U. S. Army Veteran of Three Wars

It seems that some soldiers are “born” as was the case in Don Hoskin’s life.  At a young age Don, and his older brother, Doug, made swords and rubber guns and played “cowboys and Indians” and would ride to the nearby hills on their bikes and play “soldiers”.  They had a great sense of adventure and took lots of chances; thus ‘Don the soldier’ took shape.
Don was born in Orange, California, on October 31, 1925, to Lyle A. and Madge E. Hathaway Hoskin.  Don grew up in Orange where he went to school until the end of his junior year.  WW II had begun and his brother, Doug, and many of his other friends had entered the military and Don dropped out of school to work in the war industry.   He had always hoped to be a pilot in the Army Air Corps, like Doug, and went to the Santa Ana Army base and passed all the exams except for his eyes and height.  The limit was 6’4” and Don was 6’7”! 
Though he qualified for the Army Air Corp ground crew, Don could see the writing on the wall, wised up and went back to school and got his high school diploma.  He decided to sign a voluntary enlistment to go into the Army Air Corps and much to his surprise, was shipped to Ft. MacArthur and found himself in the U.S. Army!  But after more testing and doing extremely well, Don was assigned to an elite unit and was trained as a member of the Intelligence and Reconnaissance Company.  Next came advanced training to prepare for assignment to the South Pacific.   

While on a night time exercise he crawled through poison oak and got such a severe case that his whole body was covered in it.  He ended up being hospitalized for five weeks.  Though he “wanted to do his duty” Don didn’t want to go to the South Pacific.  When he was well again,

Don was blessed with a miracle of the Lord, as a new law had just gone into effect that kept soldiers from shipping overseas until they were 19!
Don was then assigned as an ammunition bearer in an 81 mm mortar platoon.  After training, they were sent to Fort Leonard Wood, then to Fort Dix, New Jersey, where they embarked on the converted luxury liner, SS America, renamed the USS West Point.  On December 11th, Don landed at Marseilles, France, where he fought the Germans in the Vosges Mountains at the same time as the Battle of the Bulge was fought.  He stayed on in the Army of Occupation until April of 1946, as a first sergeant, the highest enlisted rank, at 20 years of age. 
In 1948 he was assigned to March Field, 6th Army Escort Detachment, and escorted WW II casualties for six months.  Don said of this duty “I really enjoyed this assignment.  I escorted several remains to their families’ funeral directors, and tried to help them as much as possible.  I set up military funerals with the help of local military, or active military if available.”

Don was assigned to Fort McArthur on a one-year tour of duty.  He applied for Officer Candidate School and for a direct commission which he received.  He enlisted in the Regular Army September 1949, and lost one stripe, and was assigned to Fort Lewis, Washington as the Morning Report Section Chief in the 23rd Infantry Regiment. 
In July he was deployed to Pusan, Korea.  The following excerpt is from a letter Don wrote to his family:  “On the 12th of September they picked 15 men from our personnel office and transferred them to line rifle companies. 

I was one of the 15 and was sent to Charlie Company along with seven others.  Charlie Company had been nearly wiped out on the 31st of August so we had very few G.I.s in the company.  I think there were about 60 out of 180 and some 30 of these were replacements.  I talked my way into the weapons platoon because I knew it wouldn’t be as bad as a rifle platoon. 

The T/O calls for three 60mm mortars and three 57 recoilless rifles.  All we had were two 60 mm mortars and one 57 RR that we scrounged off other companies.
Charlie had lost all of theirs on the night of the 31st.  We spent about two days organizing and then after receiving some 70-odd South Koreans we set out on the attack.  We marched about three miles and set up a defensive position on a large hill which had just been taken by Company G of the 9th Inf Regt of our division.  We received a banzai attack the first night but managed to repulse them.  All day we received mortar and SP (self-propelled) gunfire.  They really gave it to us.  I had 18 GIs in my platoon and ended two days later with six.  The 2nd night I had to fire the mortar because no one else knew how.  The Reds attacked from 0200 till 063 and what an attack it was.  They finally overran our positions and how they missed getting me I’ll never know, for I was lying in the rain and mud beside the mortar firing all night long, firing illumination shells mainly in support of the

rifle platoons where the Red were attacking.  That was the longest night of my life.  We lost three officers including the CO, 17 dead and about 20 wounded.  We went from there into many other battles, but that was the worst.
I’m in for MSgt, also active duty on my reserve commission. 

We have been inactive for the past week.  Yesterday we really got the stick.  We walked or chased some Reds for 20 or 22 miles over some of the roughest country you ever saw.  I’m really in good shape, believe me!
We received the news that the U.N. has voted to cross the 38th.  I don’t like that at all because I’m afraid that either the Russians or the Chinese Commies will come into it.  I’ve seen all and more than I want to see already, so I pray that we soon get it over and can come home.

Keep this all under your hat and don’t tell Mom and Dad, okay?”

In February 1951, Don went through another combat experience in the steep and slippery mountains of Korea.  One of the Korean soldiers with 10 days of military training, built a fire on top of two hand grenades.  They went off, seriously injuring an ROK soldier, a Lt. from Able Company, his platoon Sgt. and two more of Don’s men.  In addition to staying in position to give supporting fire, Don’s platoon had to evacuate the wounded by helicopter.  After a long frustrating day of radioing and waiting, the wounded were taken out, and the  platoon had to get off the mountain.  They expended their ammo  so they wouldn’t have to carry it and started down.  Don had to push his men because they were exhausted, but caught a break when they heard a tank coming, and all clambered on and made it back to the rear in about 15 minutes.
As most Korean vets know, there is much more to Don’s experience in Korea than is written in this story.  Don didn’t suffer any wounds and knows he was looked after by his Lord.
In June of 1951, Don returned to the U.S.A. and was assigned to the 7th Armored Division Faculty and Temporary Duty to Presidio of San Francisco for Sixth US Army Instructional and Demonstration Team on Infantry Operations in Korea, and requested a discharge in 1953 to attend college.

Don attended UCLA on the GI Bill and graduated with a Business Education degree in 1958.

In 1961 Don returned to active duty at Ft. Gordon, Georgia, where he was made Company Commander of the Regimental HQ Co and then later a Basic Training Company.  He applied for a Military Assistance assignment in Viet Nam and US Army Special Forces, which was granted.  Carolina.  He attended Special Forces Training at Fort Bragg, NC, in April 1964, and then was sent to Okinawa for pre-mission training, and was assigned as Commander of Special Forces A Team, serving TDY to US Special Forces in Viet Nam for a six-month tour. 

Don considers his command of the 12-man Special Forces ‘A’ Team his best Army assignment.  After he suffered an injury at Ha Tien, Don spent the next three months at the Presidio of San Francisco Letterman General Hospital. 

In 1962 Don volunteered for parachute training.  On his third jump, a gust of wind caught him close to the ground and his pelvis was fractured. After hospitalization and a year at the Defense Language Institute, Don returned to Ft. Benning in November 1963, and went through the complete parachute three-week course, this time graduating, and was then assigned to the 1st US Army Special Forces in Okinawa.  Don said that “I loved parachuting and completed 17 jumps prior to my retirement in 1976.”  

          Don married Donna and gained a nine year old son, Randy.  In 1965/6 his two daughters from a previous marriage came to live with his family.  At this time he went back to Viet Nam to serve with a Special Forces B Team as S5 and then S3.
Don was assigned as an ROTC instructor from 1967 to 1969 at the University of Tennessee, and requested a release so he could move to California.  There he worked for an anti-communist organization, Constructive Action, until they ran out of money.
Later he spent 60 days of active duty at Fort Irwin, CA, and then was hired as a GS-11 Staff Training Assistant at the USAR Center in West Los Angeles.  From 1970 to 1972 Don was hired by the US Army Reserve as a Department of the Army Civilian.  Then he went back on active duty from 1972 to 1976, serving a 4-year Stat tour at Fort Lee, VA, as Deputy Chief, in the Reserve Affairs Office. 

On November 30, 1976, Don retired with the rank of Colonel after 20 years of active duty, and 33 years with pay.

Don now makes his home in St. George, Utah, and belongs to several veteran organizations.  He has also been a public speaker, and was interviewed by The Spectrum Newspaper in 2009.  He served a Mission to Switzerland for two months, then a three-year assignment to Vancouver, British Columbia, which he loved!  Don loves America and our beloved Stars and Stripes banner, and wherever he is, he renders a salute.

Thank you Don, for the many years
of service and sacrifice for your country!