Pfc. John M. Hoar, U.S.A.

(Feb. 24, 1966) -- He's home.

Pfc. John M. Hoar, a slender 20-year-old soldier who marched off to the  Vietnam war on Christmas Day 1965, returned home Sunday evening. He became the first (known) Belleville serviceman to give his life in that far-away conflict which no one understands.

His gray, flag-draped coffin arrived at 9:30 p.m. Sunday aboard a sleek military transport plane which landed at Newark Airport accompanied by Sp. 5 Bob White, a military escort provided by the army for its fallen warriors.

Pfc. Hoar died of a head wound inflicted by soldiers of the Viet Cong during a savage firefight at Bongson, 265 miles northeast of Saigon on the South China Sea.

His death, sand an army telegram from the Defense Department, ''... was incurred by small arms fire while on a combat operation.''

"When we came up here," he wrote before the fight, "we had 15 guys in the squad. Now we have nine. One was taken sick, another broke his leg, and three others were wounded."

Now Pfc. Hoar himself joins the list of America's honored dead who were killed in action.

He is survived by his grieving parents, Mr. and Mrs. Robert J. Hoar, Cleveland Street, who sit quietly in their second-floor apartment and remember the days when their son was a laughing young man who had the world before him.

His young brother, Robert Jr., a husky 15-year-old, tries to maintain a manly composure but tears dampen his eyes as he tells of his brother's background here in Belleville, and of his adventures as a soldierin a distant land whose very name now takes on a nightmarish quality.

He also leaves a sister, Mrs. John (Mary Beth) Weber of Bloomfield.

Pfc. Hoar was born on Sept. .17, in Kearny, the first of the two sons and a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Hoar.

He attended Queen of Peace School, St. Peter's and finally Belleville High School before leaving at the age of 16 while in his junior year.

He took a job with Eastern Tool and Manufacturing Co., here, and had been scheduled for the draft sometime in October.

"But that wasn't good enough for him," said his mother, Mae, "he wanted to serve right  away." And with the youthful optimism of all boys, her son managed to have his induction date advanced to Aug. 6.

After soldiering at nearby Fort Dix, a basic training camp where countless thousands of eager, young soldiers  have gone before him, Pfc. Hoar and the rest of Company B, who were part of the 1st Calavary Division (Airborne) left for California.

Then, on Christmas Day, the company was marched aboard a military transport  and sent to Vietnam. There he took part in the fierce fighting near An Khe Now.

"We went through Hell," he wrote his mother.

But his thoughts, like most American soldiers, were always on home.

"Yesterday," he wrote, "we sat down upon a mountain and looked out at the Pacific and thought of home -- even more than usual.

But Pfc. Hoar will never again be far from home thinking about his loved ones.

He was killed in action the day after writing his last letter.

He had been overseas less than two months.

A Solemn High Mass of Requiem was held yesterday morning at 10 a.m. in St. Peter's Church, attended by friends who mourn his death and parents who grieve for a son lost forever.

Six Belleville servicemen served as casket-bearers for Pfc. Hoar.

"We had to turn others down," said Mrs. Mae Hoar, who added that many other friends had offered to serve. All six servicemen were given special leaves.

A six-man honor guard from Fort Dix shattered the air over his grave with the crack of rifle fire, followed by the sound of Taps which carried far across the crisp February air.

Pfc. Hoar was home.

HOAR, JOHN MICHAEL

BELLEVILLE, NJ