Kenneth Hanne

ASN:36692900

Kenneth Maynard Hanne registered for the draft on October 16, 1940. Born May 19, 1919, he was from Rock Island, Illinois where he was employed at Gibberman Brothers.

This twenty-one-year-old was 6-0, 156 pounds with a light complexion, hazel eyes, and blonde hair and no obvious physical characteristics.

Enlisting in the Army on October 8, 1943, Kenneth Hanne received training at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He was shipped out to the European Theatre of Operations arriving in England in May 1944.

He would soon be assigned as a replacement soldier, MOS 531 - antitank gun crewman, to A-Battery, 319th Field Artillery Group, 82nd Airborne Division effective June 2, 1944. The 319th was stationed at Papillon Hall, Market Harborough, England.

 

Company Morning Reports

Company Morning Reports (see below) were produced every morning in Army units relating to personnel matters. The following events for PVT Hanne were reported:

  • July 25, 1944, from duty to furlough 5 days London, England at 0600. Station: Papillon Hall.

  • July 30, 1944, furlough 5 days in London, England to duty 2300. Station: Papillon Hall.

Private Hanne fought in the following battles and campaigns: Normandy, Holland, Ardennes, and Central Europe campaigns. Following the Normandy campaign he was promoted to Private First Class and now assigned as MOS 844 (Gun Crewman Light Artillery).

During the fighting at the Battle of the Bulge, PFC Kenneth Hanne posed (top row far right) with the A-Battery Gun Section in this photograph on December 27, 1944.

A-Battery 319th Glider Field Artillery. Ardennes Sector, “Battle of the Bulge” Standing (L-R) John Hardin, “Doc” Dibble, Bob Carte, Ted Simpson, Fred Harsh, Ralph Radosh, Kenneth Hanne. Kneeling (L-R) William Bonnamy, Hjalmar “Okie” Olkonen, Fred Fitzke

The US Army used the Adjusted Service Rating Score (ASR) at the end of the war to determine when soldiers were eligible for discharge. By August 1945, PFC Hanne (ASR 60) was now stationed in Berlin, Germany for occupational duty with other 319th soldiers having an ASR score of less than 85. They were housed in what had formerly been a Nazi SS barracks.

PFC Hanne and the A-Battery soldiers returned to the USA on December 30, 1945. They entered New York Harbor after nearly three weeks crossing the Atlantic. He was discharged from the service at Camp Grant, Illinois, on January 3, 1945 and returned to civilian life.

PFC Kenneth Hanne was awarded 4 Bronze Battle Stars, Bronze Arrowhead, Good Conduct Medal, Belgian Fourragere, Presidential Unit Citation Badge with Oak Leaf Cluster, Glider Badge, World War II Victory Medal, and the European-African-Middle Eastern Theatre Ribbon. 

During the post-war years Kenneth Hanne was a salesman for various home improvement companies and retired in 1991.

Kenneth Hanne, 79, died August 24, 1998. God Bless this hero.

STL Archive Records