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NAME Earl Raymond Hannum |
NICKNAME — |
SERVICE NUMBER 212844 |
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| UNIT Marine Air Group (MAG) 21 attached to VMF-211 |
HOME OF RECORD Floyd, IA |
NEXT OF KIN Mother, Mrs. Cora B. Hannum |
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| DATE OF BIRTH February 4, 1908 at Lostant, IL |
ENTERED SERVICE September 6, 1927 |
DATE OF LOSS January 22, 1942 |
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| REGION Pacific Ocean |
CAMPAIGN / AREA Captured at Wake Island |
CASUALTY TYPE Executed while POW |
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| 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. |
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| 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 |
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Biography:
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Articles & Records:
Articles and Records:
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.
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
Earl was my grandfather’s cousin. My g’pa was Darrell “Bud”Gray of Charles City, IA.
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.