| By James C. Haught
It was Labor Day 1939.
I was in my grandparent's home on Spring Run, thinking about going to the first grade the next morning. I was checking out my three pencils, a box of 16 crayons and a writing tablet.
Also sitting in the living room were my grandfather, James Hoskins, his brother, Richard Hoskins and a neighbor, Raleigh Hall. They were discussing the events of the first of September. Hitler's attack on Poland and the beginning of World War II.
As a little background, my Uncle Dick Hoskins was probably the best shot in the area. He had a muzzle loading rifle. (Euell Hoskins, his grandson, still has it.) Uncle Dick won most of the areas shooting matches. When he went squirrel hunting if one heard nine shots, Uncle Dick brought home nine squirrels.
Hitler was apparently at Berchtesgaden, Germany. One of the three had a newspaper clipping of the Eagles Nest, Hitler's retreat. I heard one of the men say. "Someone should shoot that SOB?"
Uncle Dick Hoskins said. "I could do it."
To which my grand father replied. "Dick, Hitler is surrounded by guards. You could never get near him."
Raleigh Hall added, "Besides that house is surrounded by a wall."
Uncle Dick looked at the picture again and said, "I could still get him."
"How would you do that, Dick?" asked Raleigh Hall?
Uncle Dick said, "I would take me sack of food and a jug of water and I would hide up in them rocks behind the Eagles Nest and wait. I'd wait patiently. A man is bound to come out and pee off of the back porch eventually."
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