Sergeant Fanning was a member of the 24th Quartermaster Company, 24th Infantry Division. He was taken Prisoner of War while fighting the enemy in South Korea on 20 July 1950, forced to march to North Korea on the "Tiger Death March" and died while a prisoner at Camp 3, Chang-Song, North Korea, on 1 November 1951.

Fanning was awarded the Prisoner of War Medal, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal.