had also served in World War II. Robert, Ruben, and Dewey eventually of the battalion at Camp Claiborne, Robert was barely a year older served in World War II, which altered Louisiana, on March 15, 1942, and than Ruben, and they spent much their lives dramatically. Prior to its activation on April 1. From there, of their early life together. They that, Ruben had served in a Civilian the battalion moved to Camp Hood, grew up on the family farm during Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp Texas, for advanced training on the 1920s and 1930s, and attended at Konawa, where he developed September 15, 1942. There the troops a segregated elementary school in leadership skills that proved useful in changed from working with light Hotulka, where they played softball. the war. Dewey also served in the CCC. tanks to medium ones. After two Labeled the “dynamic duo,” Robert Ruben was drafted into the U. S. Army years of training, the battalion landed pitched and Ruben played first in 1941; Robert and Dewey were drafted in France in October 1944. General base. Every day, before and after school, they shared farm chores. On weekends, assisting their father, they transported cotton and other farm produce to Tecumseh to sell at the market. After graduating from eighth grade, they were bused to the segregated Dunbar High School in Shawnee. One of Robert’s good friends at Dunbar was Willie Stargell, father of Baseball Hall of Famer Wilver Dornell Stargell. Willie lived in Earlsboro, where Robert said he and Ruben spent a lot of time as young adults. Robert and Ruben aspired for something greater than a life on Troops landed on one of five beaches at Normandy—Utah, Omaha, Gold, Sword, and Juno. the farm in Hotulka. Robert and his father had shared a dream that in 1942. Dewey served in the Pacific George S. Patton requested that the Robert would attend college one as an engineer, while Robert and Black Panthers be assigned to his day; however, family funds were Ruben were assigned to Europe. After Third U. S. Army, attached to the 26th insufficient and no scholarships disembarking in Normandy shortly Infantry Division. were available. After high school, after the initial invasion, Robert Robert moved to Oklahoma City, got witnessed its cost, in lives, firsthand. y November 8, 1944, Company A, married, and began a career. When More than a century later, he could B 761st Tank Battalion was fully the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, recall the sight and stench of dead engaged in combat, supporting he was a supervisor at Bishop’s, a bodies that lay on the ground. the First Battalion, 104th Infantry segregated restaurant in Oklahoma Ruben became a tank commander Regiment of the 26th Infantry Division. City. Ruben worked on the railroad in the 761st Tank Battalion, also Ruben was awarded a Silver Star for after completing high school and at known as the “Black Panthers.” They his action. While the 104th Infantry the Firestone Service Station located were the first Black tankers to fight Regiment was headed toward Vic- at Sixth Street and Hudson Avenue in the American army. The War sur-Seille, the enemy halted the unit’s in Oklahoma City. Department ordered the creation progress with a mined roadblock, 30