Joe Henry (Lahorey Singh)

Submitted by: Tanveer Kalo

Joe Henry (Lahorey Singh) was born around 1893.  He served in World War 1 with the United States Army. The enlistment was in 1917 and the service was completed in 1918.

Story of Service

Lahorey Singh was born in either 1891 or 1893 in the Village Hiran Dist Julland, British India. He came to the United States in 1910. Singh lived under an alias, Joe Henry, from about 1910 to 1930. He worked as a cook throughout his life.

On November 9, 1917, Henry enlisted into the U.S. military in Ketchikan, Alaska. He was assigned to Company Q I Provisional Training Battalion at Camp Hill in Virginia.

On January 19, 1918, he declared his intention for U.S. Naturalization in Virginia. His declaration of intention recorded his race as white. The document stated that Henry arrived on January 10, 1910 from Sydney, Australia on the ship on India.

He was honorably discharged on March 29, 1918.

After the war, Henry went to California. He worked as a cook at the Alexander Hotel in San Pedro. On June 24, 1921, Henry filed a petition for U.S. naturalization in Los Angeles, California.

By 1930, Henry still lived and worked in California. His 1930 Merchant Seamen also recorded his race as white, place of birth as India, cook, and naturalized. During this period he worked on the ship Barbara C.

In September 1926, Henry moved to New York City and lived at 25 South Street. He worked as seamen in the city. On July 1, 1931, he filed a petition for U.S. naturalization again, but this time stated his real name in the document, Lahorey Singh. Singh also stated that he arrived to the U.S. through the port of San Francisco in August 1910 from Hong Kong under the name Lahorey Singh on the ship Korea.