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| Brothers Staff Sergeant Raymond Hoback and Private Bedford Hoback served in the 29th Infantry Division until D-Day. https://www.thisiswhywestand.net/single-post/2017/06/06/The-Ultimate-Story-Of-Sacrifice-On-D-Day-The-Bedford-Boys |
Raymond Samuel Hoback never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
Announcement: Later this month we will be starting a project that will result in the stories of all 400,000 plus of the World War 2 fallen at one online location. There will be an accompanying smart phone app to allow users visiting any war memorial to scan the fallen serviceman's name and be linked to his story. Watch this blog or join the WW2 Fallen 100 Facebook page to learn of upcoming details.
Raymond was born on January 21, 1920 in Bedford County, Virginia. His parents John and Macie were also both born in Virginia. His father worked as a farmer. Raymond had one older brother (Bedford, born in 1913), two older sisters and three younger sisters. By 1940 Raymond and Bedford were both still living at home working on the family farm. Bedford had completed three years of high school and Raymond had completed six years of education.
Raymond enlisted in the Virginia National Guard in the spring of 1940, hoping to join his big brother Bedford who had already been in the army many years. According to Alex Kershaw's book The Bedford Boys, Bedford was the more fun-loving of the brothers, while Raymond was more reserved. When the National Guard was called up to the regular army, the brothers were assigned to Company A, 1st Battalion, 116th Infantry Regiment 29th Infantry Division -- 34 other men from Bedford were also in the 1st Battalion, most of them in Company A.
Both Bedford and Raymond became sergeants. Raymond ended up a staff sergeant, but Bedford was busted back to private for eating a sandwich during a marching drill.
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 at section Dog Green, June 6, 1944. Company A was the tip of the spear -- its men went in on the very first wave divided among seven landing craft.
Raymond may have made it out of his landing craft, but he never made it to shore. Others recall seeing his body in the water. Bedford also failed to make in on the beach. He was killed by an exploding 88mm shell. Their time in the battle could be measured in minutes.
The Hoback brothers are buried at Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in Colleville-sur-Mer, France.
Last year on this date I profiled Marvin Fritza, 122nd Liaison Squadron. You can read about Marvin here.
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
My daddy signed up with a company out of Emporia Va but ended up with Company A.
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