Hackbarth (b. 1920) was born in Ridgefield, Wisconsin and grew up in Watertown. He attended the Milo Bennett School of Linotype in Toledo (Ohio) and worked as a typesetting apprentice for newspapers in North Dakota, Lodi, and Neillsville, Wisconsin before he was drafted in 1942. Hackbarth served as a cryptographic technician in the Signal Company of the 95th Infantry Division attached to Patton's 3rd Army. He landed on Omaha Beach in September 1944 and fought at the Battle of Metz (France), the Battle of the Bulge (Belgium), and in the Ruhr Pocket (Germany). He also liberated a prisoner of war camp in Warstein (Germany). After the war, Hackbarth returned to Watertown (Wisconsin) where he completed his journeyman printer training using the G.I. Bill. After briefly working for the Watertown Times, Hackbarth spent nine years working as a printer for the Milwaukee Journal. In 1958, he moved to Sacramento and worked at the Sacramento Bee for three years before moving back to Wisconsin. Hackbarth has attended several reunions of the 95th Infantry Division and is a member of the American Veterans. He is also involved in church work and currently lives in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin.
From the description of Oral history interview with Oscar C. J. Hackbarth, [sound recording], 1995. (Wisconsin Veterans Museum Research Center). WorldCat record id: 642360593
