[2] He was commissioned in the United States Army in November 1913 as a field artillery officer and saw service with the 15th Cavalry Regiment during the Mexican Campaign in Douglas, Arizona, and Sierra Blanca, Texas.

He served as an artillery officer in France during World War I and then took an instructor role at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, until the mid-1920s.

Hospital, at the rank of major, served with the 15th Field Artillery Regiment during its period under the Hawaiian Division in 1925, and returned to the United States in 1926 to attend Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

He was a distinguished graduate and soon returned to Ithaca to instruct Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) again.

In the spring of 1944, they sailed for North Africa and then Italy, making the push for the Po River Valley and the Gothic Line.