Dewey Rexford Hendren was born in Newark on July 18, 1898. He was the first child of John Robert Hendren and Sarah Gutridge-Hendren.
On Dec. 18, 1917, eight months after the United States entered World War I, Hendren, 19, was living at 55 N. 16th Street in Newark when he enlisted in the Navy at Parkersburg, West Virginia. He was stationed at Norfolk, Virginia, when he wrote a letter to the Newark Advocate that was printed on Feb. 12, 1918.
“The weather here is very cold with lots of rain and snow. We are stationed right on the ocean front and the winds are very cold at night. We have had lots of drilling and are regular sailors now. There are six of us Newark boys who have managed to stick together so far but are liable to be separated at any time. We are all hoping to cross the pond before long and help get the Kaiser,” he wrote.
Hendren got his wish and traveled across the Atlantic to Queenstown, Ireland in October 1918. He first served on the U.S.S. Stockton and then was transferred to the U.S.S. Dixie. The war ended on Nov. 11, 1918, but Hendren served until March 3, 1919, before he was honorably discharged as a Seaman Second Class. The 1920 census reports that he lived with his grandparents, William and Sophia Gutridge, on North 16th Street and was employed as a tire fitter at Pharis Tire. In 1921, he played baseball in the Twilight League in Newark on both the Wehrle and Pharis Tire teams.