William Upshur Hooper
MAJ in 603rd Engineer Camouflage Bn : Commanding
ASN#395093
Born 1919 in MD, Died 1998
Other residence(s): Baltimore, MD; Manheim, PA
United States Army, European Theatre of Operations
College education before the war: Johns Hopkins Univ. 4 years
Bill Hooper was born on May 9, 1919 in Baltimore, MD, the youngest of six children. His father was a mechanical engineer.
After Bill graduated from high school, he went on to follow in his father's footsteps, studying mechanical engineering at Johns Hopkins University. There he was a member of the Johns Hopkins chapter of the Society of American Military Engineers and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. On the military side, he was a member of Scabbard and Blade, a military organization at JHU, and also Treasurer of the Officers' Club (the ROTC commissioned cadet officers). He received his degree in 1939.
He was commissioned a lieutenant in the Army on August 4, 1940 and by 1941 he was stationed at Fort Belvoir in Fairfax County, VA. Also stationed there was Susanna Kauffroth with the Army Nurse Corps, and the couple married on December 17, 1941.
Bill eventually was assigned to the 603rd Engineer Camouflage Battalion and saw service with the unit during the war. He had earned the rank of MAJ by the time of his stint as Executive Officer of the 603rd, and he took over command of the unit on January 4, 1945. He was discharged from the Army on January 16, 1946 and returned to Baltimore.
Bill and Susanna became the parents of two daughters: Martha and Elizabeth. By 1950, Bill was working as a mechanical engineer for an engineering consulting company, and in 1953 he took a position as a mechanical engineer for Baltimore Gas & Electric. He stayed with the utility until his retirement in 1980.
In his spare time, Bill pursued his hobby of model steam engines. He and Susanna were still in Baltimore in 1984 but eventually retired to Lancaster County, PA where she had grown up. He died there, in Manheim, PA, on April 20, 1998 and is buried at Druid Ridge Cemetery in Pikesville, MD.
Sources:
1920 census
1930 census
1939 Johns Hopkins Univ. yearbook (includes photo; see pp. 47, 124, 144-145)
https://jscholarship.library.jhu.edu/items/429b1c7e-5519-4461-b886-f2c5d2b671e1
1941 engagement announcement in The Sunday News (Lancaster, PA)
https://www.newspapers.com/image/560251153/?match=1&terms=susanna%20kauffroth
1950 census
1984-1993 US public records
1998 VA death record
1998 Social Security death index
1998 Find a Grave record
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/270088774/william-u-hooper
1998 obituary in the Intelligencer Journal (Lancaster, PA)
https://www.newspapers.com/image/565393174/?match=2&terms=william%20u%20hooper
2008 wife's Find a Grave record (includes obituary)
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/115249544/susanna-jane-hooper