Colonel Nathaniel Ramsey Hoskot, a resident of Alexandria,
Virginia, died there March 22, 2004. He was 92.
A graveside service will be at 1 p.m. Sunday at Arlington National
Cemetery, Post Chapel, Fort Myer; with full military honors.
Colonel Hoskot was a native of Dayton, Ohio, and was raised in Boise,
Idaho, and graduated from the University of California at Berkeley, in
1933, where he was a Phi Delta Theta. He was employed by the Union Oil
Company in the San Joaquin Valley, living in Hanford, Bakersfield, Arvin
and Tulare.
In 1940, Hoskot entered the U.S. Army as a First Lieutenant. As a
Lieutenant Colonel, he parachuted in Normandy, France, shortly after
midnight on D-Day, acting as a liaison between the 101st and 82nd
Airborne Divisions. Hoskot was captured later that day and was a
Prisoner of War in Oflag-64, a camp near Warsaw Poland, until 1945.
He received a Silver Star, two Bronze Stars, a Purple Heart, Legion of
Merit, Combat Infantryman Badge, Master Parachutist Badge, Glider Badge,
various campaign ribbons from World War II and a 1947 award from the
Nepalese government, the Star of Prasiddha Pravala Gorkha Dakshine Bahu.
After the war he was stationed in New Delhi, India, which saw its
independence from Britain during his tour there. He served as the
Assistant U.S. Military Attaché in New Delhi and then as the first
Military Attaché in the newly-formed country of Pakistan, helping to set
up the first American Embassy in Karachi before returning to the United
States in 1948.
In 1950 he served in the Korean War as the G-3 of the 3rd Infantry
Division.
Subsequent duty stations included Heidelberg, Germany, where he was the
Commander of Headquarters, Area Command; Berlin, Germany, where he was
the Chief of Staff of the Berlin Command; and the Pentagon, where he was
the Army liaison of the White House during the Kennedy Administration.
Although his military career took him to many parts of the globe, Col.
Hoskot and his family returned frequently to spend summer vacations at
Doyles Springs [CA], above Springville.
After his retirement from the U.S. Army in 1963, Hoskot worked for
Hughes Aircraft, helicopter division for a number of years, including
service in Vietnam from 1967-1969. He later worked for Breda Nardi
Costruzzioni Aeronautiche in Milan, Italy. He and his wife retired to
Northern Virginia in 1982.
He volunteered with Traveler's Aid at Ronald Reagan National Airport for
17 years and with the information desk at the Smithsonian Air and Space
Museum for 13 years, retiring from those positions in 2001.
Survivors include his wife of 69 years, Ellenor Knupp Hoskot of
Alexandria, Virginia, (formerly of Porterville); two sons, Nathaniel
Hoskot, Jr. of Fallbrook and David Breck Hoskot of Pacific Palisades; a
daughter, Anne H. Kreutzer of Woodbridge, Virginia; a brother, Andrew
McGowin Hoskot of Blue River, Oregon; seven grandchildren; two
great-grandchildren; and two nieces and nephews.
Memorial contributions may be made to the National D-Day
Memorial Foundation, P.O. Box 77, Bedford, Virginia 24523.
[source: www.recorderonline.com] |
Nathaniel Ramsey Hoskot, 92, a retired Army Colonel who in
retirement volunteered at information booths at Reagan National Airport
and the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, died of heart
disease March 22, 2004, at Woodbine Nursing Home in Alexandria,
Virginia.
Colonel Hoskot was born in Dayton, Ohio, and raised in Boise, Idaho. He
was a 1933 graduate of the University of California at Berkeley. He went
to work for the Union Oil Co. in the San Joaquin Valley of California
and entered the Army Reserve in 1940.
During World War II, he parachuted into Normandy after midnight on
D-Day, June 6, 1944. His assignment was to be a liaison between the
101st and 82nd airborne divisions, but he was captured.
He received the Silver Star for his actions the next day, when his POW
convoy was strafed by Allied planes. German guards were shooting
prisoners who tried to get off the trucks, some of which were on fire,
according to his award citation. Col. Hoskot, who had leapt to safety
from the back of a jeep, put himself between the guards and the POWs and
helped unload prisoners from the trucks. He was held in a
prisoner-of-war camp in Poland until 1945.
After the war, he was stationed in New Delhi as the assistant military
attache and then became the first military attache in the new country of
Pakistan, where he helped set up the U.S. Embassy. He returned to the
United States in 1948.
He served in the 3rd Infantry Division during the Korean War. He was
later commander of headquarters in Heidelberg, West Germany, and chief
of staff of the Berlin command. His last assignment was at the Pentagon,
where he was the Army liaison to the White House during the Kennedy
administration.
In addition to the Silver Star, his decorations included the Legion of
Merit, two awards of the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart.
After his retirement from the military in 1963, Col. Hoskot was director
of operations in international sales for Hughes Aircraft's helicopter
division, working two years in Vietnam. He later worked for an
aeronautical company in Milan and returned to Northern Virginia in 1982.
He volunteered with Traveler's Aid at National Airport for 17 years and
with the information desk at the Air and Space Museum for 13 years.
Survivors include his wife of 69 years, Ellenor Knupp Hoskot of
Alexandria; three children, Nathaniel R. Hoskot of Fallbrook,
California, David Breck Hoskot of Pacific Palisades, California, and
Anne H. Kreutzer of Woodbridge; a brother; seven grandchildren; and two
great-grandchildren.
Ellenor "Peggy" Knupp Hoskot, 90, a former member of the Altar Guild at
Immanuel Church-on-the-Hill in Alexandria, died of pneumonia May 16,
2004, at the Westminster at Lake Ridge retirement community.
Mrs. Hoskot, who moved to Westminster in April after living in
Alexandria for 22 years, was born in San Francisco and raised in
Porterville, Calif. She graduated from the University of California at
Berkeley in 1933.
She lived in Carmel, California, while her husband, Nathaniel R. Hoskot,
an Army officer who later retired as a Colonel, served in World War II
and the Korean War.
Mrs. Hoskot volunteered as a Gray Lady in military hospitals and worked
at thrift shops while accompanying her husband on his military
assignments to India and Germany. She also lived in Milan for about five
years until she settled in Alexandria in 1982.
Her husband died in 2004 after 68 years of marriage.
Survivors include three children, Nathaniel Ramsey Hoskot Jr. of
Fallbrook, California, David Breck Hoskot of Pacific Palisades,
California, and Anne Hoskot Kreutzer of Woodbridge; seven grandchildren;
and two great-grandchildren.
[source: www.arlingtoncemetery.net/nrhoskot.htm]
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