A highly decorated soldier during World War II and the Korean War, Hanna received the Distinguished Service Cross, Bronze Star with V device, the Purple Heart with oak leaf cluster, Combat Infantry and Airborne badges, foreign decorations, and several service awards.
A newspaperman most of his life, Hanna worked for the San Antonio Express, Houston Post, Dallas Times-Herald, Los Angeles Examiner, Chicago Sun-Times and several small daily newspapers and weekly papers.
He was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in 1949 for his editorial campaign against the crime syndicate called "Murder Incorporated." His editorials and articles formed a part of the Kefauver Committee's investigation into organized crime in Southern California.
He retired in 1969, and that year, July 3, he married Mary Cole in New City. She is now a professor of political science at Whitman College.
In addition to his wife, Hanna is survived by three daughters, Valerie Hanna of Hoboken, N.J., Barbara Sheldon of Banning, Calif., and Kathleen Hanna-Lee, of Glens Falls, N.Y.; and a son, Sherman Hanna of Columbus, Ohio; two sisters, Betty Myer of Hondo, Texas and Virginia Ptak of Steilacoom, Washington; nine grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews. A sister, Frances Franke, and a brother, John Hanna, preceded him in death.