Jack Hanson

Jack Hanson joined the U.S. Navy Reserves in 1965, during his senior year of high school.

After graduating in 1966, he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps where he served on active duty for six years.

Deployed to Vietnam in November 1967, then-PFC Hanson was awarded the Purple Heart as a results of fragment wounds he suffered from exploding shrapnel and mortar shells during a clash on January 8, 1968, near Thau Thien, South Vietnam. After a Gunnery Sergeant yelled at Hanson, who had been sleeping in his tent at the time the attack started, to get out of his tent or he was going to get killed, Hanson quickly was called to action manning the gun firing high explosive (HE) rounds back at the enemy.

After a lull in the back-and-forth, a mortar round landed behind Hanson’s position, blowing him into the air and wounding him with shrapnel. After recovering from his wounds, Hanson returned to the 2nd Battalion, 11th Marines, 1st Marine Division, still serving in Vietnam at that time.

Following his honorable discharge from the Marines, Sgt. Hanson went on to serve for Army Reserves for over two decades, rising to the rank of Command Sergeant Major (CSM).

Today he continues to give back to his community through his involvement with the Military Order of the Purple Heart (MOPH), where he serves as Junior Vice Commander for the MOPH Department of Iowa. In addition to his Purple Heart, Mr. Hanson received numerous commendations and awards, including the Combat Action Ribbon, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Campaign Medal and more.

He was nominated to take part in the 2021 Patriot Project Mission by Military Order of the Purple Heart Department of Iowa Past Commander Robert Suesakul, Iowa’s honoree during the 2019 Purple Heart Patriot Project.