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Bernard Alouis "Hoppy" Hoffman

T/5 in Signal Co, Special : Radio C

Military occupational specialty: 740 (radio operator, intermediate speed)

ASN#38372028

Born 1924 in TX

County of residence at enlistment: Archer County, TX
Other residence(s): Scotland, TX; Long Beach, CA; Orangevale, CA; Wichita Falls, TX
United States Army, European Theatre of Operations
Occupation before the war: farm hands, general hands
Source: Unit Shipment 10143-D, 23d HQ, from le Havre 23 June 1945; militaryyearbookproject.org/references/old-mos-codes/wwii-era/army...; photo courtesy Ancestry®

Hoppy Hoffman (l) with Clyde Pethtel at an old flour mill in Germany; photo courtesy William Pethtel

Bernard “Hoppy” Hoffman was born on September 19, 1924 in Scotland, TX, the fifth of eleven children. His father worked as a ginner in a cotton gin, and later as a farmer.

Hoppy was working as a farm hand when he registered for the draft on January 6, 1943; he enlisted two months later, on March 5. He was eventually assigned to the Signal Company Special, and served in Europe with the unit during the war.

Two of his brothers also served in World War II—one in the Army and one in the Navy, and both in the Pacific Theatre.

By 1950, he was living in Long Beach, CA with his wife, Juanita, and selling real estate. His obituary notes that he worked in Civil Service for 30 years, and lived in Orangevale, CA. He married Mary Hamilton in Reno on February 2, 1964, and became a stepfather to her two children: Carolyn and Roger.

In 1991, in retirement, the Hoffmans moved back to Texas, settling in Wichita Falls, about 15 miles south of the Oklahoma border. Hoppy stayed busy with bowling, fishing, and dominoes, and was active in his Catholic parish of St. Boniface.

He died on April 3, 2006, and is buried at St. Boniface Cemetery in Scotland, TX.

Sources:

1930 census

https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/6224/records/65859543?tid=119276127&pid=230188875455&ssrc=pt

1940 census

https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2442/records/152660296

1943 draft card

https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2238/records/20588394?tid=&pid=&queryId=35743af7-7b9c-410f-9937-9a3c4033af6c&_phsrc=jkr4&_phstart=successSource

1943 enlistment record

https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/8939/records/6022764?tid=&pid=&queryId=a0f3dfc5-92c3-4a61-b9f3-3cb61a4dde5e&_phsrc=jkr1&_phstart=successSource

1945 article in the Wichita Falls Times (TX) about his military service

https://www.newspapers.com/image/774162567/?match=1&terms=bernard%20a%20hoffman

1950 census

https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/62308/records/256755733?tid=119276127&pid=230188875455&ssrc=pt

1991 US public records index

https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1788/records/343347028?tid=&pid=&queryId=1c19595e-05b1-44e2-b15a-a6c45904d8cf&_phsrc=WNW7&_phstart=successSource

2006 obituary in the Times Record News (Wichita Falls, TX)

https://www.newspapers.com/image/778856542/?match=1&terms=bernard%20a%20hoffman

2006 Find a Grave record

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/14046018/bernard-alouis-hoffman

2006 Social Security death index

https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/3693/records/88802564?tid=&pid=&queryId=90dd8fb9-eeef-4125-a030-6ffdcc54a4a9&_phsrc=jkr14&_phstart=successSource

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