Col. William F. Haning Jr. Endowed Fund

Col. Haning served with the U.S. Air Force in World War II, Korea and Vietnam, receiving a Purple Heart and the Distinguished Service Cross “for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy.” William was the archetypal Iowa farm-boy: eldest of seven children of a farmer-father and a schoolteacher-mother. All seven Haning brothers and sisters served in the military. William was commissioned in the Army Air Corps in late 1940 and was stationed at Wheeler AB in Hawai‘i on December 7, 1941. William was shot down twice in New Guinea with serious injuries, and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for preventing the sinking of a hospital ship by ramming his P-38 into his adversary’s plane when his own guns ran out of ammunition. After the War, William married Kathleen, and they had two children, Michele and Bill. Many Americans of that era necessarily gave up their dreams and ambitions; and the great aspiration that remained out of Col. Haning’s reach was to be a teacher – thus, this endowed fund.

Alumnus Bill Haning ’67 is a graduate of Princeton University and of the University of Hawai‘i John A. Burns School of Medicine. Tenured, he is now Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and is a Regent of the University of Hawai‘i System. As President of the American Society of Addiction Medicine, he has represented 6,600 addiction clinicians nationally. Among his honors, he was named Hawaii Medical Association Physician of the Year in 2014. Haning is also a retired U.S. Navy captain who received the Legion of Merit for service in Operation Iraqi Freedom as the Force Surgeon for Marine Corps Forces Pacific and Marine Corps Forces Central Command. In 2021, he was awarded the Punahou Alumni Association Charles A. Judd ’38 Humanitarian Award.

Bill’s combination of profound intellect, thoughtful empathy and generosity of spirit were nurtured by his father’s example and the mentoring of memorable faculty at Punahou, notably Tom Metcalf (Dean), Webster Caye (English), and Staff Sergeant John Pinner, USA (JROTC). In their honor, this endowed fund will support the work of generations of Punahou faculty to come.