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Full Name: Morris W. Hancock
Branch of Service: U.S. Army Air Corps
Time Served: 1940-1942
Training: Radio Operators School at Scott Field, Illinois
Awards or Medals: Purple Heart, Air Medal, Citation of Honor
Where Served: Battle of Kiska
Deceased: Yes, Died in Battle
Where Living When Entered Service: Bluebell, Utah
Drafted or Volunteer: Volunteered
Branch of Service: U.S. Army Air Corps
Time Served: 1940-1942
Training: Radio Operators School at Scott Field, Illinois
Awards or Medals: Purple Heart, Air Medal, Citation of Honor
Where Served: Battle of Kiska
Deceased: Yes, Died in Battle
Where Living When Entered Service: Bluebell, Utah
Drafted or Volunteer: Volunteered
![Picture](/uploads/3/1/3/0/31308715/7969842.jpg)
Morris Hancock decided to join the U.S. Army Air Force. He joined in August 1940, just a little over a year after he graduated from High School
After the completion of basic training Morris was sent to Radio Operators School at Scott Field, Illinois, where on the 18th of July 1941 he graduated as a radio operator. After graduation he was granted a furlough to come home to Bluebell for a couple of weeks, which he enjoyed very much along with his family. He was then sent to Alaska with the 73rd Bomb Squadron. Alaska was a very primitive area and was extremely cold in the winter. On the 16th of October 1942, he was on a bombing mission in which two Japanese Destroyers were sunk. The plane, a B-26 Martin Marauder he was in, was hit with a direct burst of enemy fire, and the plane went into the Ocean.
In Bluebell, Morris’s family received a telegram on October 21, 1942, stating that he was missing in action, but the family kept praying and would never give up hope, until about a year later when another telegram was received on June 9, 1943 confirming that he had been killed in action on the 16th of October 1942, off the coast of Kiska, Alaska in the Aleutian Islands.
Morris was awarded posthumously the Purple Heart and the Air Medal, for his bravery and his effort that cost him his life
Morris’s parents had a stone with his name on, in his memory placed in Memory Grove in Salt Lake City, Utah
After the completion of basic training Morris was sent to Radio Operators School at Scott Field, Illinois, where on the 18th of July 1941 he graduated as a radio operator. After graduation he was granted a furlough to come home to Bluebell for a couple of weeks, which he enjoyed very much along with his family. He was then sent to Alaska with the 73rd Bomb Squadron. Alaska was a very primitive area and was extremely cold in the winter. On the 16th of October 1942, he was on a bombing mission in which two Japanese Destroyers were sunk. The plane, a B-26 Martin Marauder he was in, was hit with a direct burst of enemy fire, and the plane went into the Ocean.
In Bluebell, Morris’s family received a telegram on October 21, 1942, stating that he was missing in action, but the family kept praying and would never give up hope, until about a year later when another telegram was received on June 9, 1943 confirming that he had been killed in action on the 16th of October 1942, off the coast of Kiska, Alaska in the Aleutian Islands.
Morris was awarded posthumously the Purple Heart and the Air Medal, for his bravery and his effort that cost him his life
Morris’s parents had a stone with his name on, in his memory placed in Memory Grove in Salt Lake City, Utah