Interrupted in these endeavors by the United States' entry into World War II, Hano followed his brother into the armed forces in 1942 (Alfred, to the Air Force; Arnold, the Army), eventually serving in an artillery battalion of the Seventh Infantry Division, participating in the Aleutian Islands Campaign and later landing in the first wave on Kwajalein Atoll. Shortly after that battle, informed that his brother was missing in action on a mission over Germany, Hano successfully applied to be commissioned as an infantry officer at Fort Benning, thus allowing him to be deployed to the European Theater, where he hoped to find his brother. However, before this plan could be realized, the war ended and Alfred's remains were recovered.