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Contact Info
Home Town Ruxton, Baltimore Cty., MD
Date of Passing Sep 17, 1972
Location of Interment U.S. Naval Academy Cemetery and Columbarium (VLM) - Annapolis, Maryland
US Navy Rear Admiral. Koch graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1933. He was designated a Naval Aviator on January 2, 1935. His first tour of duty after completing flight school was aboard the cruiser Tuscaloosa followed by assignments to Torpedo Squadron seven, Patrol Squadron Three and Patrol Bombing Squadron Seventy-Four. In 1942 and 1943 Koch commanded Headquarters Squadron Five and in 1944, after a tour of duty with the Commander in Chief Atlantic Fleet Staff, assumed command of the sea-plane tender USS Humbolt. After the war, Koch served on the USS Leyte, and soon after completed the Senior Course at the Naval War College. He was next promoted to Commander and assigned as Executive Officer of Naval Air Technical Training Center, Memphis and subsequently of Naval Station, Kodiak where he served from July 3, 1951 to September 6, 1951. In the mid 1950's he was given assignments to the Staff, Commander Fleet Air Wings Atlantic and the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. Koch was then made Commanding Officer, Naval Air Station Barbers Point, and reported in 1957 as Chief of Staff to Commander Fleet Air Wing, Quonset. In 1958 Koch became Commander Fleet Air Wing Three and his next command would be as Commander of Naval Air Station, Norfolk. After his promotion to Rear Admiral he commanded Carrier Division eighteen, Fleet Air Wings, U.S. Atlantic Fleet with additional duty as Commander Fleet Air Wing five, and in 1963 became Chief of Naval Air Reserve Training. In 1965 Koch assumed command of carrier Division Six, and the Fifteenth Naval District. His last assignment was as the Commandant of The Navy Yard, Washington Naval District.
Other Comments:
At the time of his retirement, Admiral Koch was also awarded the Grey Eagle Award for his many years of service.
Central Pacific Campaign (1941-43)/Battle of Midway
From Month/Year
June / 1942
To Month/Year
June / 1942
Description The Battle of Midway in the Pacific Theater of Operations was one of the most important naval battles of World War II. Between 4 and 7 June 1942, only six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, and one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea, the United States Navy (USN), under Admirals Chester W. Nimitz, Frank Jack Fletcher, and Raymond A. Spruance decisively defeated an attack by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), under Admirals Isoroku Yamamoto, Chuichi Nagumo, and Nobutake Kondo on Midway Atoll, inflicting irreparable damage on the Japanese fleet. Military historian John Keegan called it "the most stunning and decisive blow in the history of naval warfare." It was Japan's first naval defeat since the Battle of Shimonoseki Straits in 1863.
The Japanese operation, like the earlier attack on Pearl Harbor, sought to eliminate the United States as a strategic power in the Pacific, thereby giving Japan a free hand in establishing its Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. The Japanese hoped that another demoralizing defeat would force the U.S. to capitulate in the Pacific War and thus ensure Japanese dominance in the Pacific.
The Japanese plan was to lure the United States' aircraft carriers into a trap. The Japanese also intended to occupy Midway as part of an overall plan to extend their defensive perimeter in response to the Doolittle air raid on Tokyo. This operation was also considered preparatory for further attacks against Fiji, Samoa, and Hawaii itself.
The plan was handicapped by faulty Japanese assumptions of the American reaction and poor initial dispositions.Most significantly, American codebreakers were able to determine the date and location of the attack, enabling the forewarned U.S. Navy to set up an ambush of its own. Four Japanese aircraft carriers—Akagi, Kaga, Soryu and Hiryu, all part of the six-carrier force that had attacked Pearl Harbor six months earlier—and a heavy cruiser were sunk at a cost of one American aircraft carrier and a destroyer. After Midway and the exhausting attrition of the Solomon Islands campaign, Japan's shipbuilding and pilot training programs were unable to keep pace in replacing their losses, while the U.S. steadily increased its output in both areas.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
June / 1942
To Month/Year
June / 1942
Last Updated: Mar 16, 2020
Personal Memories
Memories US Navy Rear Admiral. Koch graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1933. He was designated a Naval Aviator on January 2, 1935. His first tour of duty after completing flight school was aboard the cruiser Tuscaloosa followed by assignments to Torpedo Squadron seven, Patrol Squadron Three and Patrol Bombing Squadron Seventy-Four. In 1942 and 1943 Koch commanded Headquarters Squadron Five and in 1944, after a tour of duty with the Commander in Chief Atlantic Fleet Staff, assumed command of the sea-plane tender USS Humbolt. After the war, Koch served on the USS Leyte, and soon after completed the Senior Course at the Naval War College. He was next promoted to Commander and assigned as Executive Officer of Naval Air Technical Training Center, Memphis and subsequently of Naval Station, Kodiak where he served from July 3, 1951 to September 6, 1951. In the mid 1950's he was given assignments to the Staff, Commander Fleet Air Wings Atlantic and the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. Koch was then made Commanding Officer, Naval Air Station Barbers Point, and reported in 1957 as Chief of Staff to Commander Fleet Air Wing, Quonset. In 1958 Koch became Commander Fleet Air Wing Three and his next command would be as Commander of Naval Air Station, Norfolk. After his promotion to Rear Admiral he commanded Carrier Division eighteen, Fleet Air Wings, U.S. Atlantic Fleet with additional duty as Commander Fleet Air Wing five, and in 1963 became Chief of Naval Air Reserve Training. In 1965 Koch assumed command of carrier Division Six, and his last assignment was as the Commandant of the Fifteenth Naval District.
