The following bio records that he died in 1942, grave marker states 1943.
Newsman Witt Hancock was killed March 7, 1942, when Japanese bombers sank the Dutch refugee ship he was aboard in the Indian Ocean, south of Java. He was 34 and the first AP reporter to die during World War II. War correspondents in the Dutch East Indies had a difficult time getting stories through to the outside world, but Hancock managed one last time on March 2 to get a telephone call - monitored by censors - through from Java to AP in New York. Hancock told Cable Editor James Long that the Army planned to evacuate foreign newsmen soon, but he hadn't decided when he would leave. His last words on the call: "Good luck, and keep your fingers crossed." He was missing for months after that, and an account of his death was finally given by another correspondent who escaped the sinking ship. Hancock joined the AP in Raleigh, N.C., in 1929, and worked in Charlotte and New York, London, Moscow, Turkey, and India before arriving in Indonesia as the Japanese forces approached.
(Thanks to G. Miller (46842129) for this account.)
Daniel married Dorene Farley of England. She died in 1952.
Newsman Witt Hancock was killed March 7, 1942, when Japanese bombers sank the Dutch refugee ship he was aboard in the Indian Ocean, south of Java. He was 34 and the first AP reporter to die during World War II. War correspondents in the Dutch East Indies had a difficult time getting stories through to the outside world, but Hancock managed one last time on March 2 to get a telephone call - monitored by censors - through from Java to AP in New York. Hancock told Cable Editor James Long that the Army planned to evacuate foreign newsmen soon, but he hadn't decided when he would leave. His last words on the call: "Good luck, and keep your fingers crossed." He was missing for months after that, and an account of his death was finally given by another correspondent who escaped the sinking ship. Hancock joined the AP in Raleigh, N.C., in 1929, and worked in Charlotte and New York, London, Moscow, Turkey, and India before arriving in Indonesia as the Japanese forces approached.
(Thanks to G. Miller (46842129) for this account.)
Daniel married Dorene Farley of England. She died in 1952.
The following bio records that he died in 1942, grave marker states 1943.
Newsman Witt Hancock was killed March 7, 1942, when Japanese bombers sank the Dutch refugee ship he was aboard in the Indian Ocean, south of Java. He was 34 and the first AP reporter to die during World War II. War correspondents in the Dutch East Indies had a difficult time getting stories through to the outside world, but Hancock managed one last time on March 2 to get a telephone call - monitored by censors - through from Java to AP in New York. Hancock told Cable Editor James Long that the Army planned to evacuate foreign newsmen soon, but he hadn't decided when he would leave. His last words on the call: "Good luck, and keep your fingers crossed." He was missing for months after that, and an account of his death was finally given by another correspondent who escaped the sinking ship. Hancock joined the AP in Raleigh, N.C., in 1929, and worked in Charlotte and New York, London, Moscow, Turkey, and India before arriving in Indonesia as the Japanese forces approached.
(Thanks to G. Miller (46842129) for this account.)
Daniel married Dorene Farley of England. She died in 1952.
Newsman Witt Hancock was killed March 7, 1942, when Japanese bombers sank the Dutch refugee ship he was aboard in the Indian Ocean, south of Java. He was 34 and the first AP reporter to die during World War II. War correspondents in the Dutch East Indies had a difficult time getting stories through to the outside world, but Hancock managed one last time on March 2 to get a telephone call - monitored by censors - through from Java to AP in New York. Hancock told Cable Editor James Long that the Army planned to evacuate foreign newsmen soon, but he hadn't decided when he would leave. His last words on the call: "Good luck, and keep your fingers crossed." He was missing for months after that, and an account of his death was finally given by another correspondent who escaped the sinking ship. Hancock joined the AP in Raleigh, N.C., in 1929, and worked in Charlotte and New York, London, Moscow, Turkey, and India before arriving in Indonesia as the Japanese forces approached.
(Thanks to G. Miller (46842129) for this account.)
Daniel married Dorene Farley of England. She died in 1952.
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