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| Lt. Irving Hoyt served in the 41st Infantry Division in Biak, shown in the painting by Keith Rocco. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/41652979/irving-howard-hoyt https://www.flickr.com/photos/thenationalguard/4101097828 |
Irving Howard Hoyt never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on February 14, 1918 in Oregon. His mother Minerva was also born in Portland and his father Charles was born in Iowa. His father worked as a laundry manager. Irving had four older brothers. By 1940 he had completed three years of college and was living at home working as a visual educator.
He served in the Oregon National Guard and was inducted into the army as a sergeant on September 16, 1940 for what was to be one year of service. He ultimately became a first lieutenant in the Headquarter Company, 1st Battalion, 162nd Infantry Regiment, 41st Infantry Division.
After Pearl Harbor the 41st ID was stationed for coastal defense in Washington and Oregon. It was then sent to Australia and arrived in April 1942. The 162nd IR first saw action in Salamaua, New Guinea in June 1943. After action at Humbolt Bay in April 1944, the 41st ID was assigned to take Biak Island. It was a three month campaign against 11,000 well defended Japanese. Combat losses were not as bad as some other campaigns. The Americans would lose 474 killed. One of them was Lt. Hoyt who died on June 19, 1944.
His grave is at Lone Fir Pioneer Cemetery in Portland, Oregon.
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.
Join the public Facebook group WW2 Fallen 100
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