Army Staff Sgt. Dennis J. Hansen

Died December 5, 2009 Serving During Operation Enduring Freedom

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31, of Panama City, Fla.; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), Fort Drum, N.Y.; died Dec. 5, at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany, of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his unit on Dec. 3 with an improvised explosive device in Logar province, Afghanistan.

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Served with Corps before joining Army

The Associated Press

Dennis Hansen was determined to dunk a basketball when he was a boy, so he plotted the perfect strategy: Set up a ladder to slam that ball through the hoop.

He made the shot, but there was just one problem: He didn’t plan for what would happen after the dunk, so his landing was a bit rough, Pastor Barry Baughman recalled at Hansen’s funeral. But that desire to excel is something Hansen carried throughout life, Baughman said.

Hansen, 31, of Panama City, Fla., died Dec. 7 at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany, of wounds sustained from a roadside bomb four days earlier in Logar province, Afghanistan. He had served 8½ years in the Marine Corps before joining the Army and had previously served in Africa, Kosovo, Japan, Panama, Cuba and Iraq, as well as two tours in Afghanistan.

Hansen was assigned to Fort Drum, N.Y., and lived in Scottsville, N.Y., with his wife, Jennifer, and their infant son, Michael. Hansen had two other children who live in Texas: 10-year-old Alana and 7-year-old Gabriel.

His family said in his obituary that he enjoyed fishing, golfing, wrestling and woodworking, and noted he was an avoid Ohio State University football fan. He also loved animals, pumpkin pie and coffee, his family said.

“Michael says Hi Daddy!” his wife wrote on his MySpace page in July 2009. “... We think you’re the best and we cant [sic] wait to see your face again!”