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Oscar Hall Black
1916 - 1992

Dates of Service: 27 August, 1942 to 5 February, 1946

Oscar Hall Black was living with his parents on the family farm in Barstow, Texas near Pecos. Oscar did not leave much information about the time he spent with the 133rd Armored Ordnance Maintenance Battalion, Company B, 11th Armored Division. He didn't want to talk about it, and everyone noticed after the war that he disliked the fireworks during the 4th of July celebrations. I have been piecing together the information about the Division to get a sense of what Oscar experienced. 

"I helped on the farm until the war clouds became so heavy that I felt a need to do my part. I enlisted in Armored Ordinance and spent most of the overseas years as an automotive machinist.

I went to Europe with the 11th Armored Division and was in England when the Bulge began. We were immediately sent to the front, under the command of General Patton, driving our tanks nearly 500 miles until we met the Germans. We went through the suburbs of Paris on Christmas Day, 1944, and came under fire the next day.

I once went back of the Russian lines driving a German jeep, and it is only God's providence that we were not shot. Our 133rd Ordinance Battalion remained in Austria most of 1945.

In December, I was sent to Marseilles, France for passage home. On Christmas, I managed to get a five-day pass for the Riviera, which was quite a change from the previous Christmas. In January 1946, we sailed out into the Mediterranean, through the strait of Gibraltar, and into the stormy Atlantic. It was a very rough crossing with one of our sister ships breaking in two near us. I believe it was February 2, 1946 when we sailed past the Statue of Liberty, and what a beautiful sight it was."- Oscar Black

After the war he returned to Barstow, TX, started a farm implements business in El Paso, TX and several businesses in Las Cruces, NM. He lived in Las Cruces with his wife until his death. His wife Harriet still lives in Las Cruces.


These are some of the documents which he possessed:

On his dog tag:

  Black, Oscar H.
 18089929  T42-3  O

                        P

On a postcard from Pvt. Oscar H. Black
postmarked Sep.16, 1942

Co. C, Maint. Bn.
13th Armed. Div.
Camp Perry, Ohio

 

On a letter from Sgt. Gilbert V. Black, 18037160
postmarked July, 1945

SGT. OSCAR H. BLACK
CO.B 133 ORD. MAINT. BN.
APO 261, % P.M., NEW YORK, NEW YORK

 

On a letter from Preston A Black
postmarked Aug.12, 1945

SGT. OSCAR HALL BLACK, 18089929
133 ORD. M.N. 13 ARMORED DIVISION
APO 261, % P.M., NEW YORK, NEW YORK

 

On the cover of a photograph envelope:

W. Hildenbrand
Atelier u. Photohaus
Hildenbrand
Goppingen, PoststraBe 35
gegenuber dem Staufentheater

 

The envelope contained a photo of Oscar Hall Black in a military uniform. The sleeve patch had 3 stripes.
Goppinger is about 50 km east of Stuttgart, Germany in the south.


Oscar attended annual meetings of:

135th Armored Ordnance Maintenance Battalion Association
P.O. Box 276
Menard, Tx., 76859

NEW MEXICO VETERANS SERVICE COMMISSION CERTIFICATE OF ELIGIBILITY # 32953

Oscar also owned a German rifle which appears to be an 8mm Mauser. It appears to have been made late in the war since the final finishing was incomplete. 

There were other souvenirs including various German military pins and a map of Germany in the German language.