Corporal Donald Brenton Hoobler was an original Easy Company soldier.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Hoobler was born on June 28, 1922 in Manchester, Ohio to Kathryn Phyllis and Sergeant Ralph Brenton Hoobler. He had three siblings, John R. Hoobler, George B. Hoobler and Mary K. Hoobler.
WWII[]
After graduating from Manchester College in 1940, Hoobler joined the Ohio National Guard on October 15 and served until October 1941 after his father died. He then enlisted in the U.S. Army in Fort Thomas, Kentucky on July 22, 1942 and was assigned to Easy Company, 506th at Camp Toccoa, Georgia and was made a rifleman in 3rd Squad, 1st Platoon.
Sometime before D-Day, Hoobler began craving a German Luger for a souvenir. One time, he met a young British paratrooper, who saw combat in North Africa and had a Luger that he let Hoobler admire for a while. He remarked, "Boy, she sure is a doozy!"
Hoobler made the jump into Normandy. During the campaign, he was promoted to Corporal and made Assistant Squad Leader of 3rd Squad. According to Webster, unlike most soldiers, Hoobler "got a real kick out of war."
Hoobler then fought in Holland's Operation Market Garden and later in Belgium, during the Battle of the Bulge. During the battle, he shot down a German officer while the German was escaping on horseback. It was from that German where Hoobler finally obtained his Luger. However, that Luger would cost him his life. Since he was wearing so much clothing, the pressure made the gun go off in his pocket and the bullet went into his leg, tearing the femoral artery. On January 3, 1945, he died from blood loss before his cohorts could get him to the aid station.
Corporal Donald Brenton Hoobler is buried at Manchester IOOF Cemetery [1] with his father, mother and his brother, George, in the same cemetry.