My Father: Arnold William Hanson

My father was born in Berlin, La Moure, North Dakota on 11 December, 1914. His father died from Pneumonia on 18 February 1921, shortly after the family had purchased 40 acres of land just north of Birchwood, Washburn, Wisconsin. He was raised in Menomonie, Dunn, Wisconsin and graduated from High School there in 1934. He is shown in a September 12, 1934 photograph of the Civilian Conservation Corp Company 2618 at Camp Globe located near Fairchild, Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

I do not yet know much about his time in the CCC, but I obtained an extensive collection of photographs and letters that describe his career in the US Army that began in 1934 and ended with his retirement in 1960. Most of the letters were written to his wife (Anna Lorraine Amborn Hanson) when he re-entered the Army in 1943 until she joined him in Hawaii at the conclusion of WWII.

The collection has been digitized by the Allen County Public Library, and the original documents have been placed into their archives. The digital images they created can be viewed on their website at https://genealogycenter.info/military/wwii/search_hansonarnold.php.