Closed Due to Confederadication

Sadly, I am going to have to close this blog down to devote efforts to my  Civil War II:  The Continuing War on the Confederacy blog.  As some time in the future, when the current move to eradicate any and all things Confederate from the United States ends or slows down, I will start this one up first.  But right now, just way too many things are happening to Confederate monuments and all things Confederate and I am trying to keep up with it.

On average, I come across 20-30 headlines from the media about what is happening and with eight blogs, I don't have enough time to devote to the topic.  I have already closed down two other blogs.

I am calling this move by certain groups and politicians Confederadication.  The name just came to me as I was typing a story.  It combines the words Confederate and eradication.  They are trying, and accomplishing, the elimination of all things Confederate.

I had been looking for a term for this statue/flag mess and had been using Confederate Haters, but that just didn't have the right ring to it.   I just dropped the "te" at the end of Confederate and added "dication"  and there was the word.

So, Until Some Future Date, Good Reading.

--GreGen

About the Hoback Boys-- Part 7: The Bible

Raymond was never found.    Several of his company mates subsequently reported seeing him lying on the beach near the water's edge, whether wounded or dead they did not know.

What is clear is that he, along with dozens  others like him, was taken by the tide into the sea.

A word now about Providence, which manifested itself in the form of a package that arrived at our house a few days later.  It was a book sent by a soldier from W. Virginia, who had landed a day after Raymond had gone ashore.

"While walking on the beach on D-Day plus one (June 7),  he wrote, "...I came upon this Bible, and as most any person would do, I picked it up from the sands to keep it from being destroyed."  It was the Bible my mother had given to Raymond for Christmas in 1938.  It was her only tangible connection to her missing son.

She treasured it for the rest of her life, as I treasure it today.

This Story Puts It in Perspective.  --GreGen

About the Hoback Boys-- Part 6: Then Came Telegram No. 2

We were over the freezer (ice cream-maker) cranking away when here was another knock-- another telegram.

"The War Department regrets," the too familiar preamble read, "to inform you that your son, Staff Sgt. Raymond Samuel Hoback is missing in action."

Mom and Dad were overcome with grief and I along with them.

To this moment I can remember nothing else that happened that day.

Time simply stopped.

Two brothers Gone.  --GreGen

About the Hoback Boys-- Part 5: "Family After Family Struggled to Absorb the Blow"

When the company left town in 1941, more than a hundred boys left with it, but by 1944, as a function of reassignments and such, only 35 of them remained in the company, which had been brought up to strength with soldiers from all over the country.

Bedford had been one of the 35.

Throughout the rest of that Sunday, telegrams were delivered all around town, and family after family struggled to absorb the blow.

The next day, in our childish way, my sister Rachel and I thought we might cheer folks up by making them some ice cream.

And, then.  More bad news.

Losing one son and brother is bad enough, but....

--GreGen

About the Hoback Boys-- Part 4: "An Unexpected Knock Came Through the Door"

This account by Lucille Hoback Boggess (Bedford and Raymond's sister) certainly brings out the humanity side of the war.

One Sunday in mid-July (July 15, 1944) everyone was getting dressed to go across the road to church.  An unexpected knock came through the door, and my father opened it to the sheriff.  Looking pained and mumbling a few words to Dad, the sheriff  handed him a piece of paper-- a telegram.

"The War department regrets to inform you," it began, "that your son, Pvt. Bedford Turner Hoback has been killed in action."

The news that  everyone in town had been expecting, had been dreading, was finally here.

It was here-- in our house.  Our house.  We were stunned.

Scarcely comprehending the loss but painfully aware of my parents' grief, I watched my mother's tears begin, and my own followed.

--GreGen

About the Hoback Boys-- Part 3: "Our Concern Became Fear, and Fear, Finally Became Nightmare"

In June of 1944, I had finished my freshman year, I was looking forward to spending large chunks of the summer at Bedford County Lake, and I was a long way from the frontlines.

A few days into the month, though, we learned that our boys were on them.  We did not know who was where or how anyone was, but our faith was strong and our hopes remained high.

In the weeks following D-Day, we heard reports of fierce fighting  as the Allies moved deeper into France.  What we did not hear was any news  about the Bedford company, or from Raymond or Bedford (her brothers).

We were concerned, and as the days passed, our concern became  fear, and fear, finally, a nightmare.

--GreGen

About the Hoback Boys-- Part 2: The Bedford Boys

Raymond received a Bible from my mother as a Christmas gift when he was eighteen.  Receiving your own Bible  was to undergo a rite of passage, and we took it seriously.  Raymond certainly did, and he kept his Bible close at hand.  I know he took it with him when the Bedford company mobilized in 1941.

Before the mobilization, the company would go off to this or that army camp to train for a week or two.  When they came back from the end of  maneuvers, everyone would turn out to welcome them home.  One of my strongest memories is the joy in the faces of those boys  as they climbed off the trucks, because they knew their lives could get back to normal.

Once the company mobilized, though, the boys did not come back except as individuals whenever they could get a pass or furlough.  Their joy of coming home was real enough, but the army a greater reality.

After Pearl Harbor, so was the war.

--GreGen

About the Hoback Boys-- Part 1: Why They Joined the National Guard

From the  DDay.org site.  National D-Day Memorial.

Bedford and Raymond Hoback were one of 33 sets of brothers fighting together on the beaches of D-Day, June 6, 1944.  Of those 33 sets, three were sets of brothers from Bedford, Virginia.  (the Stevens twins and Powers boys).    They were part of Company A, 116th Regiment,  29th Infantry Division.

This is the story as told by Mrs. Lucille Boggess, sister of Raymond and Bedford.

My two brothers, Bedford and Raymond,  joined the National Guard, but the attraction was not financial.  The thing that drew them-- drew Bedford anyway-- was the idea of service.  He believed in it.  I should tell you that when Bedford joined the National Guard, he was no boy.

He found military service to be something he wanted to do-- not full time, of course, but once every few days it felt pretty good.  I think he liked the order the military represented, its discipline, teamwork, and fellowship.

Raymond's  motivation may not have been so well informed, but I must tell you that he too-- was a man.  Although four years younger than Bedford, he was not a kid, but he did have a kid brother's admiration  of his older brother, and that is probably why he came to the Guard.  And I think he liked to dress up in his uniform--  he liked to look and feel like a soldier.

--GreGen

The Bedford Boys Who Paid the Ultimate Price at D-Day-- Part 5: White, Wright, Yopp

SSgt.  GORDON H. WHITE JR.   Birth:  31 December 1921   Death:  6 June 1944,    Burial:  Forest Baptist Church, Bedford, Virginia.

SSgt.  ELMERE P. WRIGHT    Birth:   Birth 1915    Death:  6 June 1944     Buried:  Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, France


Sgt.   GRANT C. YOPP   Birth:  27 May 1923      Death:   6 June 1944     Buried:  Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, France.

A Heavy Price to Pay for Bedford, Virginia.  --GreGen

The Bedford Boys Who Paid the Ultimate Price at D-Day-- Part 4: Schenk, Stevensm Wilkes

SSgt  JOHN BURWELL SCHENK     Born:  13 September 1913   Died: 6 June 1944   Buried:  Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, France.

TSgt.  RAY O. STEVENS    Born:  12 August 1919   Died:   6 June 1944   Buried:  Greenwood Cemetery, Bedford, Virginia.

Master Sergeant    JOHN L. WILKES    Born:   20 July 1919    Died:   6 June 1944  Buried:  Greenwood Cemetery, Bedford, Virginia.

--GreGen

The Bedford Boys Who Paid the Ultimate Price at D-Day-- Part 3: Parker, Powers. Rosassa, Reynolds

SSgt  EARL L. PARKER   Born:  22 January 1913,  Died:  6 June 1944,  Buried:  Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, Normandy, France

Pfc  JACK G. POWERS   Born:  18 April 1920,  Died:  6 June 1944,  Buried:  Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, Normandy, France.

Pfc    WELDON ANTONIO ROSASSA    Born:  11 September 1921,  Died:  6 June 1944,   Buried:  Normandy American Cemetery and memorial, Normandy, France.

Pfc    JOHN FRANKLIN "JACK" REYNOLDS    Born 13 November 1922,   Died 6 June 1944,  Buried:  Greenwood Cemetery, Bedford, Virginia.

--GreGen

The Bedford Boys Who Paid the Ultimate Price at D-Day-- Part 2: Gillaspie, Hoback, Hoback, Lee

Pfc  NICK NAPOLEON GILLASPIE--Born 28 March 1918,  Died:  6 June 1944,  Buried:  Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial

Pvt BEDFORD TURNER HOBACK--  Born: 15 September 1913, Died  6 June 1944,  Buried:  Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial.

SSgt. RAYMOND S. HOBACK--  Bron:  21 January 1920,  Died 6 June 1944,  Buried:  Body never recovered.  He is listed at the Garden of the Missing at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial.

Pvt CLIFTON G. LEE--  Born:  13 August 1917,  Died 6 June 1944,  Buried:  Normandy American Cemetery and memorial.

--GreGen

The Bedford Boys Who Paid the Ultimate Price at D-Day-- Part 1: Abbott, Carter, Clifton Draper, Fellers

SSgt. LESLIE C. ABBOTT JR.--  Born Oct. 7. 1921.  Died June 6, 1944.  Buried Oakwood Cemetery, Bedford, Va.

Pfc  WALLACE R. CARTER--  Born 31 January 1923   Died June 6, 1944.  Buried Greenwood Cemetery, Bedford, Va.

Pfc  JOHN D. CLIFTON--  Born June 18, 1923.  Died June 6, 1944.  Buried at Greenwood Cemetery, Bedford, Va.

T/Sgt. FRANK PRICE DRAPER, JR.--  Born September 16, 1918.  Died June 6, 1944.  Buried at Greenwood Cemetery, Bedford, Va.

Captain TAYLOR NICHOLAS FELLERS--  Born 10 June 1914.  Died June 6, 1944.  Buried Greenwood Cemetery, Bedford, Va.

--GreGen

Pvt. Bedford Hoback, Missing In Action at D-Day

From Find A Grave.

Birth:  15 September 1913, Bedford County, Virginia

Death:  6 June 1944 (aged 30)  Departement  du Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France

Burial:  Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial   Colleville-sur-Mer, Departement du Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France.

Killed in action June 6, 1944, Normandy, France.  Brother of Raymond Hoback; Regimental Combat Team, 29th Infantry Division; awarded Purple Heart; buried in U.S. Military Cemetery, Normandy, France.

--GreGen

SSgt. Raymond S. Hoback-- Part 2

Operation Overlord was the code name for the Battle of Normandy.  On June 6, 1944,  Operation Neptune, commonly known as D-Day, began.

Thirty-two Virginia National Guard troops from Bedford, Va., Company A, 116th Infantry, 29th Division were part of the first wave of more than 160,000 Allied troops that landed on a heavily fortified 50-mile stretch of French coast.

Company A was in on the assault on Omaha Beach where the hottest and most costly action took place.  By the end of the day, nineteen of the thirty-two men from Bedford, Virginia, were dead.

Two more died later in the Normandy Campaign.  Also, two other Bedford men assigned to different units died.

Bedford's population at the time was about 3,200 and proportionately the community suffered the country's highest casualties on D-Day, and for that matter, all of World War II.

--GreGen

SSgt Raymond Samuel Hoback-- Part 1

From Find a Grave.

Birth:  21 January 1920  Bedford County, Virginia

Death:  6 June 1944 (aged 24)  Colleville-sur--Mer, Department of  du Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France.

Burial:  Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial  Same as above.

Plot:  Name listed in the Garden  of the Missing  Army-Air Forces Tablet  22 Line 08.

His body was never recovered.

--GreGen

Privates Bedford and Raymond Hoback of Bedford, Va., Both Killed at D-Day, June 6, 1944

I went to Find a Grave for this.  And, was it sad.   Go to either the listing for the father, John Samuel Hoback (1894-1977) or mother, Macie E. Robertson Hoback (1888-1972) and under children you will see the names:

Bedford Turner Hoback   1913-1944
Mabel Frances Hoback Phelps   1915-2111
Elsie Leachman Hoback Davis    1918-2012
Raymond S. Hoback    1920-1944
Giles Cecil Hoback 1931-2005

The whole family was long-lived except for Raymond and Bedford.

For some reason they don't have Lucille Hoback Boggess, their sister listed.  She was the one who was interviewed in the previous article on Bedford, Virginia.

All are buried in Virginia, except Bedford and Raymond.  Bedford in buried at Normandy American Cemetery and memorial at Colleville-sur-Mer, France.  Raymond's body was never recovered and thought to have been swept out to sea.  He is listed at the Garden of the Missing at the same cemetery as his brother.

The pictures of the two men is at right of this entry.

--GreGen

Death of Clinton, Iowa, Pearl Harbor Survivor Daniel R. Kramer, 103

From the May 5, 2020, Clinton (Iowa) Herald  "One of last Pearl Harbor survivors dies" by Carie Kuehn.

Mr. Kramer died Monday, May 4.  He grew up in Dubuque, went to the University of Iowa, joined the U.S. Navy and lived through the attack while stationed on the battleship USS California.  The ship was hit forward and aft by two Japanese torpedoes in the early minutes of the attack and later by a bomb.

Nearly one hundred officers and men died.

Mr. Kramer was 25 at the time and had been married just six months

He recalled:  "General quarters was sounded.  My battle station  was on the bridge of the battleship.  The battleship sank slowly in the water where the main deck was under water but the rest of the battleship was not."

He stayed in the Navy until 1946, then moved back to Clinton where he worked for Du Pont.

When 2020 started, there were just 20 Pearl Harbor survivors remaining in the United States.

--GreGen

Here's Hoping Bedford, Va. Doesn''t Participate in the Great Virginia Confederate Monument Orgy July 1

Bedford, Virginia, home of the National D-Day Memorial  because of its loss of 19 men that day out of 34 engaged and they have a wonderful memorial to them.  I have been writing about this town's sacrifice the last several days.

However, Bedford and Bedford County also has a monument honoring its Confederates who fought during the Civil War.  There is a lot of  news of hate crimes being directed against other Confederate monuments in the state these days, especially in Richmond, and I am wondering about the fate of the Confederate one Bedford.

Will it be allowed to remain or have to be defaced and taken down because of offense to some?

Here's hoping the town continues to honor its war dead and service they gave, regardless of whether or not they were Confederate.

Maybe one Virginia town is not going with the current wave of hate.

--GreGen

Bedford, Va. Remembers D-Day-- Part 4: "Where Are My Boys?"

Several weeks after D-Day, a package arrived at the Hoback's home.  It contained Raymond's Bible.  Lucille now treasures it.  For decades it sat prominently in the family room, never to be moved.  It is inscribed "Raymond S. Hoback, from mother, Xmas, 1938."

Her parents never got over their loss.  She remembers her mother, in her dying days, waking from nightmares screaming, "Where are my boys?"

April Cheek-Messier, a local resident who is president of the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, says the sadness that lingered in town for many years has been replaced by "immense patriotism."

On the 75th anniversary, Lucille Hoback Boggess still feels the loss:  "You wonder what they would have done with their lives, how Bedford would be different if all those boys had come hone," she says.  "You never forget.  I miss them every day."

GreGen