Hanna, John Clifford

John Clifford Hanna was born March 12, 1898, to Blanche O'Dell and John Hanna in Detroit, Michigan.

J. Clifford Hanna, "Cliff", served as ambulance driver with SSU 1 in 1916/17. When the AFS was absorbed by the U.S. Army in 1917, Hanna served in the British Royal Air Force in Canada and was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant.

During WWII he became an American Field Service Representative for recruitment in Detroit, Michigan, and then served in the United States Army Air Corps as a Combat Intelligence Officer for a B-25 Strafer-Bomber Group in the southwest Pacific Ocean.

Following the Second World War, Hanna became involved with the motion picture business and produced several war pictures while working with an Australian motion picture studio. He founded Video Film, Inc. in 1947, and produced several television films and commercials. He also served on the Board of Managers for the Detroit section of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers. He received commendations as a producer and was honored in November 1978 with the Pioneer Award of the Detroit Producers Association. Hanna also stayed active with AFS, including helping to spread the word about the student exchange programs that were established after the Second World War.

Hanna met his wife, Helen Jane Corwin, while serving with the British Royal Air Force in Canada during the First World War.  They were married in October 1924 and had two children.

J. Clifford Hanna passed away on November 28, 1988, in Detroit.

[Bio courtesy of AFS Archives, New York]