Remember the farm boy from Manchester, Ohio, who grew up in the shadows of the Great War and stepped forward to fight in the next. The son of a World War I veteran. The brother. The rifleman. The paratrooper. The hero.
Donald Brenton Hoobler was born on June 28, 1922, in Adams County. He was the second child and first son of Ralph and Kathryn Hoobler—a proud family grounded in service, small-town values, and hard work. His early years were shaped by loss: his father passed away when Donald was just eight years old, and two of his siblings, Mary Kathryn and John Robert, would one day carry on the family name without him.
After graduating from Manchester High School, Donald joined the Ohio National Guard on October 15, 1940. He arrived at Camp Shelby for training in 1941 when the Guard was activated at the start of the war. But due to the death of his father, he was sent home—now head of household, with the option to stay behind and care for his family. Many would have chosen that path. Donald did not.
Instead, he walked into the recruiter’s office in Portsmouth, Ohio, and enlisted in the U.S. Army. He signed up for one of the most dangerous roles available: the paratroopers.
At Camp Toccoa, Georgia, he began training with what would become one of the most legendary military units in American history—Company E, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. “Easy Company.”
Hoobler trained as a rifleman in 3rd squad, 1st platoon. He earned his jump wings at Fort Benning, joined the full division at Fort Bragg, and deployed to England in 1943. On D-Day—June 6, 1944—he jumped into the night sky over Normandy, France, part of the historic Allied invasion. He later fought in Operation Market-Garden, the ill-fated airborne offensive in Holland, and finally in the brutal winter of Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge.
It was there, on January 3, 1945, that Donald’s story came to an end. A captured Luger pistol, tucked into his coat, accidentally discharged as he crossed a fence. Despite the efforts of medic Eugene Roe, Hoobler died of his injuries. He was 22 years old.
Corporal Donald Brenton Hoobler is buried at Manchester IOOF Cemetery in Adams County, Ohio, alongside his father, mother, and brother George.
Easy Company’s story—immortalized in Stephen Ambrose’s book Band of Brothers and the acclaimed HBO miniseries—became known to millions. Donald Hoobler was portrayed by actor Peter McCabe, though the dramatization took liberties with the facts. What never changed was the bravery and selflessness of the man himself.
