[1] While still serving with the Army's Ground Forces, Lt. Hackett’s Mount McKinley climb in 1947 was part of Operation White Tower 1947.
Operation White Tower was sponsored by RKO Radio Pictures and served two purposes: to get snow pictures while testing high altitude photography and to conduct scientific testing of cosmic ray effects in addition to performing geological surveys of the area.
Hackett agreed to carry several nuclear plates to the Denali Pass to help Brad Washburn, who was on the 1947 Mount McKinley climb, conduct research on the effects of cosmic rays.
[5] After an Air Force plane crashed east of Anchorage, Alaska, on November 22, 1952, killing all 52 people aboard, Hackett was part of a recovery team that climbed to search for survivors.
[6] In 1989, Maj. William D. Hackett, U.S. Army (retired) was inducted as an honorary member of the Mazamas, a non-profit for mountaineering education.