Willard Anderson Hanna (August 3, 1911 – October 5, 1993) was an American writer of

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainlan ...

n history and works of fiction as well as a teacher. Hanna wrote politics, history, and historical fiction. He wrote ''Bali Chronicles'' with Adrian Vickers. Hanna co-authored ''Turbulent Times Past in Ternate and Tidore'' on the history of the

Maluku Islands The Maluku Islands (; Indonesian: ''Kepulauan Maluku'') or the Moluccas () are an archipelago in the east of Indonesia. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located ...

and

Banda Neira Banda Neira (also known as Pulau Neira) is an island in the Banda Islands, Indonesia. It is administered as part of the administrative Banda Islands District (''Kecamatan Kepulauan Banda'') within the Central Maluku Regency in the province of ...

with Des Alwi.

Biography

He was from

Cross Creek, Pennsylvania Cross Creek is a census-designated place located in Cross Creek Township, Washington County in the state of Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mi ...

, and graduated from the

College of Wooster The College of Wooster is a private liberal arts college in Wooster, Ohio. Founded in 1866 by the Presbyterian Church as the University of Wooster, it has been officially non-sectarian since 1969 when ownership ties with the Presbyterian Church ...

Wooster, Ohio Wooster ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Wayne County. Located in northeastern Ohio, the city lies approximately south-southwest of Cleveland, southwest of Akron and west of Canton. The population was 27,232 at ...

, in 1932."Willard A. Hanna, 82, an Author and an Expert on Southeast Asia"
by Randy Kennedy, October 8, 1993,

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

He traveled to China and taught English for four years in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

and

Hangzhou Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, whic ...

before returning to the United States and achieving a master's degree from

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

in 1937 and a Ph.D. from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

in 1939. He joined the Navy in early 1942 and served at the military's Japanese language school at the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University o ...

and then at a military program at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. He was part of the landings on

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

on April 1, 1945 ( Battle of Okinawa) as a

lieutenant commander Lieutenant commander (also hyphenated lieutenant-commander and abbreviated Lt Cdr, LtCdr. or LCDR) is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander. The corresponding ran ...

, and remained in Okinawa for more than a year. His work there included helping establish schools. He continued his career at the U.S. State Department for seven years, working in

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

and Jakarta, where he established the United States Information Services offices which he ran until 1952. In Washington, D.C. he graduated from the National War College in 1953 and was deployed to the United States Embassy in Tokyo as an information officer. He resigned from the State Department in 1954 and worked for the American Universities Field Staff in Jakarta,

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = ''Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , sub ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

and

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

before he retired in 1976. He married Marybelle Bouchard. Hanna died in

Hanover, New Hampshire Hanover is a town located along the Connecticut River in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 11,870. The town is home to the Ivy League university Dartmouth College, the U.S. Army Corps of En ...

, on October 5, 1993 at the age of 82.

Bibliography

* ''Destiny Has Eight Eyes'' (1941) Harper & Brothers, a novel set in China at the outbreak of World War II * ''Bali Profile: People, Events, Circumstances 1001-1976'' (Jun 1976) * ''The Formation of Malaysia'' * ''Eight Nation Makers'' * ''Indonesian Banda: Colonialism and its aftermath in the Nutmeg Islands'' (1978) * ''The Berkshire-Litchfield legacy: Litchfield, Ancram, Salisbury, Stockbridge, Lenox'' by (1984) * ''Hikayat Jakarta'' (1988) * ''Turbulent times past in Ternate and Tidore'' (1990) * ''Bali Chronicles: A Lively Account of the Island's History from Early Times to the 1970's'' (Periplus Classics Series) by Willard A. Hanna and Adrian Vickers (November 15, 2004)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hanna, Willard A. Historians from Pennsylvania University of Michigan alumni 1993 deaths People from Washington County, Pennsylvania Columbia University alumni College of Wooster alumni Ohio State University alumni Historians of Southeast Asia 1911 births 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers National War College alumni United States Department of State officials 20th-century American male writers United States Navy personnel of World War II United States Navy officers Military personnel from Pennsylvania