Erle Cocke Jr. is celebrating what he calls "the 50th anniversary of my execution."
An escapee from a German prison camp, the then 23-year-old Army captain survived three bullet wounds from a machine gun and a failed coup de grace on April 25, 1945."Why I was spared, I do not know," he said. "I've spent the last 50 years of my life trying to figure that out."
During the two years he spent recovering, Cocke decided to "be remembered for living, not for dying." And if military decorations and a resume are any measure, Cocke has lived up to that credo.
Decorated with silver and bronze stars and a three-cluster purple heart, as well as the French Croix de Guerre, Cocke, at 29, was the youngest national commander ever of the American Legion.
A Harvard business school graduate, he returned to service as an adviser and negotiator during the Korean and Vietnam wars.
In addition to extensive work in the private sector, Cocke served as a consultant to two past defense secretaries, as U.S. alternate director of the World Bank from 1961 to 1964, according to his Legion biography. He was separated from active duty as a brigadier general by the Georgia National Guard.
"What am I supposed to do next?" he asked. "I always ask the question, is this the job I was saved for?"
After spending most of spring 1945 as a prisoner, Cocke led three other Americans out of a German camp near the village of Oberwelzinge. It was his third escape, and he said he killed eight Germans who tried to detain him.
Retreating Germans recaptured his group in the village, and their commander ordered that the Americans be searched for keys to a truck Cocke had used to block a bridge into town to frustrate the Germans' flight.
There were no last wishes, cigarettes or blindfolds.
When Cocke slugged the soldier who reached for his pocket, another German opened fire with an American-made machine gun, killing Cocke's comrades and wounding him once in the chest and twice in the stomach.
A soldier approached to administer a final shot to the head of each of the other Americans. Perhaps his weapon slipped. Perhaps he was rushing to join his retreating comrades. But instead of putting a bullet through Cocke's temple, he shot him in the back.
Left for dead, Cocke languished eight hours before civilians gathered him up and took him to a German first aid station, where he underwent surgery. He would undergo 17 more operations in 14 different hospitals.
He awoke May 7 in a German hospital, where a French nurse told him the war was over. Europe and the United States celebrate the end of World War II May 8.
Today, Cocke, 73, runs his own government relations firm in Washington. Four flags flank his desk: Old Glory, two American Legion banners, and the state flag of his native Georgia.
"He epitomizes the traditional Southern gentlemen," said Thomas C. Kouyeas, a Legion official who has known Cocke for 20 years. "He is highly respected throughout the American Legion."
Cocke had simple plans to remember his brush with death: dinner at home with his wife of 40 years, Madelyn, and telephone calls to his three daughters in Hong Kong, New York and San Diego.