HANOVER COUNTY, Va. — Oscar Hicks was 19 when he was killed on a distant battlefield during World War II. A Virginia man is now working to keep his memory alive, piecing together the story of a soldier whose memory had faded away.
In a small cemetery on a windswept hill in Hanover County, Patrick Finnerty leads us to Oscar.
“This is where we first discovered him, right here,” he said. “This is the cemetery where Oscar Hicks is buried."
Patrick is on a quest to solve a family mystery — a puzzle which has been hiding in plain sight for 80 years.
He yearns to know more about his wife’s uncle, a man he never knew.
“We knew absolutely nothing about Oscar,” he said. “We didn’t even have a picture of him. We didn’t know what he looked like."
The faceless soldier, seemingly forgotten since 1945.
“We knew nothing about his life. We knew he had been killed, but didn’t know where or how,” said Patrick.
Like a detective, Patrick has been piecing together Private Hicks — a stranger from another era — and finding a way to honor his memory.
“This is one of the most meaningful things I’ve ever done in my life," Patrick said.
On Jan. 22, 1945, the Henrico native’s life was cut short in France while serving with the 79th Infantry Division.
“He was only 19 years old. I could not let go of that. He was just a teenager,” Patrick said. “I couldn’t believe it. Oscar‘s unit was supposed to be pulled from the line the same day he was killed."
After Oscar's remains returned home, his loss became a taboo subject. His death was too painful to discuss. Relics and reminders were boxed away and hidden for decades.
It was as if Oscar never existed.
For 13 years, the retired analyst has been sifting through battlefield reports, letters home, and eyewitness accounts. Each tidbit sharpens the focus of a man who would be 100 years old today.
“I have found information so raw and intimate about what happened to him,” Patrick said.
But Patrick says no document compares to meeting Ms. Margaret Tiller.
“This was another time where I just felt some something or someone was leading us to this,” Patrick said.
Oscar’s wartime sweetheart provided a treasure trove of recollections and images of the man she was to marry after the war.
“It was unbelievable. So that is when we went over and met with her. She gave us these cards and letters from Oscar he sent to her while he was gone,” Patrick said.
Despite losing her fiancé decades ago, the woman from Louisa always kept her first love close at heart.
“That is he and Margaret right before he left for France,” Patrick said. “She was an amazing lady. I loved her.”
Margaret’s memories of Oscar propels Patrick to embark on a literary mission: a tale of non-fiction dedicated to a young man taken too soon.
“I’ve been writing this for a little over two years,” says Patrick. “I have never been much of a big karma guy, but I have felt many times, I’ve felt that Oscar‘s urging to keep going. I just want his life resurrected. That is the title of the book, 'The Resurrection of Oscar Hicks.'"
With his first memoir nearly done, Patrick’s odyssey with Oscar is nearing an end.
“It has been a very special assignment. That is how I am looking at it. This is an assignment that I feel like I owe him,” Patrick said.
He may never have met the man buried in this family cemetery in Hanover. But Patrick Finnerty feels he is called to pay tribute to the teen who sacrificed everything.
“Once I got into this, I could not leave it unfinished. I just couldn’t do it,” Patrick said. “Oscar‘s story is no different no more tragic no more meaningful or sorrowful, but it is our story. I have just felt this inner drive to share his story."
He was an unknown soldier for 80 years, but thanks to a curious family member, Private Oscar Hicks is a mystery no more.
“This is where he belongs. It is close to his home. And he is truly at rest here and I’m just glad that we are able to share his story with everyone else,” Patrick said. “It is just terrific to finally meet and know the man that I’ve searched for all of these years.”
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