HomeMy WebLinkAboutJoe Hanover, Brazos Valley Heroes
One in a series of tributes to members of "The Greatest
I( Generation" who served our country during World War 11
I
,
Diversity is now one of the fronHne Issues in society
and organizations. Joe Hanover had as diverse a command
experience during World War II as any commanding officer
could ever imagine, then and now.
~I was born in 1918 in McGregor, Texas, but at age seven
my father returned to the family farm at Wheelock. I attended
school at Wheelock and graduated from Franklin High in 1936.
I entered A&M that fall and graduated in 1940 with a degree
in civil engineering. I married my lifelong sweetheart, Lucille
Scasta, after graduation and I got a job with the Texas Highway
Department as an engineer in Hearne.
~When I graduated from MM, I was commissioned. I was
called to active duty in February of 1941, 10 months before
Pearl Harbor. I stili have my original orders, which directed me
to report to Camp Wallace, Texas, just outside Galveston, on
February 16, 1941. My orders stated that I would be absent for
one year. Five years later, I came home. The orders also said
that 122 colored cadre would be coming in from Ft. Bragg and
1,511 colored selectees were to arrive on March 15, 1941.
"The orders didn't register with me until I reported In. All
of the NCOs and all of the enlisted men were black soldiers.
The unit being formed was the 54th Coastal Artillery, and it
would be composed of 100 white officers and over 3,000
black enlisted soldiers. Of the 100 officers, 65 were fellow
A&M graduates.
"We were sent to Wilmington, N.C., for further training.
While there, I took 40 men to Atlanta to pick up some trucks.
I couldn't find a restaurant that would feed us in their dining
facility. We finally were served in the kitchen of a restaurant. I
remember my thoughts were that these men were Americans,
wearing an American uniform, but weren't being treated as
Americans.
"We eventually were sent to Califomia because of the
threat of a Japanese invasion. It was a lot better in California
and we had great morale. It also seemed that the Aggies
made better officers and leaders of the men than the Yankee
officers.
~Withthethreatof aJapanese invasion waning, I Volunteered
for the Corps of Engineers and requested overseas duty. When
I was assigned my company, we had orders to leave in 60
days. We left New York City in February 1945 on an ocean liner
called the Uraguay. Rve thousand men boarded and shortly
out of port, we ran into a terrible storm. For two nights and
one day that ship did everything but turn over. Of the 5,000 on
board, at least 4,500 became seasick.
"We landed in Le Havre and were shipped to Haslett,
.
I
".",,",
......-"'*~..=,... >._~ " _... --.,.
Belgium, and then to Liege, Belgium, where we ran an
engineer depot. Our depot was in the line of flight of our planes
bombing Germany. I would stare at the sky In amazement. For
almost an hour, it looked like a flock of blackbirds were flying
overhead. That Is how full the sky was of planes.
"I had a platoon at Antwerp, Belgium, and near the end of
the war, Antwerp was hit by several V-ls and V-2s. The Vl
was called the buzz bomb. It had a motor and you could hear
It coming. When the motor stopped, you better find cover. The
V-2 was a rocket and you couldn't hear it coming. Its role was
absolute destruction.
~When the war was over, I was given command of a
German POW company outside Marseilles, France. My German fI'
wasn't very good, but my first sergeant's was. Our job was to
prepare facilities for the Americans that were being deployed
to the Pacific. The German POWs were very capable and
skilled workers, and I had no problems with them.
"I finally got my orders to go home in February 1946. The
one year I was to be gone had lasted five years. I started as
a commander of blaCk soldiers, fighting against the world's
greatest racist, Adolph Hitler, and finished as the commander
of German soldiers who tried to carry out Hitler's plans. As the
commander of such different soldiers,l found both to be good
and capable soldiers and men.
"After I got home, I went back to work for the Highway
Department and joined the Army Reserve. In 1951 I Joined the
420th Engineer Brigade located on Carson Street in Bryan,
ending up as the commander from 1966 to 1971. I got word
on a Tuesday in 1966 that I would be getting the command
of the 420th and my star as a brigadier. On Wednesday of
that same week, I got a call from the Highway Department in
Austin informing me that I had been selected as the district
engineer for the Bryan District, which is comprised of 10
surrounding counties. It was my blue-ribbon week.
~Several years ago, I served on the Bryan City Council and
one of my fellow council members was Pies Turner. It turned
out that Pies was one of the soldiers in the 54th Coastal
Artillery with me, but we didn't make that connection until we
were both serving on the city council."
Gen. Joe Hanover's name can be found on the Brazos Valley
Veterans Memorial. If you know of a World War II veteran
whose story needs to be told. contact Bill Youn9~n at (979)
260.7030. If you would like to add sonloone's name to the
Brazos Valley Veterans Memorial, names must be submitted
by August 15, 2006, in order to be engraved on the memorial
9Y this year's Veterans Day observance.
"
The E~le
.i
'i