Willard Anderson Hanna (August 3, 1911 – October 5, 1993)[1] was an American writer of Southeast Asian 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 and Banda Neira with Des Alwi.
Willard Anderson Hanna
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|---|---|
| Born | (1911-08-03)August 3, 1911 |
| Died | October 5, 1993(1993-10-05) (aged 82) |
| Spouse | Marybelle Bouchard |
He was from Cross Creek, Pennsylvania, and graduated from the College of WoosterinWooster, Ohio, in 1932.[2] He traveled to China and taught English for four years in Shanghai and Hangzhou before returning to the United States and achieving a master's degree from Ohio State University in 1937 and a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 1939.[2] He joined the Navy in early 1942 and served at the military's Japanese language school at the University of Colorado and then at a military program at Columbia University. He was part of the landings on Okinawa on April 1, 1945 (Battle of Okinawa) as a lieutenant commander, and remained in Okinawa for more than a year. His work there included helping establish schools.[2]
He continued his career at the U.S. State Department for seven years, working in Manila, Tokyo and Jakarta,[3] where he established the United States Information Services offices which he ran until 1952.[2] 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.[2] He resigned from the State Department in 1954 and worked for the American Universities Field Staff in Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Hong Kong before he retired in 1976.[2]
He married Marybelle Bouchard. Hanna died in Hanover, New Hampshire, on October 5, 1993, at the age of 82.[2]