Hobart Martin

Troop Leader Hobart Martin was a guard at Camp Dependable.

In 1942 he defused a potential riot among newly arrived blacks which earned him a letter of commendation on his file from Jefferson Pinkard. The camp was swamped by the mass deportations from Jackson, Mississippi and prisoners were being killed soon after they exited the train. Some were told they were being trucked immediately on to a camp in El Paso while others were to be bathed and deloused prior to being sent on to Lubbock. In reality, both groups were being murdered by asphyxiation trucks and poison gas baths.

A woman prisoner raised a fuss when she was told she was being sent to one camp while her husband was going to another. Martin soothed her by reassuring her the officials at the other camp would arrange a transfer for her to rejoin her husband. While the prisoners were cowed by the display of fire power, such an injustice could have triggered an uprising. Martin managed to prevent this.