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Earl R. Hannum

NAME
Earl Raymond Hannum
NICKNAME
SERVICE NUMBER
212844
UNIT
Marine Air Group (MAG) 21
attached to VMF-211
HOME OF RECORD
Floyd, IA
NEXT OF KIN
Mother, Mrs. Cora B. Hannum
DATE OF BIRTH
February 4, 1908
at Lostant, IL
ENTERED SERVICE
September 6, 1927
DATE OF LOSS
January 22, 1942
REGION
Pacific Ocean
CAMPAIGN / AREA
Captured at Wake Island
CASUALTY TYPE
Executed while POW
CIRCUMSTANCES OF LOSS
Technical Sergeant Earl Hannum was a radioman assigned to VMF-211 during the defense of Wake Island. He was captured when the island fell on 23 December 1941 and put aboard the Nitta Maru for transport to a POW camp.

On 22 January 1942, the Japanese captors chose five POWs – including Hannum and TSgt. Vincent W. Bailey – for execution in reprisal for their own losses in the battle for Wake. The prisoners were clumsily beheaded and used for bayonet practice before being thrown into the sea.

INDIVIDUAL DECORATIONS
Bronze Star, Purple Heart with Gold Star, Prisoner of War Medal
LAST KNOWN RANK
Technical Sergeant
STATUS OF REMAINS
Lost at sea
MEMORIALS
Honolulu Memorial

Biography:
Contact the webmaster for more information about this Marine.


Articles & Records:

Articles and Records:

 

4 thoughts on “Earl R. Hannum”

  1. Comment from a gray
    10 July 2014

    One clicks the “Like” button almost with a feeling of shame. No one can “Like” these stories. Clicking the “Like” button is a salute. It says “I was here”. I know your name, you will not be forgotten.

  2. Comment from Dianna
    16 June 2016

    Earl was my great uncle. His brother was my grandfather Lawrence George Hannum – aka George Lawrence or just plane Buck Hannum and my mother was Maurine Evelyn Hannum. Looking for a way to get this info on his profile in Ancestry

  3. Brent Scott (Schaefer-O'Guinn)

    A telling of his execution is to be found in the book, page 98: Victory in Defeat, the Wake Island Defenders in Captivity by Gregory J. W. Urwin. It’s a sad tale but one that marks the end of a brave man’s life, forever to be remembered. My Grandfather Allan Asbury O’Guinn was one of the contractors, a plumber, to survive the battle and also internment. He passed in 1974, El Monte California.

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