SGT. HANSEN’S UNITE RECEIVES PLAQUE RECOGNIZING PERFORMANCE
An Eighth Air Force Bomber Station, England: The 448th sub depot, with which Staff Sgt. Raymond H. Hansen, of LeMars, Iowa, serves as parachute rigger, has become the first sub-depot in the European theater of operations to win the newly created Meritorious Service Unit Plaque.
Awarded for “superior performance of duty in the accomplishment of exceptionally difficult tasks and achievements,” the plaque marks the second major recognition accorded Sgt. Hansen’s outfit in less than a year. Last fall the 448th took permanent possession of the divisional Stitt trophy for the sub-depot proficiency, after winning the cup three times in 7 months.
The new award entitles Hansen to wear a miniature cloth plaque on the sleeve of his service blouse.
Sgt. Hansen, 34-year old son of Mr. and Mrs. Joe Hansen of LeMars, has been in the Army for three years. The sub-depot to which he is assigned has been overseas 21 months servicing and supplying B-17 Flying Fortresses of the 381st Bombardment Gp., one of the veteran units of the first air division, cited for battle honors by the President.
Source: LeMars Globe-Post, April 30, 1945
***Further Research:
Raymond Henry Hansen was born Dec. 28, 1910 to Joseph Frank and Anna Barbara Erpelding Hansen. He died Apr. 15, 1985 and is buried in Black Hills National Cemetery, Sturgis, SD.
Source: ancestry.com
