Chester Hoover
Dressed For A POW / MIA Parade 1998
Chester
Hoover, January 1943
Last
Name: HOOVER
First
Name Middle Initial:
CHESTER L
Nick
Name:
Chet
Street:
211 FIRST AVE N
City
& State: GREYBULL, WY
E-Mail:
Zip:
82426
Phone:
(307) 765-2110
Spouse:
Conflict:
WW II
Service
Branch: Army Air Corp
Unit:
381 BG. 532 SQ.
Theater:
ETO
Where
Captured: HOLLAND
Date
Captured: 06/25/43
Camps
Held In: STALAG LUFT 3 AND 7A
How
Long Interned: 674 days
Liberated
/ repatriated:liberated
Date
Liberated: 04/29/45
Age
at Capture: 20
Medals
Received: PURPLE HEART MEDAL, AIR MEDAL, AMERICAN CAMPAIGN
MEDAL, AMERICAN DEFENSE SERVICE MEDAL, NATIONAL DEFENSE MEDAL, WORLD WAR
II VICTORY MEDAL, PRISONER OF WAR MEDAL, EUROPE - AFRICA -MIDDLE EAST
CAMPAIGN MEDAL WITH 5 STARS, WHICH ARE FOR: AIR OFFENCE EUROPE,
NORMANDY, NORTHERN EUROPE, RIGHINELAND, AND CENTRAL EUROPE
Military
Job: BOMBARDIER
Company:
Occupation
after War: RANCHING AND CONSTRUCTION
Bio:
Chester Lytle Hoover was born in Greybull, Wyoming Sept. 15,1922.
Greybull was an oil boomtown, surrounded by cattle and sheep ranches.
All of Chester’s early life was spent on a ranch where he loved to
ride horses. He was proud of the fact that he broke his first wild horse
when he was ten years old.
He attended school in Greybull, and enlisted in the Army Air Corps in
1940. When World War II broke out, he went to the Aviation Cadet Flying
School and graduated as a Bombardier January 2nd, 1943. He became an
original crewmember of the 381st Bomb Group, activated in January of
1943 and flew to England in April to join the 8th Air Force.
On June 22nd, Chester’s plane was shot down, two were killed, and
except for Chester, the remaining crew was captured immediately. Despite
an intense pain in his back, sustained when he hit the ground, he evaded
being captured for three days and two nights. When he was finally
caught, Chester had become partially paralyzed and could not stand up.
The Germans took him to Dutch hospital in Rotterdam. A full body cast
was molded around him from his neck to his legs and was told that he
must wear this for an entire year. This altered his plans for an
immediate escape.
After a brief stay in the hospital, he was transferred to the German
interrogation center at Dulag near Frankfort. After interrogation he was
re-united with his crew. The next day a large group of Allied Officers
were packed into train cars, and moved east to Stalag Luft III, a prison
camp for Allied Air Force Officers.
Because of lice, Chester had to cut the cast off. This resulted in a
backache that would plague him for the rest of his life.
This camp was evacuated on January 29, 1945 to prevent the Russian Army
from liberating the many thousand Air Force Officers.
After enduring a forced march through a blizzard for four days, they
were packed into boxcars, 80 men to a car, and proceed to prison camp 24
miles north of Munich known as Stalag 7A. About 16,000 prisoners of all
nationalities were held here until April 29, 1945, when the camp was
liberated, and they were free.
Chester arrived home on June 15, 1945 and was married to his faithful
fiancée on July 7, 1945. To this union, two daughters were born. His
wife passed away in 1953, and after selling his ranch, he went into the
construction business. In 1966 he took a job as Excavation Sup’t. in
Viet Nam. He was employed here until 1972, when he moved to Thailand,
and then to West Iran. In 1975 he was married in Bangkok, and returned
to the U.S. He was later forced to retire because of ill health and
became an avid golfer.
In 1988 he survived two Sudden Cardiac Death episodes and had an AICD
implant. He lost his second wife in an auto accident in 1996, and now
lives alone in the town of his birth, Greybull, Wyoming. Still golfing.
