Memorial Day 2018: Remembering those who died in service

In what has become an annual tradition, members of the Northwestern campus community gathered this Memorial Day to place flags to honor and remember the lives of those who died in service to the nation.

Memorial Day has special significance this year with the remembrance of the end of World War I — exactly 100 years ago. Often called the Great War, or sometimes the War to End War, Northwestern remembers those who died in Europe.

Among them was David Thomas Hanson, a member of the class of 1905 and graduate of Northwestern Medical School in 1909. Captain Hanson served in the Medical Corps of the 142nd Infantry and was killed in France on Oct. 3, 1908, while attempting to save a wounded soldier on the battlefield. For his bravery, he was posthumously awarded the Croix de Guerre by the French Government. A small plaque remembering his life and service is affixed to a boulder near Harris Hall.