SHORELINES

10 Shor e l i n e S | 2015 Vol :2 Hanks' brother-in-law contracted tuberculosis while serving in the Pacific. Hanks visited him in a Manila hospital before he was shipped out, only to die after he arrived back home. When they weren't destroying war equipment, Hanks said the engineers spent time helping the Japanese rebuild, including constructing a water purification plant. "We went to Tokyo and when we got there in April 1946, my time was up," Hanks says. That meant Phifer's time serving overseas with the Army was also up and the whole company was ready to go home. "Henry was with me all of these periods of time in the Philippines and up through Japan," Hanks says. A cargo ship to Washington state and a train ride to Camp Shelby were all that remained before Hanks, Phifer and the rest were discharged and went their separate ways. "We lost contact with each other," Hanks says. It was time for Hanks to seize a new opportunity – that of successful businessman. Hanks went to work for Continental Conveyor & Equipment in Birmingham after the war and moved with the company when it relocated to Winfield. He became a top executive and helped lead the company through growth and acquisitions in Texas and West Virginia. Hanks and Margaret would have a daughter and three sons. They lost their daughter to a car accident a few years ago when she was 64, and all of the sons are in their 60s now. Louis and Margaret would travel the world, searching out unusual antiques – from an old butcher block table in a closed country store to a wooden noisemaker used by first responders before there were sirens. It has been a full life of seizing opportunities. The Hankses had condos on the beach where they used Above left: Louis Hanks with his friend Henry Phifer in southeast Asia during World War II. Above right: Photo by k ariM shaMsi-Basha — Louis Hanks and his wife, Margaret, were married weeks after high school graduation and celebrate their 72nd anniversary this year.

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