MANDAN Historical Society

Working to Preserve & Promote Mandan's Heritage since 2004

Welcome

Membership

Activities

Ag Stn Centennial

History Harvest

TR-Coe Exhibit

WWII Exhibit

Museum & Office

Area History

Book: "Mantani"

The 1880s

Mandan Rodeo / Fair

School System History

The 1890s

The 1900s

1901 Pan Am Expo

1903 TR Visit to NDak

The 1910s

1910 Spring Flood

1911 Fair & Airplane Demo

1912 TR Whistle-Stop

The 1920s

Prohibition in Mandan

Mail Order Kit Homes

The 1930s

FDR Visit August 1936

The 1940s

The 1950s

1958 Lincoln Stamp FDC

Custer Drama / Trail West

The 1960s

The 1970s

The 1980s

The 1990s

1st of the 21st

2010-Present

Area Landmarks

Cary Bldg - Mandan Drug

CCC Camp Chimney

Christ the King Church

Collins Av Civic Bldg

First Lutheran Church

First National Bank Bldg

First Presbyterian Church

Great Plains Academy

Great Plains Expermt Stn

Lewis & Clark Hotel

Mandan Hill

Mandan Theatre

MV Produce Warehouse

Methodist Church

NP Beanery

NP "Colonial" RR Depot

NPRR Freighthouse

NP Rail High Bridge

Roughrider Statue

St Joseph Church

WWar Memorial Bldg

Youth Correctional Center

Gone Forever

Central School

Collins Ave Courthouse

Cummins Building

Deaconess Hospital

Eielson Field

Emerson Inst/Opera House

First St Federal Building

Havana Club

Hotel Nigey

InterOcean Hotel

Liberty Memorial Bridge

Mandan Creamery & Produce

Mandan Flour Mill

Merchants Hotel

NP "Queen Anne" Depot

Original Passenger Depot

Palace Theatre

Peoples' Hotel

Rock Haven

Topic Theatre

Young's Tavern

Heritage Homes

Altnow-Smith Home

Dunlap-Harris Home

Ellis-Uden Home

Freeburg-Esser Home

Lyon-Weigel Home

McGillic Home

Olson-Brick Home

Parkins-Cooley Home

Stutsman-Wyatt Home

Swanson-Reichman Home

Welch-Ness Home

Endowment Fund

Genealogy Links

Biographies A-C

J D Allen

Franklin Anders

Richard Baron

James Bellows

George Bingenheimer

Margaret Bingenheimer

Philip Blumenthal

Elijah Boley

Frank Briggs

Leo Broderick

William Broderick

Frank Bunting

Lyman Cary

James Clark

Henry Coe

Viola Boley Coe

Daniel Collins

Elizabeth Custer

George Custer

Biographies D-L

Alice Dahners

Henry Dahners

C E V (Charles) Draper

Esther Davis

Tony Dean

Joseph Devine

Ronald Erhardt

John Forbes

Palma Fristad

Gilbert Furness

Aloysius Galowitsch

Frederic Gerard

Zalmon Gilbert

Charles Grantier

James Hanley Jr

James Hanley Sr

Mary Harris

C Edgar Haupt

Michael Lang

William Langer

Albert Lanterman

William Lanterman

Richard Longfellow

Rolland Lutz

Hiram Lyon

Biographies M-R

George Marback

Gary Miller

Lee Mohr

Margaret Naylor

John Newton

Anton Ness

John Osterhouse

George Peoples

Arthur Peterson

Nels Romer

Hoy Russell

Walton Russell

Antonie Rybnicek

Ervin Rybnicek

Hynek Rybnicek

Biographies S-Z

Margaret Schaaf

George Shafer

Benjamin Shaw

William Simpson

Anna Knox Stark

Mary Stark

Benjamin Stephenson

J O Sullivan

John Sullivan

Era Bell Thompson

Andrew E Thorberg

Ida Thorberg

C L Timmerman

George Toman

Earle Tostevin

Edwin A Tostevin Sr

Edwin D Tostevin Jr

Walter Tostevin

Felix Vinatieri

A B Welch

Levon West

Frank Wetzstein

Harry Wheeler

Philomena Yunck

View Collections

Artifacts - Miscellanous

Newspapers

Pottery and Glass

Photos - Buildings

Photos - Downtown

Photos - Floods

Photos - People

Photos - Rail and Trains

What's New

James Martin Hanley Jr. (1904-1999)
James Martin Hanley Jr. was the oldest child and only son born to Imra (Lewis) and James Martin Hanley, Sr. in Mandan, ND. His siblings included Josephine, Irma Jane and Lewista. His father, also an area attorney and North Dakota State District Judge, had a distingushed military career as well. 

His father, as a major and battalion commander of the 3rd Battalion 1st North Dakota Infantry
 took his 12-year old son along as mascot while mustering for a possible chase after Pancho Villa during the Mexican Expedition.  Hanley Jr. admitted the experience had a major effect on his career. He aspired to the law and military service.

James Hanley Jr. was a graduate of Union College, where he received his AB in 1928, and the University of Chicago Law School, where he was awarded a JD degree in 1931. He returned to Mandan to begin his legal practice and was appointed Justice of the Peace the following year.  In 1933, he was elected state's attorney and was appointed assistant attorney general and commerce counsel for the ND Public Service Commission in 1936.  Despite the nationwide depression,  he was successfully advancing his career.

Hanley Jr. had served in the Army Reserves for many years and had attained the rank of captain.  As the start of World War II appeared eminent, he was called into federal service in 1941.  While initially assigned to Fort Benning as an instructor, he was later re-assigned to the 442nd Infantry.

The 442nd was under the command of the infamous Joseph W. "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell.  Now a Lieutenant Colonel,  Hanley was commanded the 2d. Battalion through the fierce battes of the Vosges and led his Japanese-American Company in the rescue of the "Lost Battalion" in the mountains of eastern France.  Among his men was Lt. Daniel K. Inouye, who would eventually be elected as a US Senator from the state of Hawaii.
After the conclusion of the war, Hanley stayed in the Army.  He rose to the rank of colonel, serving in both World War II as battalion commander, and the Korean War, as chief of the War Crimes Sections, 8th Army.

Colonel Hanley had the distinction of testifying in November 1953 in front of the Congressional Committee on Government Operations, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations headed by Senator Joseph McCarthy. The topic of the questioning was the Korean War Atrocities.

Following his retirement from the service, he became a manager for General Dynamics Corporation and later professor of business at San Jose State University.  He retired in 1973.

Colonel Hanley formalized his memories in 1995 when he published his book A Matter of Honor: A Memoire in which he recounts his early life and military career, particularly his years as one of the senior commanders of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team in WWII, and in the Korean conflict of the fifties.

The book also tells the story of the Nisei Japanese American soldiers.  Nisei are people, or a person, of Japanese ancestry and the first generation to be born in their parent's adaoptive homeland.  About 6000 Nisei volunteered for military service following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor - despite the widespread distrust of anyone of Japanese ancestry. Americans of Japanese ancestry were generally forbidden to fight a combat role in the Pacific theatre.  The 100th Infantry Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team, fighting in the European theatre, became the most decorated unit in U.S. military history for its size and length of service, earning it the nickname the "Purple Heart Battalion".

The MHSoc's museum and office is located at 3827 30th Avenue NW; PO Box 1001; Mandan, ND 58554
Contact us at info@mandanhistory.org


Last Updated 03/28
/23    ©  2007-2023  Mandan Historical Society   All rights reserved