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Police officer, Navy man honored 60 years after death
By Brock Parker/ Journal Staff
Thursday, July 21, 2005
Somerville Police are honoring one of their own on the 60th anniversary of the day he was killed by a suicide submarine in the South Pacific during World War II.
Police and the city are dedicating the corner of Holland Street and Cameron Avenue to Henry A. Lord, a former Somerville Police officer who died at the age of 39 in 1944 in the South Pacific.
The dedication at the street corner, on Sunday at 11 a.m., will be on the 60th anniversary of the day Lord's ship, the U.S.S. Underhill, hit a Japanese suicide sub on July 24, 1945. The Underhill was protecting a large ship escorting U.S. Army troops from Okinawa to the Philippines.
One-hundred-and-twelve men on the Underhill, including Lord, a machinist's mate, first class, died in the explosion and the sinking of the ship. There were 122 survivors.
Lord was born in Somerville and had been a police officer in the city from 1939 until he enlisted in the Navy in May 1942. He was a traffic officer in Davis Square during some of his time on the police force.
Police Captain John O'Connor said the Somerville Police Department was researching its history when Officer Michael Wyatt found Lord's picture in an old Police Department annual.
O'Connor said the department took up a collection for a plaque and a sign to honor Lord at the corner of Holland and Cameron Street.
O'Connor said Lord's son Henry A. Lord, Jr., who now lives in Lincoln, will attend the dedication.
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