|
I joined the Recon platoon of Company E, 3rd of the 60th Infantry, 9th Infantry Division (MRF) on 15 MAR 1968 when Capt. Jenkins still commanded that company. As a result of a series of engagements over the next two weeks, I became an ?instant? old timer and found myself walking point for Recon. As I understood it (my platoon leader, Lt. Grant told me this), when Lt. Hoskins succeeded Capt. Jenkins as company commander (sometime in April, 1968, when we left the MRB and began operations out of Dong Tam base), he, Lt Hoskins, specifically asked that I join the HQ group as one of his RTO?s. I hardly need say that I assumed the duties of his RTO with my ego very much in tact (especially when Lt. Grant complained to the CO, in my hearing, that he was losing one of his best people). The HQ group was made up of 1st Lt John Hoskins (most assumed that he was a captain), the senior RTO, Jim Seescholtz, me carrying the company push, and Jim Strait (another man pulled from the platoons) carrying the spare radio.
The day John (I do not feel strange calling him by his first name now as that was what he had us RTO?s call him then) was killed, I was a ?stay-back? in Dong Tam recovering from a minor shrapnel wound that had, over time, become infected (I had been my own medic, not a good idea). I remember being somewhat perturbed that the operation I was missing was supposed to be a ?walk in the sun.? I had my radio cranked up and was listening to my unit in the field, when Jim Seescholtz called for a dust off. A booby trap had exploded and there were several casualties in the HQ group, my group. I ran to the base hospital (3rd Surg, I believe) and was there to meet the chopper when it arrived. John was the first one off (I recall that there were at least four WIA?s, one a Vietnamese scout named NAM). I trotted along side the stretcher carrying Lt. Hoskins. He was severely wounded?many shrapnel wounds to the head, face and upper torso (I knew then what had happened, but it took a while for it to sink in). Yes, he was cursing, but I could not make out his exact words. I stood by the door of the hospital tent (one of those inflatable bubbles) as the other wounded disappeared inside. I am not ashamed to say that I sort of collapsed by the door and that I was crying. Later one of the nurses came out and told me that Lt Hoskins was dead. No one ever said anything about me sitting there in a heap.
Later, Jim Seescholtz (who had not been injured) was able to confirm my suspicions about what had happened. We, Lt. Hoskins and the rest of his HQ group, were in the habit taking turns disarming booby traps when we encountered them (rather than simply blowing them in place, which was the prescribed way of handling them, but which tended to draw undesirable attention to the unit?s location). John was an expert at this and utterly fearless. That day it was his turn and something went wrong. Why the other WIA?s were so close is a mystery? That was not the way we usually did things.
Jim Seescholtz (SGT and senior RTO) and Lt. Hoskins had become rather close (far closer than one might expect from and enlisted man and an officer), and when it came time to inventory John?s personal things, Top asked Seescholtz to do it. Jim asked me to help him. Suffice to say that there was a lot more to Lt. Hoskins beyond the courage and dedication he displayed in the field. He left many very personal writings, many punctuated with quotes from Shakespeare, and most dealing directly with the responsibility he felt for his men?especially those who had died and been wounded under his command. A great deal of this material pertained to a previous tour, when he had been in charge of a program that introduced swamp airboats to the delta. This program had come to grief and it seemed that Lt. Hoskins took its demise and the loss of men under his command very personally, almost as though it was something for which, through courage and dedication to the welfare of his men, he had to atone. Jim Seescholtz and I talked about this at length; then we never mentioned it again.
One event stands out in my memories of Lt. Hoskins. We were operating in what was called the Western Area of Operations near a village called Cai Lay. We were conducting a limited search and destroy and shortly after leaving the perimeter, I discovered that I had forgotten my weapon! I thought that I was going to be court marshaled for sure and was terrified to discover that I was unarmed. Rather than laying into me or returning me to the platoons (as I certainly deserved), Lt. Hoskins gave me his M-16. For the remainder of the operation he defended himself only with the snub-nosed revolver that he carried in a shoulder holster.
1st Lt. John Hoskins was a hero (and my personal hero whom I tried unsuccessfully to emulate) who showed both extraordinary courage and unflagging compassion. He taught me many lessons that helped me to survive my tour and to remain human in doing so. I will never, never forget him.
Timothy S Goins
Formerly Echo-6-Oscar
|