Biography

Chief Warrant Officer Five Charles E. Hockersmith
Commander, 287th Army Band
RC Staff Bands Officer, 1st Army West

Chief Warrant Officer Hockersmith assumed duties as the commander of the 287th Army Band on November 9, 1982.

Mr. Hockersmith entered Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania and graduated in 1973 with a Bachelors Degree in Library Science and a Bachelors Degree in Education. He also has a Master of Library Science degree in Information Technology from Syracuse University.

Mr. Hockersmith joined the United States Army in 1965 and completed his Basic Combat Training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. He completed his musical training with the Army Element at the Armed Forces School of Music in Little Creek, Virginia. He served as a tuba player with the 327th Army Band, Edgewood Arsenal, Maryland and the 264th Army Band, Fort Shafter, Hawaii. While in Hawaii, Mr. Hockersmith studied composition and conducting with the late George Barati, former conductor of the San Francisco and Honolulu Symphony Orchestras. Mr. Hockersmith was discharged from active military service in 1968. He joined the 287th Army Band, Delaware National Guard in 1978 as a tuba player.

On 23 June 2007 Mr. Hockersmith was appointed as the Reserve Component Regional Staff Bands Officer for 1st Army West advancing him to the rank of Chief Warrant Officer Five.

Mr. Hockersmith has been awarded the Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters, Army Good Conduct Medal and the Delaware National Guard's Captain Robert Kirkwood Commander's Award.