Oscar F. Stephens
Rapid City Journal
Rapid City, South Dakota · Saturday, September 23, 1944
Oscar Frederick Stephens was born August 24, 1910, at Jamestown, North Dakota, to Robert and Anna Stephens. Oscar had two brothers, Willard and John, and four sisters, Jessie, Marion, Millie, and Esta. The family at some point moved to Rapid City, South Dakota. Oscar married Ethel Bennett on October 5, 1935, at Rapid City. They had two children, Roberta and Stanley.
Oscar entered the service on March 7, 1943, at Fort Snelling, Minnesota. Pfc. Stephens was trained at Fort Sheridan, Illinois, and in Kentucky, North Carolina, and Tennessee. He was sent overseas in the middle of 1944 and was stationed in the European theater.
Pfc. Oscar Stephens, 777th Anti-Aircraft Arty (Automatic Weapons) Battalion, was gravely wounded in France on August 8, 1944. He was transferred to a hospital in England where he died exactly one month later on September 8, 1944.
Oscar Stephens was buried at Plot D, Row 5, Grave 46, Cambridge American Cemetery in Cambridge, England. He was awarded the Purple Heart.
He was survived by his wife, Ethel, his children, Roberta and Stanley, and his brothers and sisters.
Rapid City Journal
Rapid City, South Dakota · Thursday, July 13, 1944
Sheridan County Star
Rushville, Nebraska · Thursday, October 12, 1944
Oscar F. Stephens
Private First Class, U.S. Army
777th Anti Aircraft Artillery Battalion, 6th Armored Division
Entered the Service From: South Dakota
Service #: 37475972
Date of Death: September 8, 1944
Buried: Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial, Plot D, Row 5, Grave 46
Cambridge, United Kingdom
Award: Purple Heart