| Birth: | May 16, 1925
Oxford
Johnson County
Iowa, USA | | Death: | Aug. 11, 2008
Oxford
Johnson County
Iowa, USA | 
World War II Liberator. He was the last surviving member of the four U.S. soldiers that found the Buchenwald concentration camp on April 11, 1945 and started the liberation of the 21,000 surviving prisoners that were being starved and tortured there. Traveling in a six-wheeled armored vehicle with the Army's 6th Armored Division, the four soldiers captured about 15 German SS troopers. The prisoners were so elated to be rescued that they grabbed Hoyt's commanding officer, Capt. Frederic Keffer, and started throwing him up in the air over and over until he asked them to stop. Hoyt was a Bronze Star recipient and was a veteran of the Battle of the Bulge. Upon returning from the war, Hoyt remained quiet about his exploits and settled into life in his hometown of Oxford, Iowa working as a postal carrier. In recent years he began telling about his war experiences to University of Iowa journalism professor Stephen Bloom, who's soon to be published book "The Oxford Project", will contain a full accounting of what Hoyt came upon at Buchenwald. The sights of bodies piled high, hearts that had been removed from live prisoners, a lampshade made from a prisoner's tattoo, men who were hung from meat hooks and prisoners that looked like walking skeletons stayed with him his entire life. For 63 years after the war Hoyt suffered from post traumatic stress disorder and he attended weekly group therapy sessions. A humble man, he considered being the 1939 spelling bee champ of Johnson County Iowa his greatest achievement, not the liberation of Buchenwald. His sacrifices are now archived for future generations so that no one will ever forget the price that was paid by American heroes. Hoyt died peacefully in his sleep while taking an afternoon nap.
Family links:
Spouse:
Doris Marie Hipp Hoyt (1926 - 2011)*
Children:
James Stephen Hoyt (1949 - 2012)*
*Calculated relationship
| | | Burial:
Mount Calvary Cemetery
Oxford
Johnson County
Iowa, USA |
Created by: Ron Moody
Record added: Aug 15, 2008
Find A Grave Memorial# 29043026 |
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