 2008; audio and video copies of the interview are included in the collection.

Click here to access the complete finding aid. Selected photographs can be found here. The audio version of the oral history interview is available here.

Contributed by Stephanie Bayless, Manuscripts Department.