George ERVINE Hannan

The President of the United States takes pride in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross (Posthumously) to George Ervine Hannan (0-62532), Second Lieutenant (Signal Corps), U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy of the United Nations while serving with Detachment E, 205th Signal Repair Company, attached to the 6th Republic of Korea Division, II Corps. Second Lieutenant Hannan distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism in action against enemy aggressor forces near Wonju, Korea, on 2 October 1950. Lieutenant Hannan was second in command of Detachment E, which consisted of two officers and seventeen enlisted men. While bivouacked in a compound on the outskirts of Wonju near the division command post, the detachment was attacked at 0100 by a banzai charge of approximately 2,400 enemy troops who had apparently been by-passed in the surrounding hills. The position of the detachment within the compound was discovered by the enemy. After subjecting the small force to heavy small-arms, mortar and automatic weapons fire, the enemy charged the compound in a frontal assault. The detachment commander ordered his troops to get out over the rear wall of the compound while he covered the withdrawal. With total disregard for his own safety, Lieutenant Hannan voluntarily took up an exposed position near the front entrance and detracted the enemy with his harassing fire to enable the unit to withdraw. Lieutenant Hannan maintained his position although wounded several times, until all the enlisted men had cleared the area. When the enemy stormed into the compound, by sheer weight of numbers, Lieutenant Hannan was overwhelmed.
Headquarters, Eighth U.S. Army, Korea: General Orders No. 35 (January 21, 1951)