Former Hastings man killed in combat

A 35-year-old former Minnesota Army National Guardsman was identified Wednesday as one of four U.S. soldiers killed in Konduz, Afghanistan, when a roadside bomb detonated near their vehicle.

He was one of seven U.S. soldiers to die in Afghanistan Monday, one of the deadliest days yet for Americans in that conflict.

Army Specialist Chester W. Hosford had lived for some time in Hastings, family members said Wednesday.

Hosford, who went by Wayne, joined the Minnesota Army National Guard as a cavalry scout in June 2006 and transferred to the Illinois Army Guard in April 2008, according to a statement from Illinois Guard officials. At the time of his death, he was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 106th Cavalry Regiment, Dixon, Ill.

News about his death hasn't yet "sunk in," said his grandmother, Eloise Simmons of Colorado Springs, Colo. "I'll have to deal with it when it finally does sink in."

Simmons raised Hosford after his mother was killed in 1988. Wayne Hosford was 14 and had difficulty getting over her death, Simmons said, adding, "For a time, he was angry at the world for it."

"He was the type of person who'd give the shirt off his back if he thought that the other person needed it worse than him.," Simmons said.

Hosford later moved to Hastings, where his sister lived. He later joined the National Guard.

He seemed satisfied and wanted to stay in as long as he could, Simmons said.

Simmons said she worried about her grandson being in Afghanistan. "I had him on the church list many times for prayers," she said.

Hosford, who was not married, was on his first deployment and had been recently living in Ottawa, Ill., the statement said.

Simmons said her grandson is survived by a son and a daughter, two brothers and a a sister.

Also killed by the roadside bomb were Sgt. Brock Chavers, 25, of Bulloch, Ga., and Specialist Issac Johnson, 24, of Columbus, Ga. Their bodies were among seven flown to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Wednesday.