Private John William Koch
It was March 14, 1924, when John Koch was born in Springfield Township, Williams County, Ohio. His parents, George N. and Matilda "Tillie" E. (Cox), Koch would add seven other children to their clan; three served in the war.
John attended the Farmer School in Defiance County, as his parents lived in Farmer Township, but his mailing address was Route 5, Bryan, a common situation for his school district. According to the 1940 census, they had lived in rural Williams County in 1935 also.
Entering the draft in 1942, it was only a year later before he enlisted in the Army in Toledo.
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| Draft Card |
He was assigned to Company B, 33rd Armored Regiment. Most of his basic training took place in Fort Knox, Kentucky.
Pvt. Koch was a combat soldier in the Battle of the Bulge, one of the most intense battles for the United States, ending with sieges in Belgium. Belgium wanted to be a neutral country, but, unfortunately, the Germans invaded them in 1940 and despite resistance, occupied the country. By August 1942, the Germans were deporting Belgian Jews into concentration camps. In November 1944, Pvt. Koch was sent to the field hospital, having been hit in the jaw and cheek by aerial debris from a bomb blast. He was sutured up and sent back out to duty.
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| Battle of Bastogne |
The Siege of Bastogne was a fight for a very strategic location for the Allies as all roads through the Ardennes, heavily forested, rough, hilly ground, led to Bastogne.
It grew impossible to get supplies in except by airlift due to the pockets of German soldiers, and the winter of 1944 was one of the coldest on record for the region.
From December 16 - December 27, the Allies worked to pin the Germans in and capture the city, and they succeeded. In the first week of January when the Germans renewed an offensive. On January 7, 1945, the day that Pvt. Koch was killed, the 33rd Armored Division had stayed in Bastogne and Regne to hold on to the territory. They maintained road blocks and set guards with resistance from the Germans with artillery, guns, and mortars. The weather was cold and snowy and there was low visibility, the diary of the 33rd Division noted.
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| Bastogne |
Private John Koch was killed on January 7, 1945, at Regne', Arrondissent de Bastogne, Luxembourg, Belgium.
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| Boynton Cemetery, Stryker |
His obituary appeared in the Bryan Democrat on Thursday, November 20, 1947, as his body was brought home from overseas.
"BODY OF WILLIAMS CENTER VET HERE
Military Services for John W. Koch Will Be Held Saturday
The body of Pvt. John William Koch, first of the World War II dead to be returned to this area, was scheduled to arrive shortly after 4
o'clock this afternoon at the New York Central railroad station (here) from the Army Distribution Center in Columbus.
Pvt. Koch, who was 20 at the time of his death in Belgium on January 7, 1945, had served in the army one year to the day he was killed. He was with Company B, Thirty-Third Armored Regiment, and previously to his death had been awarded the Purple Heart.
His body arrived in New York recently on the army transport, Joseph Connolly, in the first shipment from the European area. Upon arrival late today, it was to be expected at Oberlin-Ford Funeral Home, where services will be conducted at 2 pm. Saturday with the Rev. W.E. Turner, pastor of the Ney Church of God, officiating. Burial will be in Boynton Cemetery at Stryker.
Graveside military rites will be held by the Farmer American Legion Post and the Evansport V.F.W. Post.
Surviving are his parents, Mr. and Mrs. George M. Koch, who reside south of Williams Center in Defiance County; four sisters, Mrs. Mary Goebel of Edgerton; Mrs. Fern Kline of Mark Center; Mrs. Ethel Hanawalt of Defiance, and Miss Susie Jane Koch,at home; three brothers; Samuel at home, and Ray and Walter, both of Bryan."
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| John's brothers, Ray and Walter, made it home and settled in Bryan. Dianne Kline, Researcher |
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