Sergeant James C. Hansen
“The Secretary of War desires me to express his deep regret that your son T. Sgt. James C. Hansen was killed in action July 11, 1944 in New Guinea.” Mrs. Myrtle received this telegram about her son, James Hansen, sometime during July and August in 1944, on the day he died. Only 22 years of age James had suffered a tragic death, supporting his country. James was sent to the New Guinea area only twenty-seven months before his death.
James lived on 712 S Cherry Street. He was a graduate of Marshfield High School. He was granted a diploma because he had finished his scholastic work. To my understanding James was drafted around the same time he was graduating. His father died in 1929, which had to be hard on James, only being nine years old. He left Marshfield with Company C. of the National Guard in 1940 being only eighteen years old, the age most boys were sent to war during this time. He was in service for about a year before Pear Harbor occurred. He was then discharged in November, 1941, for two months, and after the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese, he was recalled to the service. He was sent to fort Sheridan III, and then joined his old unit at Camp Beauregard, LA. From that camp he was sent to Fort Devens, Massachusetts, and finally to San Francisco. From there he was sent to New Guinea.
About six months before James’s death, allied forces were using air and naval superiority to land troops where the Japanese were the weakest. The Allied forces had most control of the air and the sea. The next nine months were devoted to this strategy. To my understanding, James C. Hansen was apart of the 3,000 Americans that were casualties along the Driniumor.
440 of these soldiers perished, which James would have more than likely been one of them. This was General Douglas Macarthur’s most costly campaign since Buna. There were nearly ten thousand that died during July and August in 1944, the time around when James C. Hansen died. James was only 22 years of age, and the war had ended his life along with about 500,000 others during WWII.
Leah Ripp, Student
Marshfield Junior High
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