JOHN C. HANNA, LT, USN

John Hanna '40

Date of birth: April 19, 1916

Date of death: November 13, 1942

Age: 26

Lucky Bag

From the 1940 Lucky Bag:

JOHN CARLYLE HANNA

Pueblo, Colorado

Ham

"J. C." came to the Naval Academy with a strong Navy background from the U. S. Fleet. His interests, excepting the inevitable academics, which really never seemed much of a problem to him, have been chiefly aesthetic ones. He likes nothing better than reading a good book of philosophy, unless it might be listening to music. Socially he is bound to be a great success. He was never to be found around the Academy on week-ends, for he always spent them with his many friends in Annapolis. As a classmate he has been a splendid friend and companion. Generous and light-hearted, nothing could ever disturb his habitual good humor.

M.P.O.

JOHN CARLYLE HANNA

Pueblo, Colorado

Ham

"J. C." came to the Naval Academy with a strong Navy background from the U. S. Fleet. His interests, excepting the inevitable academics, which really never seemed much of a problem to him, have been chiefly aesthetic ones. He likes nothing better than reading a good book of philosophy, unless it might be listening to music. Socially he is bound to be a great success. He was never to be found around the Academy on week-ends, for he always spent them with his many friends in Annapolis. As a classmate he has been a splendid friend and companion. Generous and light-hearted, nothing could ever disturb his habitual good humor.

M.P.O.

Loss

"J.C." was lost when USS San Francisco (CA 38) was severely damaged during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal on November 13, 1942.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

John married Myrtle Homstad on Easter Sunday, 1942, at the Church of the Crossroads in Honolulu. She was a nurse from Hallock, Minnesota, and he was from Long Beach, California. Best man was Lt. (jg) R. V. Mrozinski (‘39,) USN.
In 1930, his father John was an automobile mechanic, and his mother Louise was a saleslady in a dry goods store in Ordway, Colorado. In 1920, they lived in Crowley.

His wife was listed as next of kin.

He is listed at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial and has a memory marker in Colorado.

Photographs

From the Lucky Bag

Navy Directories & Officer Registers

The "Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps" was published annually from 1815 through at least the 1970s; it provided rank, command or station, and occasionally billet until the beginning of World War II when command/station was no longer included. Scanned copies were reviewed and data entered from the mid-1840s through 1922, when more-frequent Navy Directories were available.

The Navy Directory was a publication that provided information on the command, billet, and rank of every active and retired naval officer. Single editions have been found online from January 1915 and March 1918, and then from three to six editions per year from 1923 through 1940; the final edition is from April 1941.

The entries in both series of documents are sometimes cryptic and confusing. They are often inconsistent, even within an edition, with the name of commands; this is especially true for aviation squadrons in the 1920s and early 1930s.

Alumni listed at the same command may or may not have had significant interactions; they could have shared a stateroom or workspace, stood many hours of watch together… or, especially at the larger commands, they might not have known each other at all. The information provides the opportunity to draw connections that are otherwise invisible, though, and gives a fuller view of the professional experiences of these alumni in Memorial Hall.