Wilbur D Hart

1Lt Wilbur D. Hart, 4th Information and Historical Service, Ninth Army, was killed in action 10 January. 1945, near Weisweiler, Germany. The role of the Information and Historical Services is described as follows:

Several hundred soldier­historians advanced the Army's historical effort. Their primary focus was the creation and preservation of written documentation, but interviews were used to complement those sources. Historians attached to higher headquarters, as well as members of the Information and Historical Service teams of field armies, moved freely about the battle lines to gather interviews. The collection process occasionally began while units were still in action, but the majority of interviews were conducted about a week to ten days after the action or sometimes even later. After interviewing an individual, part of a unit, or the entire unit, the historians would summarize their interview notes to create a narrative of the specific action. 

Historians conducted interviews as close to the actual battlefield as possible in order to stimulate a soldier's recall of events. ... The historian's search for information was not always easy. Although not considered "combat" soldiers, three historians were killed in the line of duty and two others wounded by mines while interviewing front­line troops in the European Theater.

---From Stephen E. Everett, Oral History Techniques and Procedures (Center of Military History, United States Army, Washington, D.C., 1992)

Hart was from Commerce, Texas. Initially buried at Margraten Cemetery, his remains were returned home in 1948.  He now rests in Oak Lawn Cemetery, Cooper, Texas.