Rickie K. Hosch Sr.

Their Story

Rickie K. Hosch was born on July 29, 1947, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to Joseph and Dorothy (Schooly) Hosch.¹ In 1965, Rickie graduated from Dubuque Senior High School², and on October 13, 1966, he began his military career by enlisting in the United States Army to serve in Vietnam.³ In early 1967, it was reported that Rickie Hosch was stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, with the First Armored Division; at the time, he held the rank of private.⁴ A year later, he was promoted to sergeant while serving in South Vietnam. He had been serving as a forward observer during “Operation Muscatine.”⁵

Operation Muscatine was a military operation conducted by the U.S. Army beginning in December of 1967. The goal of the operation was to “root out Viet Cong units,” in a territory northeast of Saigon. This operation was named after the Iowa town, Muscatine, and it was conducted by the 198^th Light Infantry Brigade and the 11^thInfantry Brigade. A month into the operation, it was reported that 234 enemy troops had been killed and 59 weapons had been seized.⁶ As a forward observer, Hosch would have observed enemy locations and directed artillery fire. Forward observers were the “eyes of artillery,” and were very important in the success of their unit’s mission.⁷

Hosch served three tours of duty during the Vietnam War, and during his military career, served in the Persian Gulf War and the Iraq War. While serving in Vietnam, he was awarded the Silver Star for “gallantry in action while engaged in military operations involving conflict with an armed hostile force in the Republic of Vietnam.”⁸ He was also awarded four Bronze Stars, a Purple Heart, the South West Asia Service Medal SWAS, and the Vietnam Service Medal. Staff Sergeant Hosch serviced as a Forward Observer in both the Persian Gulf and in Iraq War. On July 29, 2007, Staff Sergeant Hosch retired from the U.S. Army after 41 years of service. Rickie Hosch was a member of several veterans organizations, after retiring, including the Rock Falls VFW.

On December 31, 2015, SSG Rickie K. Hosch Sr. passed away at his home in Prophetstown, Illinois. He was survived by his wife, Christine (Rhoades) Hosch, their three sons, Rickie Jr. Jesse and Anthony and Seven grandchildren.⁹ An interesting note is that Rickie’s granddaughter was born on his birthday. A Granddaughter he never got to see.