Nathaniel Ramsey Hoskot – Colonel, United States Army

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From contemporary news reports

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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 82 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 Bade, 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 part of the globe, Col. Hoskot and his family returned frequently to spend summer vacations at Doyles Springs, 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 1967-1069. 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.

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.

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