Greg Hansen
Era: Vietnam
Military Branch: Army
Greg Hansen was drafted into the US Army on September 7, 1967.
He attended basic training at Fort Campbell, Ky; he then attended advanced individual training (AIT) and the Armor School at Fort Knox, Kentucky, where he became an armor crewman with a rank of Sergeant E-5 prior to being shipped to Korea in August, 1968.
SGT Hansen spent 13 months in the 2nd Infantry Division as a tank commander stationed just South of the Korean DMZ, occasionally going across Freedom Bridge and into the DMZ itself to deliver mail or to provide tank support.
He generally occupied defensive positions consisting of trenches, bunkers, foxholes and tank emplacements about a mile South of the DMZ and also participated in infantry sweeps and police actions against North Korean infiltrators every few weeks.
Through connections in Division HQ in Seoul, SGT Hansen and a friend once requisitioned a jeep, complete with orders for them to drive along the Southern border of the DMZ (quite a dangerous route), all the way across the Korean Peninsula to the Sea of Japan and back to the Yellow Sea, a total of 302 miles in one week.
He also had many adventures getting stuck in the mud and snow with an M-48, the Army's Main Battle Tank of that time in Korea.
SGT Hansen was honorably discharged at Ft. Lewis, Washington on September 9, 1969.
