Douglas Filbeck

“I’m proud of my grandpa, who was a WWII tank destroyer driver; I miss the gruff, loving, riddle-telling man he was. He never spoke of his time at war and I never knew his role until after his death. What I know about him is from information and photos that my aunt provided.”

– Amber Filbeck Hoyem ’99

Douglas Filbeck, remembered by his granddaughter, Amber Filbeck Hoyem

Douglas Filbeck made his mark in WWII driving a tank-destroying M18 “Hellcat” in France.

Douglas Filbeck attended school through the sixth grade; then he got a job at the Sunkist Company in Santa Ana, California, to help support his family.

He entered the service on January 20, 1943, and was sent to Camp Hood, Texas, for basic training. He spent eight weeks in Cooks and Bakers School but ultimately made his mark as a tank destroyer driver, in Company B of the 661st Tank Destroyer Battalion.

With his unit, which landed in Le Havre, France, in January 1945, he saw action at Rocherath-Krinkelt, Belgium, in February, and fought along the Siegfried Line near Helenthal, Germany, in March. The unit crossed the Rhine late in March and advanced across Germany to Leipzig by mid-April. He left the service on March 13, 1946, at Fort MacArthur, California, as a Technician 4th Grade and received credit for both the unit’s campaigns in the Rhineland and Central Europe and received the American Campaign Medal, the EAME Campaign Medal, a Good Conduct Medal, and the WWII Victory Medal.

Just prior to shipping overseas, Douglas married Margaret Crouch in Temple, Texas. After the war, they had four children, Janet, Leon, Tommy and David. When Filbeck returned from the service, he worked on his father-in-law’s farm and later at the Peerless Pipe Company, which his uncle owned. He left to start his own excavation company in Orange County, California.