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Retired U.S. Army Maj. Ralph Hoover of Maugansville is a World War II veteran who served in the military from 1943 until 1966. (By Joe Crocetta, Staff Photographer) |
Ralph Hoover spent the same amount of time in combat as it takes most people to earn a college degree.
In his 23 years of military service, he spent four years on the battlefields of Korea and the South Pacific, Hoover said.
"I've been fired at and missed and fired at and hit," the 87-year-old Hoover recently said from his Maugansville home. "Have you seen the movies when they have machine gun bullets hitting at their feet? I've been there."
Hoover said he has seen just about everything associated with war, including the death of friends and atrocities committed by the Japanese.
The Army drafted Hoover in 1943 while his family worked the former Kennedy farm in southern Washington County. It was on that farm nearly nine decades earlier that abolitionist John Brown staged his men before leading an ill-fated raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, W.Va.
Hoover said he asked to serve in the Air Corps, but the Army assigned him to the infantry instead.
He completed 16 weeks of basic training at Fort McClellan, Ala., then departed on a journey over land and sea that would take him, among other places, to the jungles of New Guinea and the Philippines.
"The training was tough," he said. "I never regretted it when I got to where the real action was."
In December 1943, Pfc. Hoover's unit, the 6th Infantry Division, hit the shores of New Guinea. The men remained near the beach for several months, then ventured inland toward the Japanese lines. On June 22, 1944, Hoover was shot in the left hip by a Japanese sniper.
"I was the first man in the company to get hit," he said. "A sniper didn't like me."
Hoover said he walked to a nearby aid station. About a week later, he was flown to a hospital after the wound became infected.
"Things get infected fast when you're in the jungle," he said.
Following a hospital stay and the Japanese defeat in New Guinea in 1944, Hoover steamed north to take part in the invasion of the Philippines.
Hoover was in the first wave to land at Luzon on Jan. 9, 1945. He said he was assigned with three other soldiers to guard Gen. Douglas MacArthur.
In 1942, MacArthur had left the Philippines and fled to Australia before the Japanese overran the islands and forced the surrender of thousands of American defenders.
A participant in one of the great prison camp rescues in military history, Hoover helped set up an ambush to prevent Japanese reinforcements from attacking U.S. Army Rangers after they liberated the Cabanatuan prisoner of war camp on Jan. 30, 1945.
The Rangers attacked the Japanese guards, then led more than 500 Allied prisoners — some too ill to walk — dozens of miles to friendly lines.
After that operation, Hoover's unit ended up east of Manila, where he said he "tangled" with a Japanese officer who was preparing to throw a grenade at an American patrol.
"They let you go by as a scout and then threw grenades as the rest of the patrol went by," Hoover said. "I was firing from the hip. I hit him six times out of six."
In his 23 years of military service, he spent four years on the battlefields of Korea and the South Pacific, Hoover said.
"I've been fired at and missed and fired at and hit," the 87-year-old Hoover recently said from his Maugansville home. "Have you seen the movies when they have machine gun bullets hitting at their feet? I've been there."
Hoover said he has seen just about everything associated with war, including the death of friends and atrocities committed by the Japanese.
The Army drafted Hoover in 1943 while his family worked the former Kennedy farm in southern Washington County. It was on that farm nearly nine decades earlier that abolitionist John Brown staged his men before leading an ill-fated raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, W.Va.
Hoover said he asked to serve in the Air Corps, but the Army assigned him to the infantry instead.
He completed 16 weeks of basic training at Fort McClellan, Ala., then departed on a journey over land and sea that would take him, among other places, to the jungles of New Guinea and the Philippines.
"The training was tough," he said. "I never regretted it when I got to where the real action was."
In December 1943, Pfc. Hoover's unit, the 6th Infantry Division, hit the shores of New Guinea. The men remained near the beach for several months, then ventured inland toward the Japanese lines. On June 22, 1944, Hoover was shot in the left hip by a Japanese sniper.
"I was the first man in the company to get hit," he said. "A sniper didn't like me."
Hoover said he walked to a nearby aid station. About a week later, he was flown to a hospital after the wound became infected.
"Things get infected fast when you're in the jungle," he said.
Following a hospital stay and the Japanese defeat in New Guinea in 1944, Hoover steamed north to take part in the invasion of the Philippines.
Hoover was in the first wave to land at Luzon on Jan. 9, 1945. He said he was assigned with three other soldiers to guard Gen. Douglas MacArthur.
In 1942, MacArthur had left the Philippines and fled to Australia before the Japanese overran the islands and forced the surrender of thousands of American defenders.
A participant in one of the great prison camp rescues in military history, Hoover helped set up an ambush to prevent Japanese reinforcements from attacking U.S. Army Rangers after they liberated the Cabanatuan prisoner of war camp on Jan. 30, 1945.
The Rangers attacked the Japanese guards, then led more than 500 Allied prisoners — some too ill to walk — dozens of miles to friendly lines.
After that operation, Hoover's unit ended up east of Manila, where he said he "tangled" with a Japanese officer who was preparing to throw a grenade at an American patrol.
"They let you go by as a scout and then threw grenades as the rest of the patrol went by," Hoover said. "I was firing from the hip. I hit him six times out of six."
