John Fribley Hosier
John Fribley Hosier was born 2-NOV 1947 in Flint Michigan. His parents were John F. Hosier Sr (1909-1970) and Shirley Ann Cogswell Hosier (1921-1987). John moved quite a bit in his early years and eventually living in California attending Sunset High School in Heyward California. John years later recalled, “In my teen years, my high school years, I lived in four different states, went to like seven different schools. So, I ended up from California and Michigan and the only people I knew with are the people I worked with, you know.”
John was drafted into the Army in 1967 and mustered in at Fort Ord California where he attended basic training. John said, “I got drafted in Michigan and I would have ended up in Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri. I lived in Michigan, but my draft board was in Nevada. So, when I got my notice, my brother and I took an old ‘58 Chevy and we drove all the way to Nevada because I didn’t want to go to basic training in the winter in Missouri. So I went to Fort Ord, California.”
After his training, John would serve in Vietnam. On 3-DEC 1967, John’s MOS was 11F 2P, Infantry Operations and Intelligence Specialist, radar operator with airborne qualification. His team of rangers saw fierce action in the central highlands of Vietnam where they were dropped onto hilltops from a helicopter. John later recalled one particular battle. “On one mission they got off at the wrong stop. The wrong people were waiting for us. There were eleven of us. Within an hour, six of us were dead.” John survived on that hill for three days before returning to base. John spent a lot of recovery time in the hospital. He was later told he wouldn’t go out again, being deemed unfit to return to his unit. Not hurt bad enough to go back to the states, he was transferred to the position of clerk; a role John disliked.
John was handed a camera and became a combat photographer.
John would become a nationally acclaimed photography and his images of troops in Vietnam were exhibited all over the country.
For the rest of John’s story and a recorded interview, click on the pdf’s below.