Hometown Heroes - Thomas Hoffpauir

Lake Charles, LA (KPLC) - In the mid 1950s, Thomas Hoffpauir joined his twin brother Sheldon and joined the Army. They served in the Cold War years, when Communism split east and west Europe. The Hoffpauir’s unit was there to keep the peace at the border.

“The border between Czechoslovakia and Germany was still a hot item and we were called out on different maneuvers and alerts and never knew when we were going to be sent to the border,” recalled Hoffpauir.

The Hoffpauir family has been honored for the number of family members who served in the military: from their dad who was in WWI, 3 brothers in WWII; 2 more brothers in Korean War and then the twins in the Cold War.

“I think a lot about my mother, how she felt knowing she watched my dad go to the first World War. And had 7 sons leave to go in the service. The wonderful thing about it was we all came back safe.”

When their father was terminally ill, Thomas and Sheldon almost didn’t make it home, when the conductor announced that their train no longer stopped in Rayne.

“He said, ‘Mister, if you slow down in Rayne, we’ll get off in Rayne.’ So they did, they slowed down in back of the town house in Rayne where the depot was, we threw our duffel bags off and we jumped out.

Thomas and his wife Dean will celebrate their 63rd wedding anniversary this year.

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