Scroll of Honor – Henry Hahn

Tank Commander

Written by: Kelly Durham

In September 1944, Allied forces in France were attacking across a broad front, slowly pushing stubborn German defenders back across France toward the Rhine River and the German border.  Second Lieutenant Henry Tutt Hahn was a tank commander in the 7th Armored Division of General George Patton’s Third Army as it battled to cross the Moselle River, the last major water barrier before reaching the Rhine. 

 Hahn came to Clemson as a textile engineering major from Greenwood.  He was a member of the Greenwood County Club, which he served as president his senior year, and also Phi Psi, the national honor fraternity for textile engineers.  Hahn graduated from Clemson in May 1943.  His was the last class allowed to complete its collegiate course before being called to active duty to help meet the military’s wartime manpower needs. 

 In August, Hahn reported for active duty, training as an armor officer at Fort Knox, Kentucky.  Following his training, he served as an instructor at the post before being transferred to Fort Benning, Georgia and assigned to the 31st Tank Battalion, part of the 7th Armored Division. 

 Hahn’s division reached France in mid-August 1944, coming ashore across Omaha and Utah beaches.  The division was quickly committed to the battle, driving on the city of Chartres on August 18. From Chartres, the division advanced to liberate Dreux and then Melun, where it crossed the Seine River on August 24. The division continued its advance to places well-remembered from the First World War, Château-Thierry and Verdun, liberating these storied towns on August 31.  After a brief halt for maintenance and refueling, the 7th Armored resumed its offensive on September 6, crossing the Moselle River near Dornot.  Coordinated fire from German fortified positions around Metz forced the division to withdraw.  It moved slightly south of the city and assisted the 5th Infantry Division in expanding a bridgehead across the river east of Arnaville.  Second Lieutenant Hahn was killed in action on September 14 within half a mile of the bridgehead. 

Hahn was survived by his mother, whom he had visited on Mothers’ Day before shipping overseas. He was also survived by three brothers, one of who was serving on Guam.  Following the war, Hahn’s remains were returned to the United States and he was laid to rest in Aiken’s Bethany Cemetery. 

 For more information about Henry Tutt Hahn see:
https://soh.alumni.clemson.edu/scroll/henry-tutt-hahn-tut/  

 

 

For additional information about Clemson University’s Scroll of Honor visit:
https://soh.alumni.clemson.edu/