| Summary: | Mrs. Hanback tells of life after her husband returned home from North Korea. She also relates some details of his days in captivity.Florence-Lauderdale Public Library Digital Archive
Interview with Della Hanback
November 17, 2010
Florence, Alabama
Clip 3 of 3
Patti Hannah: How did you find out he was coming home?
Della Hanback: Telegrams. And at that time we didn't have telephones. And even at my place I didn't have a phone but there was a store down the road and I don't know how they got the message to the store. And I could go up there and talk with them, had a number to call back. So it was all about as good as we could get, you know.
PH: Was it hard to adjust to him being home after him being gone so long?
DH: It kind of was, but we were so happy to be together we made it work out. And I could see his point, you know, I had the checkbook, all the paperwork, and he thought, you know, you've done this so long, now I'm home, we share. And I said, "You better believe we will, you know." But, anyway, it worked out real good. We never had any trouble. Un- huh, and ah, he, he got home. And people asked him if he was going to stay in service and he said, "Yes". And here's how he put it, "I wouldn't let a little thing like that keep me from staying in service". And that was a good attitude, I guess. He put it behind him. And he wouldn't talk about it very much to anyone else but he would to me. So I remember more than he does, what he told me, you know. So, but anyway we're, we're together from there on, un- huh.
PH: Do you have any of his stories that you can share?
DH: Ah, when they marched them north after they were captured in South Korea, they marched north through North Korea to the Manchurian border. The first winter they were there and he had, was wearing the clothes that he was captured in. And uh, they would have them tied together, you know, two rows, you know, and had a wire or something up between them and they couldn't leave the line, you know. They had to march and run. They could hear when McArthur was in. They were coming north behind them. And he says, "We could hear the battles and they kept rushing us north." And to sleep they just had to lay on the ground or get corn out of the field to eat and stuff like that. And I always thought he could survive on very little if he could get a little bit of rice. And he said they gave them the boiled rice and ball it and they'd pass them a rice ball. And boiled cabbage in a big pot and they could have broth and a little bit of cabbage, Chinese cabbage at that.
PH: When he got back and he stayed in the military, did you stay in Florence or was he posted somewhere else?
DH: We went with him everywhere he went. He went from, he went into the Army when he got back. He stayed in the Army and went to Lawton, Oklahoma, medic there. And then he transferred out to Germany from there. And he got dissatisfied over there. And so he resigned from the service and we came back to Florence. He stayed out five months and he got hungry for the service and he wanted to go into the Air Force and he tried them. They took him. So he went in the Air Force. We finished up the twenty years in the Air Force. So, it was all, made it fine. But now we look back and we're proud of ourselves. That we could keep on going.
PH: You should be.
DH: And Wanda graduated from, after he went in the Air Force we moved to Hamilton Air Force Base first and then - in California -and then we transferred to, ah, Washington D.C. (I forgot the hospital's name) anyway the base was Andrew Air Force Base. And a big hospital there, he, he had, his work was there, at the big hospital. And it was like for the President, he had the President's suite if he ever had to be in the hospital. And officers were on his floor, you know. So he was, he was a good medic that's for sure. And he retired from the Air Force there, his twenty years was up. So we retired and came to Florence, back to Florence. And from there he did farming, and cattle and cut hay and people call him the hay man, you know. So he's been real happy with all that he's accomplished. And I hope he'll still be with us many, many years yet. I don't know how-
PH: Well, we, we so much appreciate both of your service because you put in as much as he did.
DH: I did, I felt like I was a part of it and when he holds his hand up I feel like mine should go up too because I was with him all during that twenty years. We've been retired more than twenty.
PH: Well, I appreciate so much you doing this and you're right, you were a part of it, you really were. Thank you so much for coming today. And we've been wanting to interview the wives to present-
DH: I appreciate it.
PH: -your side
DH: Getting a chance un- huh
PH: Thank you.
DH: You're welcome.
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