DOB/DOD: August 7, 1983 (New London, CT) – June 21, 2005; 21 years old
MARITAL STATUS: Unmarried
LOCAL ADDRESS: Westcott Road; Danielson
ENLISTMENT: January 15, 2003
MILITARY OCCUPATIONAL SPECIALTY: 11B10; Infantryman
UNIT: Company C, 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division; Fort Carson, Colorado
FAMILY: Born to Richard P. (1952-2023) and Claudia Schiele Hoskins (1955-). Two sisters, Kristin Hoskins Mayo (1981-), and Erin R. Hoskins Witthoft (1986-). One brother, Sean P. (1989-).
DECORATIONS: Awarded the Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal with device, Global War on Terrorism Medal (Expeditionary), Global War on Terrorism Medal (Service), Army Overseas Ribbon, Navy Unit Commendation, and the Combat Infantryman Badge (1st award).
CIRCUMSTANCES: Died from wounds sustained in a small arms attack on his unit.
Killingly High School; Class of 2001
From The Day (New London, CT) on June 26, 2005
KILLINGLY — Army Specialist Christopher Lee Hoskins, 21, of 50 Westcott Road, Danielson, died Tuesday, June 21, 2005, in Ramadi, Iraq, while serving his country. He was born in New London on August 7, 1983, the son of Richard Hoskins of Danielson and Claudia (Schiele) Hoskins of Danielson. Mr. Hoskins graduated from Killingly High School in 2001, where he was a member of the wrestling team and was interested in graphic arts. He was a member of American Legion Post #21 in Danielson. His previous employment included Giant Pizza and Big Y of Danielson and as a security guard at the Mohegan Sun Casino. Prior to his enlistment, he worked at Staples in Plainfield. Besides his parents, he is survived by two sisters, Kristin Mayo and Erin Hoskins, and a brother, Sean Hoskins, all of Danielson, and his maternal grandparents. Louis and Irene Schiele of Kent, Ohio; his paternal grandparents, Bill and Alice Hoskins of Randolph, Ohio; and a niece, Allyssa Mayo. He is also survived by several aunts, uncles, and cousins. A visitation will be held from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday, July 2, 2005, with a memorial service following at 3 p.m. at Killingly High School Auditorium, 79 Westfield Ave., Danielson. Burial will be at the convenience of the family in Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors. In lieu of flowers, donations in his memory may be made to the Killingly public schools to either of the following funds: the Art Department or to the Assistive Technology for Special Education Students within the Killingly School District, 369 Main Street, Danielson, CT 06239. Please specify the fund of choice on the memo line of the check. The Tillinghast Funeral Home, 433 Main Street Danielson, is in charge of arrangements.
From The Sun-Journal (Lewiston, ME) July 3, 2005
CONNECTICUT SOLDIER MOURNED
KILLINGLY, Connecticut (AP) — Nearly 300 people celebrated Army Specialist Christopher Lee Hoskins’s life Saturday, filling the Killingly High School auditorium with song, poetry, prayer, laughter, and applause. Hoskins’ father and sisters were among more than a dozen people who spoke about the 21-year-old killed June 21 in Ramadi, Iraq, when his unit came under small arms fire. Other speakers included U.S. Senator Christopher Dodd, D-Connecticut, U.S. Rep. Robert Simmons, R-Connecticut, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, and Comptroller Nancy Wyman. Hoskins became the 27th serviceman or civilian with Connecticut ties to die in Iraq or Afghanistan since March 2002. Last Tuesday, Army Major Steve Reich, a Washington, Connecticut, native, became the 28th, killed with 15 others on a U.S. helicopter shot down in Afghanistan. “Christopher would be at once embarrassed by the remarks of today and swollen with pride inside,” his father, Richard, an English teacher at the high school, told the audience in a speech of more than 10 minutes. The service lasted two hours. His voice breaking at times, Richard Hoskins told of his son’s childhood, his relationships with his sisters and younger brother, his struggle with Tourette’s Syndrome, and his embracing of his Army brethren as his second family. The remembrances, he said, were “things to let you know he didn’t become a hero by his death; he was always becoming a hero by his life.” John Fuleo, who had the 2001 graduate as a student in two English classes, said he and Richard Hoskins telephoned each other regularly about snow days and Board of Education meeting topics. Shortly before 6 a.m. on June 21, he recalled, his home phone rang. He answered with, “Good morning, sunshine, and how are you today?” expecting his colleague. “And I heard a man’s tears on the other end of the phone. And all he could say was, ‘John, it’s Chris.”” Dodd said Hoskins answered a call in enlisting in the Army in 2008 and in recently signing up for another four-year tour. “We will not forget this young man,” Dodd said. “… We will keep this young man in our hearts and our minds.” “Please know that the service and sacrifice that Christopher has offered in the cause of freedom and democracy is a noble undertaking for which we all are grateful,” Simmons, a Vietnam War veteran, told the family. Blumenthal quoted Robert Frost’s “The Gift Outright” in his eulogy, including its line, “Our gift to our nation is the gift of war.”
From The Day (New London, CT) on July 3, 2005
By Richard Raney
KILLINGLY MOURNS SOLIDER
Hoskins Killed In Skirmish June 21 In Ramadi, Iraq
KILLINGLY – Signs of loss surrounded Killingly High School on Saturday. An expanded photo in a trophy case. A flag at half-staff. Black paper panels in the hall steadily filling with condolences penned in ash-colored ink. A car in the parking lot, its rear window displaying dates that book-ended a young man’s life. A family is inside the school’s entrance, accepting hugs from fellow mourners. Still, some of those who best knew Army Specialist Christopher Hoskins did not want to believe the finality conveyed by these omens. “We’re just wishing to find out it’s a mistake,” said Paula Boss. Nicole Stamper expected the 21-year-old to jump out at any moment and say, “I just wanted all of you in the same place.” “It’s hard to face the reality that Chris is gone,” she said. The two 19-year-olds had come to the high school in the glaring July sun to join his family, former classmates, friends, and town residents in a memorial service for Hoskins, who was killed on June 21 in Iraq after his unit came under small arms fire in the city of Ramadi, west of Baghdad. The death of the Killingly native, a member of the Army’s 1st Battalion. 9th Infantry Regiment. 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division. marked the 25th death of a Connecticut soldier in the conflicts in Afghanistan and the Middle East, according to Lieutenant Colonel John Whitford of the Connecticut National Guard. Stamper had a special interest in saying farewell to Hoskins Saturday: She said she was his first girlfriend. Their relationship started in her first-year English class. Teacher Richard Hoskins, Christopher’s father, was instructing the class when a tall, lanky senior with a faint mustache strolled in. “I thought he was just gorgeous.” Stamper said. The two teenagers dated for two years, she said. Stamper, now a receptionist for the Norwich Bulletin, learned of Hoskins’s death the hard way. “When I got to work and saw it on the front page … [didn’t get any work done,” she said. Wiping away tears, their backs against Paula Boss’ painted car, Stamper and Boss expressed frustration at the loss of Hoskins. This emotion devolved into a diatribe about the conflict in Iraq. “They should not be over there,” Boss said, adding later, “When he went into the Army, he wasn’t old enough to drink, but he was old enough to go over (to Iraq).” “They need to bring (the troops) home,” Stamper said. Not all who came to Saturday’s service agreed with Stamper and Boss that Hoskins’s death was senseless. “I think his life was a wonderful sacrifice,” said Sherri Vougt of Killingly, who said she had met her husband in Germany while in the service. She had not known Hoskins or his family but felt it necessary to bring her three children to the memorial service to pay their respects. “I think (Hoskins’ life) might motivate others into service,” she said. Saturday’s ceremony witnessed a few hundred people enter the high school’s sloping auditorium for the 3 pm. service. Some came from as near as the next block, from as far as below the Mason-Dixon line. Inside, a panoply of flowers, full bouquets, and a wreath-like, red-and-white K filled the stage. While Hoskins’ body was not present — he had requested to be cremated, according to Lieutenant Colonel Whitford — the memories of those who knew him gave shape to a life cut short. Hoskins’s leap into the military at 19 took many by surprise. “I just didn’t see him in combat,” Jeremy Deloge said. “He was kind of a peaceful guy.” Hoskins was an odd kid, friends said, one who straddled two of those perennial high-school cliques: The preppy kids in their polo shirts and the Goths with their signature black ensembles. “Different” was how Deloge described him. Deloge said he had known Hoskins since both were in the fifth grade. The two were teammates on Killingly’s wrestling team. Hoskins, with his rangy arms and legs, was not the best grappler, Deloge said, but “we always had fun.” Hoskins’s interests were as diverse as his social circles, friends said. He played chess and had an affinity for medieval swords. He worked the cameras at school plays. He loved listening to Metallica. He painted, sculpted, and wrote poetry. On the back of the memorial’s pamphlet was a poem Hoskins had written for Eric Tucker, a friend who had been killed by a passing train in 2001, according to Stamper. But Hoskins’ politeness and generosity were the themes to which many returned. “No matter who he was with, he always said hi,” said Matthew Perez, who had traveled from South Carolina to attend. Boss recalled a lazy afternoon when Hoskins gave her and a friend $500 each to go on a shopping spree. She said he had told them he did nothing with his money but let it sit in the bank. She said Hoskins told them, “Everybody deserves to be pampered once in their life.” During Saturday’s ceremony. the Army presented Hoskins’ parents with commendation medals signifying Hoskins’ outstanding performance in his duties. On July 14, his ashes will be interred at Arlington National Cemetery overlooking Washington, D.C. There, he will posthumously receive a Purple Heart for his wounds and a Bronze Star for his valor, Whitford said.
Memorialized in Davis Park, Main Street and Broad Street, Killingly, Connecticut
IN MEMORIAM
CHRISTOPHER LEE HOSKINS
SPC, U.S. ARMY
Killingly resident, killed while serving his country in Ramadi, Iraq, June 21, 2005
“The roots of a soldier are nurtured by the soil
of the family, friends, community
Until the call of country demands
They grow straight and tall.
When you hear the rustle of leaves in the wind
You know the spirits of the fallen is alive.
— Richard P. Hoskins
This crimson maple is his living memorial.
Dedicated Memorial Day, 2013
From FallenHeroesMemorial.org
“I was in 1/9 with SPC Hoskins. I was the one who reenlisted him to continue his service in the Army. He loved what he did, and he was good at it. He will be missed always by his fellow Manchus. I hope that he knows that, and we know he is in a better place. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family.”
— Staff Sergeant McMillen
“While I wasn’t there on the ground with you, I helped coordinate the after-action on the radio. You were one of the rocks in Blue Platoon. I miss you Bubba.”
— Captain Robert E Ritz III
Specialist Hoskins is buried in Arlington National Cemetery, 1 Memorial Avenue, Arlington, Virginia; Section 60, Site 8116.
