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| Lt. Herman Hilscher landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/40384116/herman-g_-hilscher https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/daily/wwii/blue-and-gray-at-omaha-beach/ |
Herman G. Hilscher never had a chance to reach 100 years old. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
Last year I was not able to write a profile everyday from September to November because I was studying for the Certified Financial Planner test (I passed!). I feel my project to honor one U.S. serviceman for each day of the war would be incomplete if I left them off. As I have time, I am going back and adding profiles for the days I missed.
Herman was born on October 10, 1918 in Stamford, Texas. His parents Joseph and Louise were born in what became Czechoslovakia, and Texas, respectively. Joseph came to America in 1890 and was a Spanish American War veteran. He worked as a filling station manager and later as a farmer. Herman had one older brother, two younger brothers, and one younger sister. By 1940 Herman had completed four years of high school and was working on the family farm.
Herman was serving with the Texas National Guard (in a company his father had helped organize) when it was mobilized in 1940. He was commissioned a second lieutenant on September 1, 1942. He served in Company F, 2nd Battalion, 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division. The 29th Infantry Division arrived in England at the early date of September 1942. While other units were sent to fight in North Africa, Sicily, and Italy, the 29th Infantry Division stayed in England, training for 21 months and then being selected to be the first to land on Omaha Beach on D-Day, June 6, 1944.
Company F was part of the first wave to land on Omaha Beach. It was supposed to the east of Company A (which suffered the highest casualty rate on Omaha Beach). However, smoke obscured the landmarks the coxswains needed to guide their boats to the correct landing position, and the current took Company F farther east. As the troops got out, they realized they had landed on the wrong section of the beach at the Les Moulins Draw. German fire was not as lethal here because brush fires created smoke that obscured the view of their machine-gunners. The Americans also had a few tanks on the beach that provided much needed heavy fire. Still, casualties were high enough to ruin any unit cohesion.
Heavily burdened and in shock from their first taste of battle and seeing so many of their friends dead or wounded, the unwounded men needed leadership to get them off of the beach to take out the German positions raining murder on the beach. A disproportionate number of officers, including the company commander, were killed or wounded as they organized the men to cut through the barbed wire and move up the bluffs. Lt. Hilscher was likely killed during this early part of the battle. His body was not recovered.
The Application for Headstone or Marker for Lt. Hilscher indicates he earned the Bronze Medal. Unfortunately, I was not able to locate a copy of the citation.
His cenotaph grave is at Highland Cemetery in Stamford, Texas.
On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!
I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100
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