Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org
 
Surnames: Hansen, Turner

----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI) 8/12/1976

Hansen, Navy Yeoman William K. (Service Notes - 1976)

Navy Yeoman William K. Hansen, son of Mr. and Mrs. William H. Hansen of Willard, recently participated in the evacuation of civilians from Beirut, Lebanon, while serving as a crew member aboard the aircraft carrier US America.

His ship provided direct support during the evacuation of more than 270 civilian refugees from the beleaguered Lebanese capital. The civilians (men, women and children from 25 nations, including the United States, Canada and Britain) were ferried to the dock landing ship USS Spiegel Grove by landing craft and transported to Athens.

As part of a task force under the direction of Vice Admiral Frederick C. Turner, commander of the U.S. Sixth Fleet, Hansen’s ship was on station in the eastern Mediterranean for assistance.

His ship, homeported in Norfolk, Va., is currently deployed as a unit of the U.S. Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean.

A 1974 graduate of Greenwood High School, he joined the Navy in June 1974.