[1] Hansen rose to the general's rank and served successively as Director of Material Division, Supply Department and as Assistant Quartermaster of the Marine Corps, before he retired from active duty in June 1961.

[3][4] Upon graduation with Bachelor of Science degree on June 2, 1927, Hansen was commissioned second lieutenant in the Marine Corps and ordered to the Basic School at Philadelphia Navy Yard for officers' instruction.

[1] Upon his return to the United States in January 1929, he underwent preliminary aviation instruction at Quantico, Virginia, before he was ordered to the Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida, for flight training.

[1] Hansen was then attached to the staff of 1st Marine Brigade under Colonel Richard M. Cutts as Assistant Motor Transport Officer and sailed to Haiti in August 1929.

He moved with the Wing to San Diego following the United States entry into World War II in December 1941 and remained in that capacity until August 1942, when he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and transferred to the Headquarters Marine Corps in Washington, D.C.[1] Hansen was subsequently appointed Officer-in-Charge, Supply Section and later Quartermaster, Division of Aviation under his former superior officer, General Geiger and remained in that capacity until September 1944.

Hansen was subsequently ordered to Hawaii, where he joined the headquarters of Aircraft, Fleet Marine Force, Pacific and served as Quartermaster and Assistant Chief of Staff for Logistics under Major General Francis P. Mulcahy.

[2][11][1] He returned to the Headquarters Marine Corps in Washington, D.C., in November 1945 and assumed duty as Quartermaster of the Division of Aviation under Major General Field Harris.

[1] In March 1952, Hansen was transferred to Camp Pendleton, California, where he joined the headquarters of recently reactivated 3rd Marine Division under Major General Robert H. Pepper as Supply Officer.

[2][12][1] Hansen was transferred back to the Headquarters Marine Corps in Washington, D.C., in July 1959 and assumed duty as Director, Material Division, Supply Department under Major General Roy M. Gulick.

While in this capacity, he was co-responsible for the support of development, production, acquisition, and sustainment of general supply, Mortuary Affairs, subsistences, petroleum and water, material and distribution management during peace and war to provide combat power to the U.S. Marine Corps units.