Parallel Names

• Hanks, Emma Jane
• Hanks, Emma Jane "Red"
• Hanks, Emma Jane “Red” (Foster)

Biographical Note: Emma Jane (Foster) Hanks

Emma Jane "Red" Hanks served in the American Volunteer Group (AVG) as a registered nurse with the medical team who cared for the AVG pilots.

Emma Jane (Foster) Hanks was born on February 14, 1916, in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania to John and Emily (Hartley) Foster. Hanks graduated from Penn State University with a bachelor’s degree in political science and a minor in sociology. While working on her degree, she enrolled as a foreign exchange student and attended Lingnan University in Canton, China from 1935-1936. She was the University’s first female foreign exchange student. After completing her course work in 1937, she continued her education at Yale University. She received her master’s in nursing in 1940.

In 1941, Hanks went back to China, this time as a nurse with the AVG medical team. She was the only registered nurse who served with the AVG and helped the physicians take care of the pilots. She was stationed in Burma throughout her service. She was discharged from the military in July 1942. After the war, she continued her nursing career in the United States. She served as executive director of the Tuberculosis and Health Society of Dauphin and Perry counties of Pennsylvania as well as the executive director of the Pennsylvania Health Council.

While in China, Hanks met John E. "Pete" Petach, 2nd Squadron Flight Leader. On February 16, 1942, the two were married by AVG chaplain Paul Frillman at the American Consulate in Kunming, China. However, not long after that in July 1942, Petach died while on a bombing and strafing mission at Nanchang. In 1964, Hanks married Fletcher Hanks, a former “Hump” pilot for the China National Aviation Corporation (CNAC). Hanks had one daughter and five stepchildren.

Emma Jane Hanks passed away on October 17, 2009, in Oxford, Maryland.

Biographical note derived from records on Ancestry.com and “Emma Jane "Red" Petach Hanks interview, 1991,” from the Grand Valley State University Digital Collections, (https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/document/42065, accessed December 8, 2025).

Gender

• female

Occupations

• Nurses

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