John A. Hancock was born on May 19, 1947, in Locktown, NJ. His home of record is Flemington, NJ. He graduated from Hunterdon Central High School and was a close friend of several other Central students who later went into the US Army or US Marine Corps and became casualties of the Vietnam War. He later attended Miami-Dade College in Florida.

His father worked for the Ortho Pharmaceutical Corp and his mother at the Locktown Sweater Shop. He was very close to his brother, Roy. While at home, they were good brothers and always supported each other during hard times. In fact, being the older of the two, Roy often took care of John. Both of them were hard workers on the farm that their father owned in Locktown. John was engaged to his high school sweetheart, Theresa.

John Hancock was inducted into the US Army in 1969, where he attained the rank of Corporal (CPL). He did his basic and A.I.T. training at Fort Dix.

On December 8, 1969, at the age of 22, John Hancock was killed in action when his base was raided. He was killed in the crossfire.

John and I were drafted together on March 12, 1969, and went through basic training and A.I.T. together at Fort Dix. We became the closest of friends and were always at the top of our training classes much to the dismay of our drill instructors. John and I shaved our heads the night before we reported to Dix and I think they figured we were wise-asses.

When we got weekend passes (and even when we didn’t) our girlfriends would drive down to Dix together and pick us up. We got split up in Vietnam (I went to D 2/8 1st Cav Div) and my parents didn’t write to tell me of John’s death until January 1970 so as not to ruin Christmas. John was one of the finest people I’ve ever known and one hell of a soldier.
Written by Sonny Silva

Sources: Sonny Silva (veteran), Reading-Fleming Middle School and NJVVMF.
12/17/2024