People Page

Not a deleted record

No images uploaded for this person yet

People Names and Dates


Full Name	Oscar Koch
AKA Full Name	Oscar William Koch
People ID	686757
Title
First Name	Oscar
AKA First Name	Oscar
Nickname
Middle Name
AKA Middle	William
Patronymic/Matronymic
Priorsurnames
Surname	Koch
AKA Surname	Koch
Father's Surname	Koch
Mother's Surname	Zimmermann
Suffix
Gender	Male
Full Birth Date If Known	1897-01-10
Birth Year	1897
Birth Month	1
Birth Day	10
Full Death Date If Known	1970-05-16
Death Year	1970
Death Month	5
Death Day	16

Events, Dates and Places

Event	Date	Geo Top Level	Geo 2nd Level	Geo 3rd Level	Geo 4th Level	Geo 5th Level	Notes
Birth	1897/01/10	USA	Wisconsin	Milwaukee	Milwaukee
Death	1970/05/16	USA	Illinois	Williamson	Marion

Relationships

Relationship	Related To	Relative's People ID	Relative's Birth Year	Relative's Death Year	Other Date (typically Marriage Date)
Portrayed in a film, television show, or play by	Lawrence Dobkin	686723	1919	2002

Military Service

Rank If Known Or Highest Or Final Rank	Branch of Service	Beginning Date if Known	End Date if Known
Brigadier General	US Army

Military Actions Served During


Mexican Border Wars 1910-1919
World War I
World War II
Korean War

Interment, Inurnment or Memorialization Information


Cemetery	Arlington National Cemetery
Address	1 Memorial Avenue
City/Town	Fort Myer
County/District	Arlington
State/Province	Virginia
Postal/Zip Code	22211
Country/Principality	USA
Section	Section 5

Grave	6


Organization
Property Type
Has Marker	Yes
No Marker
Is Cenotaph
GPS/LatLong Coordinates
End of Interment Record	If there are additional interments or cenotaphs for this person they will appear below

Inscription Information

No inscriptions added for this person yet

Other Information

Biographical or other information about the person

https://mills-sfv.com/Genealogy/GLS/People/Text/686757.txt

Koch was not given a middle name at birth. He chose W at random when the army decided he should have a middle name, which he sometimes said stood for William

While a Colonel during WW2 he was Patton's G-2. He was apparently the only G-2 in the ETO who foresaw the German offensive which began the Battle of the Bulge, his warnings to Patton were one of the factors in Third Army's ability to abruptly pivot and strike north at German forces surrounding Bastogne.

Retired from the Army in September 1954

I don't know why his name was not used in the movie "Patton", but the character of "Colonel Gaston Bell" was based on him.

This book review of Patton's Oracle (which is about Koch) by Robert Hays contains a short biography of General Koch.


Bronze Star/Bronze Star Medal
Distinguished Service Medal (U.S. Army)
Legion of Merit (U.S.)
Military Intelligence Hall of Fame	Posthumously inducted in 1993
Patton (1969 Film)	Fictionalized as Gaston Bell in the movie; played by Lawrence Dobkin
Small notes (field in database 50 characters max)
Family Search ID	LYT3-58W
Find A Grave 1	48771931
Famous per Find A Grave
Famous per Consensus	Yes
Find A Grave 2
Find A Grave 3
BillionGraves Record ID
Other websites	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Koch
Record Entry Date	2020-12-14 00:44:34
Record Last Edit Date	2020-12-14 12:00:00

Contact Us

We're not set up yet to do direct edits on these records through the web interface. To contact us about this person (re: add or change information or for questions) or send photos or request a photo, click on the link below and modify the email address as instructed, then include your information or questions or attach a photo or photos to the email. If you wish to upload more than a few photos please contact us to make other arrangements to upload your photos. Also, depending on the size and quantity of images you attach to the email, some email servers may bounce your email as many email services limit total attachments per individual email to between 10 mbs and 50 mbs.

Also, do not change the Subject line in the email, it should prepopulate with the correct people ID for the page you are on, if the subject line is changed it may make it impossible for us to know what person you are emailing about.

Send us photos, request a photo, send updates or corrections

For information on contacting us or emailing or requesting photos, click here.


Main Page	Search Cemeteries	Search People	Search Events	Search Places	Logout