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Thompson FourFoundationThe Thompson Four Foundation

Pillar Two

Bethie and Thompson's Four

Four children of one Louisiana family served their country. This is the record as it currently stands — including the parts of it that are still missing.

The Hanes family display sheet, titled Bethie and Thompson's Four, showing oval portraits of Aubrey Lee, Homer Buford, William Roger and Anna Beth above the surname Hanes.
The family display sheet, taken out of its frame, photographed, rectified and tone corrected for the web. The sheet had faded to a heavy magenta. Nothing has been added, removed or retouched. The order of the portraits on this site follows the order on the sheet.
A colour photograph of the four Hanes siblings together in later life, standing in front of a brick wall. Three men and one woman, all wearing glasses.
The Four together in the 1990s — the only photograph the Foundation holds of all four of them in adult life. Left, William Roger. Centre, Anna Beth. Right, Aubrey Lee. Behind, Homer Buford. Photographed from the print and rectified; the color is the print’s own.
Studio portrait of Aubrey Lee Hanes as a young man, from the Hanes family display sheet.

The eldest

Aubrey Lee

1917 – 2001

An Army intelligence officer in the European Theater, and later a full colonel. The family holds that he was among those who documented Auschwitz.

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Studio portrait of Homer Buford Hanes in uniform, from the Hanes family display sheet.

The second son

Homer Buford

Dates pending

Served in Europe. His discharge papers are held by the family, and reading them will settle whether he landed at Normandy.

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Studio portrait of William Roger Hanes as a young man, from the Hanes family display sheet.

The third son

William Roger

1929 – 2023

First Sergeant, United States Army. Born too late for the Second World War, he carried the family's service into the generation that followed it.

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Studio portrait of Anna Beth Hanes as a young woman, from the Hanes family display sheet. The photograph is signed in the lower corner, With Love.

The daughter · the last of the Four

Anna Beth

Living

Eighteen years with the United States Department of State — Germany, Barbados, Tunisia, and finally Washington, as direct secretary to an Under Secretary of State, handling classified communications. She was inside the Department’s headquarters on September 11, 2001. She is the last surviving of the Four.

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Their father and mother

Thompson & Bethie

The second pillar of this Foundation names the Four and their father and mother in one breath. Thompson served in the First World War before any of them were grown. Bethie raised four children and watched all four of them go.

Portrait of William Thompson Hanes in First World War uniform and campaign hat.Portrait of Bethi Beatrice Furr Hanes as a young woman, wearing a dark hat with a floral ornament.
Thompson & Bethie →

How to read these pages

Every fact carries its evidence.

A visitor should never have to guess whether a statement rests on a document or on family memory. Each entry on a profile page is marked with one of four states.

Documented
Confirmed by a primary record, or by a photograph of one such as a grave marker or service document.
Partial
An archival source indicates this, but a discrepancy or a gap remains. Verification is outstanding.
Testimony
The subject said this about their own life, heard directly by the person recording it. Stronger than family recollection, because it does not pass through anyone else. Still an account rather than a document, because memory is not a record and cannot be re-examined the way a file can.
Family account
Held by the family and consistent with what is known. No record has been located to confirm it. It is published as an account, not as a finding.
Pending
A record is known to exist or has been requested. Nothing is published here until it arrives.