| Summary: | Mr. John Hanback, a veteran and prisoner of war during the Korean War, discusses his family and his schedule of military assignments leading up to his capture in Korea.Florence-Lauderdale Public Library Digital Archive
Interview with John W. Hanback
November 17, 2010
Florence, Alabama
Conducted by Rhonda Haygood
Clip 1
Rhonda Haygood: Today is Wednesday, November 17, 2010. I’m Rhonda Haygood and I’m at the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library in Florence, Alabama interviewing Mr. John Hanback about his military service. Mr. Hanback, thank you for being here today.
John Hanback: Good to be here.
RH: First we’ll begin with some general information. Could you tell us when and where you were born?
JH: I was born 10 May, 1921 at Waterloo, Alabama.
RH: Who were your parents?
JH: John Hanback and Beatie Mae Hanback.
RH: Did you have any brothers and sisters?
JH: I had two brothers. One of them is dead and one of them is still living.
RH: Okay, what were their names?
JH: Macom was the oldest one and the other one was Hugh L., the one that died.
RH: Okay. Where did you attend school?
JH: At Wrights, Alabama; Wrights and Waterloo. I went to Wrights up to sixth grade and then when I finished there I went to Waterloo and finished up down there then.
RH: So, when did you join the service?
JH: Twenty-third of October, 1942.
RH: Okay. What branch of the military were you in?
JH: Medical department.
RH: What was involved in being in the Medical Department? What did you do; what was your job?
JH: I did a little of all of it. I was more, I’m a surgical technician; I’m a medical technician; I was also in charge of the, the floor that I worked on, like I had maybe twenty, twenty-five people that worked under me, you know. And, I went to a medical school in Atlanta, Georgia before they assigned me to the big hospital there.
RH: So, when, when you, you joined the service—
JH: I got drafted.
RH: You did get drafted.
JH: Um-hm.
RH: Where did you go—?
JH: Went to Fort McClellan, Alabama for a physical and introduction into the army. And then from there then, went to Fort McPherson, Georgia. And there is where I got my first assignment was at Lawson General Hospital and that was just across town from Fort McPherson, Georgia.
RH: How long were you there?
JH: Three years. And from there then I got assigned to Fort Rucker, Alabama, just before the World War II ended. And after it ended then, I got sent to Memphis, Tennessee to Kennedy General Hospital. It closed up and I went to Camp Atterbury, Indiana, stayed about six months and it closed up and I got sent to Hot Springs, Arkansas to a Army-Navy General Hospital there. And I stayed there then till February 19th of ’48 then I got assigned oversees to the Philippines. So I went to the Philippines and stayed about a year, then they transferred me to Japan, then, to, ah, 24th Division. I got out of the big hospitals and went into the Division stuff and there’s where I, was there then until the 25th of June and the Korean War started then and they—my whole outfit was sent to Pusan, Korea and we went over there on a ship, unloaded on the 4th of July and the 5th of July went into combat. On the 14th of July is when I got captured, then. 1950.
RH: Were you married at this time?
JH: Yeah.
RH: When did you marry?
JH: Sixth of May, 1943. Sixty-seven years.
RH: Sixty-seven years. To—
JH: Will be in May. Be sixty-seven years in May.
RH: Della is her first name.
JH: Della, Della.
RH: What was her maiden name?
JH: Smith.
RH: Smith. And she was from Waterloo, also?
JH: Waterloo, um-hm, yeah.
RH: Okay. So did she go with you when you—?
JH: Yeah, yeah. She went to, ah, Japan with me; she went to Germany with me. Guess I was pretty lucky about getting to travel with her. Course being a rating with E-7, I had priorities that she could travel with me about everywhere I went.
RH: Did you have children at that time?
JH: Had that one daughter.
RH: Okay.
JH: She was born ’44. So, she was small. We went to Germany she was six years old; went to the Philippines, she was four year old and, so it’s, ah, she, she’s been around quite a bit.
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