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HANSON Bertram Speakman CMG DSO OBE ED

DUniv Adel MB BS FRACR FRCR

1905 - 1999

Bertram Speakman Hanson (Bill) was born, on 6 January 1905, at Marryatville, SA.  He was the son of William Speakman Hanson and his wife Maggie, nee Aitken, and the eldest of seven children. He was educated at St Peter’s College and studied medicine at the University of Adelaide, graduating in 1928 and completed his residency at the Adelaide Hospital. While at university he received Blues for tennis and Australian Rules Football and he also played for Norwood in the SANFL.  He was appointed the first ‘radium registrar’, in 1930, followed by an appointment as a clinical assistant in the Radiology Department, in 1935.  He married Mayne Gilpin, on 29th September 1932.  They had four children. She was the daughter of Thomas John and Francis Maud Gilpin of Brighton, SA.

Hanson enlisted in the CMF as a gunner in 13 Fd Regt while an undergraduate, reaching the rank of WO2 (BSM), before being commissioned as a lieutenant, in 1926. He transferred to AAMC, in 1930, and was promoted to captain, in 1933, and to major in 1939.  He transferred to the 2/AIF, in May 1940, and was posted 2/6th FdAmb.   Promoted lieutenant colonel, in July 1940, and appointed CO 2/8th FdAmb, he took the unit to the Middle East in December 1940 and to Cyrenaica, Libya, when 6 Div was sent to Greece in March 1941.  The unit had little equipment and was widely dispersed with HQ and MDS at Magrum; A Coy ADS in Barce, near Benghazi; B Coy ADS was 100 miles SW beyond Marsa Brega in the Gulf of Sirte. When the Afrika Korps mounted an offensive, 2/8th FdAmb withdrew but, 39 personnel of the headquarters were ambushed and taken prisoner at Wadi El Fetei near Derna.  B Coy, avoided the ambush and reached Tobruk intact by travelling overland. 2/8th FdAmb operated throughout the siege, in Tobruk until evacuated by sea in late October 1941.  Hanson was made an OBE in December 1941.  He took the unit with 9 Div to Syria relieving 6 Div.  They were stationed in Aleppo until June 1942, and were at the first Battle of El Alamein, July to August 1942. Then in the later battle, from October to November 1942, where Hanson was awarded the DSO for ‘Gallantry and Conspicuous Service’.  He fired the first artillery round to open the battle because of his artillery training.  9 Div returned to Australia in February 1943.  Hanson’s war diaries for 2/8th FdAmb are a model of clarity and precision.  Regrettably, some were lost in the Mediterranean because of enemy action.  He had refused promotion in the Middle East as he wished to remain with his soldiers.  Promoted colonel, in June 1943, he was appointed ADMS of 9 Div in PNG during the Battles of Lae and Finschhafen on the Huon Peninsula where he was Mentioned in Despatches.  He was transferred to the Reserve of Officers on 18th July 1944 having resumed his civilian practice in Adelaide in late 1943.  He was awarded the ED in 1946 and the Coronation Medal in 1953.

Hanson’s career continued at the RAH as honorary assistant radiotherapist in 1948 to 1951 and honorary radiotherapist 1951 to 1964. He was Emeritus Radiation Oncologist in 1965.  He was made a CMG for Services to Medicine in 1963.  The Hanson Centre for Cancer Research at the RAH was named in his honour in 1990.  He held high office in many organisations including President of the BMA, SA 1952 to 1953; the College of Radiologists 1961; the Australian Cancer Society 1962 to 1964; the National Trust SA 1972 to 1979 and chair of the Anti-Cancer Foundation University of Adelaide.  He was made a Doctor of the University of Adelaide. His wife Mayne died in 1972.  He had a wide circle of friends who relished his company, including his many stories and as a raconteur with a great sense of humour.  Bertram Speakman Hanson died in Adelaide on 14th December 1999.

Source

Blood, Sweat and Fears III: Medical Practitioners South Australia, who Served in World War 2. 

Swain, Jelly, Verco, Summers. Open Books Howden, Adelaide 2019. 

Uploaded by Annette Summers AO RFD