The Howard Hansen Story of WW2

and you can't get anything out of him, either. The reason I got the bronze star

instead of the silver star (which is better) is if I'd have let that guy take that

shrapnel out, I'm sure I'd have got the silver star, because well, they wouldn't have

had the record of it anyway. But Doyle put me in for a silver star. That (the bronze

star) was for knocking that pill box out when I went up the bank after I got hit. I

went up and took out that pill box that had everybody pinned down and there were

five Japs in there. I got all five of them. That's what I got the star for: that's what

they call above the line of duty. Went over that sea wall and nobody else up there

except those Japs. I was telling them at Camp Pendleton when I was instructing.

One guy from New York said, "Hey Sarge, tell us about how you got your star." I

said, "Well, OK, I'll tell you: Well, the platoon was pinned down - the company was

pinned down by a machine gun nest and they couldn't get out from under it; and I

sneaked around and I got up behind that machine gun nest and there were five Japs

in there and I annihilated all five them right quick and I took over the machine gun.

It got dark right quick and I could hear them Japs coming in", they were all eyes.

I said, "I could hear them coming in from both sides - sneaking up - and all at once

they came over the side - all of them - right in one me!" He said, "What happened

then?" I said, "They killed me!" He didn't ask anything more.

You know, it's a funny thing. It shows you that I live right. Out of all the family,

I guess there was seven of us in the service during the war, and I was the only one

that was lucky enough to get all that combat experience; is that lucky enough? .... and

come out of it, that's where the luck was.

NOTE: After a bit we got around to another subject: money and gambling.

H: In the NCO Mess in New Zealand before we left, we had a big blackjack game and

I broke everybody at the table. The lieutenants and that, in fact, my platoon leader

at the time, Doyle, he said, "Dammit, Sergeant, write down all this. You can't

remember it all." I said, "Oh, it don't make any difference." I didn't write it down,

but I knew the ones that owed me the most, but I took all the money and I loaned

it back to them so we could play some more. I was the luckiest guy in the world.

M: Did you play poker, pinochle?

H: Just blackjack. Every pay day, blackjack. In fact, when we hit New Zealand, I had

$525 back pay coming - every private did. They didn't pay us, couldn't give us any

money on the islands.

M: How much did you get a month?

H: $30: $21.95 like they got in World War I, plus 30% for overseas. $30 - $31.

Anyway, we each got 525 bucks - all privates - and the first thing we did was start

blackjack games. Well, some of them sharpies - crooked players - from the south;

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one of them was R. S. Hall, the other Brad King, forget the other one; I got in a

game and lost $300 in just about twenty minutes. I went back to the tent and

thought "This is for the birds; what happened to me?" And finally, one of my

friends named Peavine, he was from the south and knows these guys well, he said,

"I'll tell you something if you won't go over there and beat the hell out of them." I

said, "Let's have it." "Promise you won't go over there and start fights with them."

"OK, tell me." He said, "The reason you lost that money, them guys were breaking

you with the same king that they broke somebody else with. They were putting it on

the bottom and then hit you and take it off the bottom so quick you never knew it."

"Oh", I said, "I'll go out there and rub some noses." "No! You promised. If you do,

Sergeant, they'll know I told you." "OK, I won't then, but can you show me how they

did that?" "Sure." Boy, I practiced; my hands were big and I got so I could handle

them cards with perfection. So came pay day, another big game. Boy, I cleaned

them out good! Next pay day I cleaned them out again. I got 600 bucks for one and

600 the next; and I just kept breaking with the same one that somebody else broke

with. Of course, I wouldn't do that to anybody else - just them. They thought I was

stupid from Oregon and didn't know what to do. I sent 1200 bucks home in one

shot ... to Marg [one of Howard's older sisters] to put in the bank for me. We got

aboard ship from New Zealand and went to our next combat, Tarawa, and we had

a big blackjack game in the hold of the ship. Man, my buddy, Jim Blakley, and I - I

got blackjack so I could hit the bank, take the deal, and, oh man; I just - I didn't cheat

nobody there, nobody there to cheat, that had cheated me - and I was so lucky and

I told Jim, "Bunky, all you have to do is rake in that money as I win" and I was so

lucky that one guy, he was around comer - bunch of guys always around - and he

had a pat hand, cold turkey, 20, but he had it back underneath where I couldn't see

it when I came around breaking guys up to him; then I went around and said, "Well,

my gosh!" He still didn't say anything, bet $10. I said, "Look at that! A three."

Normally, a guy would look; of course I wouldn't with a three up. I just went flip;

and "Let's see what I would have had" flipped over a face card; I had an eight, '''21',

you said, you son _", threw that $10 at me, said, "You're the luckiest guy ever was."

I broke everybody, Jim Blakley and I. $1200 a piece out of that mess.

NOTE: More than once, Howard expressed to me his feeling of incredible luck.

Although he was blown up (twice, he said) and injured, he came home alive and

with arms and legs. One of the few in his Division. He is now nearing 80 years

old, has enjoyed a good life and continues to enjoy his family and friends. His

eyesight is failing as well as some other parts, but he is unfailingly cheerful and

kind, ever ready with a funny story and is loved by all. Lucky? With Howard, you

get the feeling that he made his own 'luck'. Blessed? Surely he was and is. I am

grateful to him for allowing me to record and write his story. It has been a unique

and moving experience. ~~ Maxine Hansen 1997 ~~

The End

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