The body of Marine Lance Cpl. Jason Hanson will be escorted by a military motorcade from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to Port Angeles late this afternoon.
Hanson, 21, of Forks and three other Marines were killed in “combat operations” July 29 in Anbar province, Iraq, when the building they were in collapsed after a nearby gasoline truck pulled up and exploded, his family was told.
Hanson, who was a private first class at the time of his death, was promoted to lance corporal posthumously.
The body is scheduled to arrive in Seattle at 3:04 p.m. from Dover Air Force Base, Del., and then will make its way in a motorcade to Harper-Ridgeview Funeral Chapel in Port Angeles, said Terry Roth of the Mount Olympus Detachment of the Marine Corps League.
Hanson is the first Marine and second serviceman from the North Olympic Peninsula to be killed in combat operations since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Those wanting to watch the motorcade will have their first chance on U.S. Highway 101 starting at the Clallam-Jefferson county line at Diamond Point road today.
A second procession will proceed Wednesday from Port Angeles to Forks Cemetery on Calawah Way.
Today’s procession
Roth said today’s procession is expected to begin about 6 p.m. on Diamond Point Road and end at Harper-Ridgeview Funeral Chapel, 105 W. Fourth St., Port Angeles.
However, the starting time is “loose” and will depend on traffic between Sea-Tac and Diamond Point Road, Roth said.
The Mount Olympus Detachment of the Marine Corps League and its color guard will be stationed at Diamond Point Road to receive the motorcade, Roth said.
As the procession moves west on U.S. Highway 101, it will be recognized by separate Sequim veterans’ organizations that will be gathered on two overpasses and at Carlsborg Road.
Once the motorcade enters Port Angeles, it will be greeted by a “Support Our Troops” group assembled at Golf Course Road and Front Street, Roth said.
The motorcade will continue down Front Street, turn left onto Lincoln Street, then right on Third Street and left on Laurel Street to the funeral home.
Port Angeles Mayor Karen Rogers will be stationed at Veterans Memorial Park on Lincoln Street just north of the Clallam County Courthouse to receive the motorcade.
She encourages others to join her, according to a news release from her office.
Wednesday visitation
Hanson’s closed casket will lie in state for public visitation from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday at Harper-Ridgeview Funeral Chapel.
A community memorial service without the casket will be held at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the Forks High School gym, 411 S. Spartan Ave.
Hanson’s casket will be transported in another military motorcade to Forks from Port Angeles starting about 4 p.m. on Thursday.
Thursday’s procession is being organized by Clallam County Republican Party Chairwoman Donna Buck.
Thursday’s procession
Buck has requested that all who wish to participate meet at 3:45 p.m. in the parking lot of Albertsons supermarket, 114 E. Lauridsen Blvd.
The motorcade will leave Harper-Ridgeview and follow U.S. 101 westbound to Forks via Lincoln Street and Lauridsen Boulevard, said Mark Gustafson of Harper-Ridgeview.
The motorcade is expected to arrive in Forks between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. for a graveside service at Forks Cemetery, Calawah Way between Merchant and Nelson roads.
A Marine Corps honor guard will be present for the service, and provide a 21-gun salute, Gustafson said.
All times for the processions are approximate and subject to change.
Hanson, a 2003 Forks High School graduate, joined the Marines in May 2005 and was deployed to Iraq last March, shortly after marrying Maria Farias in Forks.
He served as a rifleman in the 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, based in Twentynine Palms.
Also killed in the July 29 explosion were Cpl. Phillip E. Baucus of Montana — a nephew of U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont. — Lance Cpl. Anthony E. Butterfield of California and Sgt. Christian B. Williams of Florida.
A Jason Hanson Memorial Fund has been set up at the First Federal Savings & Loan branch in Forks, accessible at the First Federal branches in Port Angeles, Sequim and Port Townsend.
The money will fund gift packages for Marines in Hanson’s unit as well as other service members from the North Olympic Peninsula who are deployed overseas.
The project was inspired by a gift package to Hanson that his mother, Carol, prepared but never got to send.
In addition to his wife and mother, Hanson is survived by his father, Steven Hanson; sister Sarah Hanson, and brothers Sam and Jacob Hanson, all of Forks.
He is also survived by all four of his grandparents: Ed and Geraldine Finley of Forks, Mary Hanson of Rockport, Mass., and Ellis Hanson of Naples, Fla.
The Hansons moved to Forks from Everett — where Hanson was born — when Hanson was 5.
He is the second serviceman from the North Olympic Peninsula to be killed in the Iraq war.
Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Nathan Bruckenthal, 24, who spent two years stationed at Neah Bay before reassignment to the Middle East, was killed in April 2004 in a suicide bomber’s attack on an Iraqi oil terminal in the Persian Gulf.
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Reporter Vanessa Renée Casavant can be reached at 360-417-3535 or vanessa.casavant@peninsuladailynews.com.
