Roger Hanson, Vietnam War Veteran, U.S. Marine
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ROGER HANSON
By Missy Klatt
Just inside the northern border of Dunn County, north of Connorsville in New Haven Township is where Roger Hanson has spent most of his life. The only time Hanson has not lived in this area is during the late 1960s when he was in Vietnam, serving our country as a U.S. Marine.
Hanson who is a 1966 graduate of Boyceville High School, enlisted in the United States Marine Corps after graduation. He served three years of active duty from 1967 to 1969 and then he was in the inactive reserves for three years.
Hanson did his basic training in San Diego and from there they sent him up the coast to Camp Pendleton where he was trained to be a combat engineer, he was a welder. This suited him well as he had done some welding on the family farm before joining the Marines.
In November of 1967, Hanson was sent to Vietnam. He spent most of his time during the war near Da Nang, in the 1st Marine Division, the 7th Engineer Battalion, D Company. He was there for 16 months and when he returned home he came back as a Corporal E4.
Hanson’s D Company was assigned to Hill 37, which was an area where the 37 infantry Marine Battalion was, and they were on the edge of that hill.
At their base camp, Hanson and a group of fellow soldiers would stay in large platform tents, but they would go out a week at a time where they would have pup tents or some other sort of shelter.
His main job in Vietnam was to keep the vehicles; tanks, trucks and caterpillars, in one piece so to speak. When things got slow in the welding shop he and the other welder would trade off every other day driving truck. Unfortunately for the other guy, he hit a land mine one day and got burned up pretty badly.
He also spent a lot of time cutting 55-gallon barrels in half to use for their latrines. Their outhouse consisted of these barrels slid under the seat. The bottom would be filled a quarter of the way with diesel fuel and then they would burn them off every day. “It wasn’t the sweetest smelling” chuckles Hanson.
ROGER HANSON
Hanson tells of a Vietnamese barber that they had who was actually Vietcong. During the day he would be cutting their hair and at night he would be fighting against them. This was at their base camp and they would spend about five nights a week out in fox holes around the perimeter of the camp getting attacked with mortars and rockets and small arms fire. “One morning the barber was out there on the other side of the wire, he got shot [dead].”
When asked what the worst thing about being in the war was, soft spoken Hanson laughs and remarks “I guess getting shot at.” He goes on to say that they had a few close calls with some mortar attacks.
In the whole 7th Engineer Battalion, Hanson said that they had 129 casualties over a six-year period. It should be noted that there were 1000 or more men in the Battalion according to Hanson.
The best thing about being in the military for Hanson was being able to see another part of the world. He was also able to go to Bangkok, Thailand on R and R. He goes on to say about his service that “it was an experience.” Hanson said that overall it was a good experience being in the military and it taught him well.
Despite being shot at and putting up with the hot, wet, rainy (monsoons) weather it’s an experience that Hanson wouldn’t trade for anything. “If I had to do it all over again, I’d do it all over again.”
Hanson’s older brother (by five years), William served in the Navy, but he never saw any conflicts. Hanson also has two sisters. Although Hanson’s dad was never in the military he had several uncles who served. Hanson has four sons but none of them have been in the military.
Hanson notes that the 7th Engineer Battalion has a reunion every year. They hold them at different places around the country. They started them in 1999 and he’s missed a few (the first few he didn’t know about) but he comments “we try to make every one we can.” This past September they were in Texas. They get about 150 that show up for the reunions.
Hanson also had a chance to go on an Honor Flight to Washington D.C. in May of 2022. Although it wasn’t his first trip to Washington D.C., Hanson enthused about the trip, “that was really something.”
Hanson is a member of the Downing Legion, the Connorsville Am Vets Post 72 and the VFW in Wheeler.