Hannan, Stan H.

Stan Hannan was born in Livingstone, Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) in 1945, and grew up in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). When Ian Smith's government declared independence from Britain in 1965 (the U.D.I. - Unilateral Declaration of Independence), Hannan was in the Police Anti-Terrorist Unit, spending his mandatory national service patrolling the borders of Rhodesia against increasing unrest during the early stages of the Rhodesian Bush War. Upon leaving the service in 1967 Hannan married and entered into various business enterprises, including managing the South African folk rock group, Four Jacks and a Jill. In 1974 he underwent a religious conversion to Christianity and the following year was accepted into the Rhodesian Army Chaplain Corps. It was during this time that Hannan produced "A Chaplain's Story" and "Rhodesia Unafraid." In Hannan's words: When I joined the Chaplains Corps in 1975 I recognized the attitude of the army at the time was one of disrespect and disdain for the Chaplains. To quote a particularly outspoken Sergeant, "you lot are a waste of rations." I was dismayed but not surprised. I had served in the counter terrorist forces years before when conscripted out of high school and shared the same opinion myself at the time. It occurred to me that some form of "public relations" exercise was needed. With the permission of the Chaplain General I formed an organization called "The Friends of the Chaplains Corps" as a not-for-profit organization and used this as a vehicle to raise funds for promotions and literature.

The first task I felt important was to elevate the image of the Chaplains, and I decided to produce a short documentary that could be added to the many military 16mm films that were shown to recruits. So I approached the Chaplains Corp with the idea and they agreed as long as it was funded by private donations. They also stipulated that we were to obtain our own film stock. Unfortunately all we could get at the time was black and white 16mm film stock and that is what we used. At this time Rhodesia was not only under sanctions but under the condemnation from much of the world for breaking away from the British control. So we felt that this little movie should also be a morale booster! I arranged to have a friend named Martin Craemer called up into the active army along with his 16mm camera and jeep, and we formed an immediate team and went out and shot the footage wherever we could find it. We had a loose script but in essence decided to simply acquire footage and then come back to the editing room and put it together. Rhodesia was surrounded and under attack and we felt an urgent need to get the message out, so we tried to combine the message of the original concept telling the story of the Chaplains Corp with an "external message." The short 20-minute-or-so black-and-white documentary was edited by Greta Hughes from the then Rhodesian Department of Information. Her husband was killed in action several months previously and so it had personal implications. The film was ready and Rhodesian television asked to run it. In mid-1976 it was put on at 8:00 pm, prime time. It was a great success and the response from all quarters was encouraging. The Army response was that they could now connect the dots and realize as Chaplains we were on their side and believed in the reason for fighting. (In retrospect this is more of a debate than it was then...but when we are younger we are more idealistic.)

I then received a message that the Minister of Defense, Mr. P K Van de Bijl, wanted to see me. At the meeting, he instructed me to go and produce a second film, this time in color, for distribution in the overseas market that was more specific about the "cause for Rhodesia," and that was when the idea of "Rhodesia Unafraid" was spawned. I immediately recruited Mike Hart-Jones, who was a producer at Rhodesia Television, and we assembed a small crew which included my original cameraman Martin Craemer, and we headed out to gather footage and start putting together the documentary. This time we had letters from the Ministry and the full authority of the Army high command on our side and the cooperation was exceptional. It took us about six months from start to finish to put the colour version together, and we were pleased with the end result. Was it pure "propaganda?" No, not really. At the time we felt we were under attack. The Chinese, Cubans, Russians, and North Koreans were amassed at our borders. ZAPU and ZANU forces were killing farmers and civilians. We were born in Rhodesia and felt we had the right to the land, and so we fought and defended it. History speaks for itself, and these films are a part of that history. "A History of the films The Chaplains Story and Rhodesia Unafraid" (2009 correspondence with Russell Library). In 1980 Southern Rhodesia became the Republic of Zimbabwe, under Robert Mugabe, with the adoption of majority rule and a new consitution. After visiting America in the early 1980s and his family made the decision to emigrate to the United States, which they did in 1985, obtaining citizenship in 1991.

From the description of Stan Hannan Rhodesia Unafraid Collection, 1976-1978. (University of Georgia). WorldCat record id: 615732462