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Lost among the horrors of WWII is the story of The Gremlin Special, a C-47 that crashed into a foggy mountain-side in a remote area of Netherlands New Guinea, modern day Indonesia, during a sightseeing excursion on May 13, 1945.
The story, chronicled by Mitchell Zuckoff in his book, Lost In Shangri-La, is known for the daring operation that was undertaken to rescue the three survivors of the crash, including Pennsylvania-born Cpl. Margaret Hastings, a member of the Women's Army Corps.
But Hastings was not the only Women's Army Corps. member aboard the ill-fated flight -- in fact, there were four total members among the 24 passengers, with one of them having strong ties to the Williamsport area.
Born near Mill Hall in 1922, Pfc. Eleanor Pauline Hanna was a 1940 Montoursville High School graduate, who went on to join the Women's Army Corps two years later, before being killed aboard The Gremlin Special.
Hanna came from a family dedicated to service, as her father had served in the ambulance corps during WWI, even having been held in a German prisoner-of-war camp, according to Zukoff, she also had an older brother in the Army Air Force and a younger brother in the U.S. Navy.
Additionally, Hanna's paternal grandfather, Roy M. Hanna served as a former Clinton County Sheriff.
Using gliders, the military was able to rescue the three surviving passengers, however, due to the remoteness of the area, Hanna's body would not be recovered until 1959, when she was buried in Twin Hills Cemetery.
In recent years, the story of one of Montoursville's daughters has spread and efforts have been undertaken to properly memorialize Hanna by renaming the green bridge connecting Loyalsock with Montoursville in her honor.
For Sgt. Patrick A. Fenderson, U.S. Infantry 101st Airborne Division, who served in Vietnam, honoring Hanna's service comes with a familial connection.
"I knew her brother and family personally," Fenderson said. "I lived a block away. I grew up with her nephews."
"That, and women don't get memorials like men do," Fenderson said. "They don't get the recognition."
An important aspect to Hanna's sacrifice is the fact that her military service was fully voluntary.
"Women weren't drafted, so she was there on her own free will, because she wanted to be," Fenderson said. "Not all casualties of war are men, and I think a lot of people don't realize that."
One of the major hold ups to moving forward with renaming the bridge on Broad Street over the Loyalsock Creek in Hanna's honor is the criteria used to create such designations.
The flight that killed Hanna was not a combat flight, which is generally used as one of the benchmarks in creating memorials to fallen soldiers.
"She wasn't killed in combat, but she was still killed during the war, and she died in foreign a land," Fenderson said. "And, as a female, we think her story would inspire other young girls to maybe want to join the military."
"I've traveled all over the United States, and I don't think I've ever seen a bridge or anything named after a female veteran," said Harry Swank, Commander, The Eugene Grafius American Legion Post 104, "it has always been male veterans that have been killed in action."
"This would be, I think, a first, at least for Lycoming County, Montoursville, possibly Pennsylvania," Swank said. "The first bridge in honor of a female veteran killed in the war, it would put us on the map."
The push to have the bridge named in Hanna's honor has been under way for over a year, with public perception of the plan at a fever pitch.
"Everybody's been positive from day one," Swank said. "I had people ask me about it after our Veteran's Day and Memorial Day ceremonies, it's all been positive, especially from the borough. The people in Montoursville would love to see this happen. It's just Harrisburg."
Within the past month, some light at the end of the tunnel has begun to show from the state capitol.
"We're excited," state Rep. Joe Hamm, R-Hepburn Township, said, "we had a great meeting to discuss the process, and I'm very confident that we're going to be able to to get a bill introduced on behalf of Eleanor Hanna and to get this bridge between Loyalsock Township and Montoursville Borough named after her."