Neil Hanna was born in Sarnia, on January 18, 1895, the only son of William John Hanna (born 1862, of Adelaide Township, Ontario) and Jean Neil (nee Gibson) Hanna, of Sarnia, who were married in 1891. After Jean Neil Hanna passed away, father William would remarry. His new wife was Maude (nee MacAdams) Hanna. William and Maude would have two daughters, sisters for Neil: Margaret (born 1897), and Katherine (born 1900). Father William was an influential force in the community and beyond. He was a local lawyer, represented Lambton West in the Ontario Legislature as a Conservative cabinet member, a director with several companies including Imperial Oil and the Imperial Bank of Canada, and served as one of Prime Minister Robert Borden’s advisors after war broke out.
Neil Hanna was educated in Sarnia public schools and Sarnia Collegiate, then St. Andrew’s College and Victoria College Delta Upsilon, University of Toronto, 1913-1915. He intended to pursue a career in law. In the spring of 1915, single at the time, he enlisted and became a member of the Army, Royal Field Artillery 26th Battery, Gunner. He went overseas in September 1915. He obtained his commission in England in the Royal Field Artillery, and went to France with his unit early in 1916. He was severely wounded at Mametz Wood in July 1916, and for some months was under treatment and came home on leave to recover.
On rejoining his unit, Neil was unable to continue in the Artillery. He applied to be transferred to the British Air forces, and when the request was granted, he took a course of training in a British aviation camp. After passing successfully, he was appointed to service with the British Air forces in Italy, Royal Flying Corps, 36th Training Squadron, where he attained the rank of Lieutenant. He returned to the French front in January 1918, and in October went to Italy, where he was engaged in flying over the Austrian front. Shortly after his arrival in Italy, the Austrian armies surrendered. When the Armistice Treaty was signed on November 11th, his parents were looking forward to his early return after Neil had experienced several years of fighting and had survived being wounded severely once. On November 20, 1918, more than a week after Armistice, while observing the Austrian retreat, Neil Hanna was accidently killed in a flying accident in Italy.
In late November 1918, Neil’s parents William and Maude, had left Toronto a few days prior for New York. A cable message to them was received in Toronto, then forwarded to New York. The message informed Neil’s parents that their son, Lieut. Neil William Hanna, of the British Royal Air Force, serving in Italy, had been reported killed on the 20th of November. They were given no particulars about how the fatality occurred. Twenty-three year old Neil Hanna is buried in Montecchio Precalcino Communal Cemetery Extension, Italy, Plot 9, Row A, Grave 6.
The loss of his only son Neil was devastating for William Hanna, who had become president of Imperial Oil but was suffering from ill health. He travelled to Georgia that winter for warmer weather and died there on March 20, 1919, only four months after Neil’s death. Father William Hanna is buried in Lakeview Cemetery, Sarnia. Neil’s mother Maude became a celebrated philanthropist in Sarnia. She contributed half of the money the city needed in 1932 to purchase the land for Canatara Park and donated land on Mitton Street for Hanna Park. Shortly after Maude Hanna’s death in 1946, Hanna Memorial School in Sarnia opened, and was named in her honour.
SOURCES: A, B, D, E, L, N, 2D, 2G