Page 38 - Anthology

The following is my story of my husband Robert L. Hoover: United States Army

Robert was born in December 1923, in Grayson County, Kentucky. He lived on a farm with his parents,
Clarence and Betty Hoover and a family of ten children. He was number six in order. The farm was just
general farming, it had crops and animals.

Robert was drafted June 1944, right out of high school. He was living in Caneyville, Kentucky, when he
entered service. Robert graduated one week and went into the service the next. He had been deferred
so he could finish school. Robert was anxious to go; he was patriotic; he just wanted to finish high school
first. Robert paid for all his books, so he could go to school and get his high school diploma. Robert was
the only one in his family to finish high school.

Robert went to Basic Training at Camp Blanding, Florida. He was eager to learn everything he could. He
was told they were “cannon fodder”; so, he tried to learn all that he could.

While at Camp Blanding, Florida, he accepted Christ as his savior, but he was shipped out before he
could be baptized. Just before he was to go into battle, he was baptized in the Volturno River in Italy.
The water was swift and that is all that kept it from freezing. (He was wearing only his rain slicker.)

Robert’s first overseas duty was in Naples, Italy. From there he went to Marseille, France. The U.S.
Army intelligence indicated the American soldiers would encounter no resistance from German troops as
they entered Gersheim, Germany. The intelligence was wrong. Robert often said: “The battle in
Gersheim is where my journey started.”

Robert’s entire squad of seven soldiers was captured. Robert received wounds in his chest and lung.
The shrapnel remained trapped in his shirt pocket – the same pocket that he had my picture. That picture
is blood stained from the shrapnel.

Robert’s pouch that held his dog tags; my picture, shrapnel and a bullet.

Robert’s father rode horseback five miles to Caneyville to pick up a telegram informing the family that
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Robert’s brother hand been captured during the Battle of the Bulge . Clarence Hoover made a second
ride, just two months later, to pick up a second telegram informing them that Robert was missing in
action. Clarence was known to have said: “Both of them missing, it’s not fair.” Robert’s mother’s hair
literally turned white that winter. Fortunately, both sons returned home from the war. Robert was
liberated by French troops on April 17, 1945.