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Contact Info
Home Town Alexandria, MN
Last Address La Jolla, CA
Date of Passing Oct 18, 1959
Location of Interment Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery (VA) - San Diego, California
Wall/Plot Coordinates T 194
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
RADM Hanson had a long and distinguished career in the US Navy. During that service, he also served as the Governor of America Somoa from 6/26/1938 until 7/30/1940.
Other Comments:
Navy Cross
Awarded for Actions During World War I
Service: Navy
Division: U.S.S. Dale
Citation: The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Lieutenant, Junior Grade Edward William Hanson, United States Navy, for exceptionally distinguished service in the line of his profession in Command of the U.S.S. DALE in making the trip of 11,000 miles from Manila, Philippine Islands, to Gibraltar, under very unfavorable weather conditions, during the Summer of 1917, the southwest monsoon being then at its height, and arriving in the Mediterranean with his vessel in readiness for immediate participation in the operations against enemy submarines in the Mediterranean and later in the Atlantic.
Bronze Star
Although not awarded until 1946, RADM Hanson received the Bronze Star for actions as the commanding officer of the USS Indianapolis from 12/7/1941 until 7/11/1942.
Description The plan of the Pacific subseries was determined by the geography, strategy, and the military organization of a theater largely oceanic. Two independent, coordinate commands, one in the Southwest Pacific under General of the Army Douglas MacArthur and the other in the Central, South, and North Pacific (Pacific Ocean Areas) under Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, were created early in the war. Except in the South and Southwest Pacific, each conducted its own operations with its own ground, air, and naval forces in widely separated areas. These operations required at first only a relatively small number of troops whose efforts often yielded strategic gains which cannot be measured by the size of the forces involved. Indeed, the nature of the objectivesùsmall islands, coral atolls, and jungle-bound harbors and airstrips, made the employment of large ground forces impossible and highlighted the importance of air and naval operations. Thus, until 1945, the war in the Pacific progressed by a double series of amphibious operations each of which fitted into a strategic pattern developed in Washington.
