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Frank Cohn
Official U.S. Army portrait of Cohn in uniform, 1946
Born	Franz Cohn (1925-08-02)August 2, 1925 Breslau, Germany (present-day Wrocław, Poland)
Died	July 4, 2026(2026-07-04) (aged 100) Fort Belvoir, Virginia, United States
Military career
Allegiance	United States
Branch	United States Army
Service years	1943–1978
Rank	Colonel
Unit	T-Force, 12th Army Group 26th Infantry Regiment 1st MP Company, 1st Infantry Division 728th Military Police Battalion 7th Army Support Command 793rd Military Police Battalion 6th Infantry Regiment Military District of Washington
Conflicts	World War II Battle of the Bulge Korean War Vietnam War

Franz "Frank" Cohn (August 2, 1925 – July 4, 2026) was a German-born American United States Army colonel, intelligence officer, and Holocaust survivor. Born in Weimar-era Germany, Cohn fled Nazi persecution with his family as a teenager in 1938. After emigrating to the United States, he was drafted into the U.S. Army during World War II, served in military intelligence during the Battle of the Bulge, and went on to serve a 35-year military career that spanned the Korean and Vietnam Wars, retiring in 1978 as the chief of staff of the United States Army Military District of Washington.

Early life and personal life

Frank Cohn was born Franz Cohn on August 2, 1925, to Jewish parents, his father Martin Cohn and his mother, Ruth Cohn, in Breslau, Germany (present-day Wrocław, Poland). His family owned a sporting goods business in Breslau. Cohn's uncle Max Berdass died in June 1930 from injuries sustained in January 1927 from a beating by Nazis in Chemnitz when they identified him as Jewish. Following the rise to power of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in 1933, the family faced antisemitic harassment, including boycotts of their business and discrimination at school. On April 1, 1933, the Nazi leadership carried out a nationwide economic boycott targeting Jewish-owned businesses, including Cohn's family's sporting goods store.

When Cohn entered third grade in a German public school in 1934, one of his teachers wore a Sturmabteilung (SA) uniform with a swastika armband and the Nazi Party pin. Cohn was forced to listen to his classmates singing Hitler Youth songs and he was instructed to remain seated at his desk, as Jews were forbidden to participate. The brutality of the Nazi regime became a reality for Cohn's family when Michaelis, a family friend, died under suspicious circumstances following a Gestapo arrest. In 1938, soon after Cohn's Bar Mitzvah in August, Cohn's father Martin traveled to the United States on a visitor's visa to secure immigration affidavits from relatives. While he was out of Germany, the Gestapo visited the family residence looking for him. Ruth Cohn subsequently obtained a visitor's visa for herself and paid to have Cohn's name added to the document. The two traveled to New York City, where they reunited with Martin on October 30, 1938, prior to the November pogroms known as Kristallnacht. His family was permitted to remain in the United States under an executive order issued by Franklin D. Roosevelt, which halted the return of refugees following Kristallnacht. Cohn attended junior high school and Stuyvesant High School in New York City. Cohn had 18 of his relatives imprisoned in concentration camps during the war: 12 on his father's side of the family; six from his mother's side. After he finished high school, he enrolled in the Reserve Officer Training Corps to learn about the U.S. Army at the City College of New York.

Military service

World War II

Cohn was drafted into the United States Army in September 1943 at 18 years old. Due to him still holding a German passport, he was initially classified as an "enemy alien" and was held at Fort Dix, New Jersey, for three months while the FBI investigated his background. He was sworn in as a U.S. citizen during his basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia. He reported for the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP), which, after basic training, sent recruits to colleges to earn degrees in fields like medicine, engineering, and foreign languages. But before Cohn could complete his training, the Army canceled the program.

In September 1944, Cohn deployed to the European Theater of Operations aboard the RMS Queen Mary as an infantry replacement, initially assigned to the 87th Infantry Division and landing at Omaha Beach in Normandy, France, via a Liberty ship. His fluency in the German language and culture was recognized, and the Army transferred him to military intelligence and sent him to Le Vésinet, near Paris, for instruction in identifying German military organization and administrative structures. He served as part of Interrogator Prisoner of War Team 66 within T-Force, an intelligence unit attached to the 12th Army Group. During the Battle of the Bulge, his duties included interrogating captured German soldiers and identifying German infiltrators operating behind American lines in U.S. uniforms. While searching for German infiltrators wearing American uniforms, Cohn and his officer were held at gunpoint and detained for seven hours by a U.S. lieutenant who mistook their accents for enemy spies. He said in 2020 that that incident was: “the scariest day of my life”. He also participated in the Rhineland and Central Europe campaigns, conducting prisoner-of-war interrogations and assessing captured facilities for intelligence materials. In April 1945, Cohn's unit was moving from Frankfurt to Kassel, but was sent to Magdeburg because the Soviet Army already reached the Rhine River. Cohn's captain assigned him to serve as an interpreter during a meeting with Soviet troops to persuade them to maintain their current position rather than advancing to Berlin. Cohn was among the American troops who met the advancing Soviet Red Army at the Elbe River near Magdeburg, Germany. Cohn handed out American cigarettes and got vodka in return from the Soviets.

Post-war and education

In May 1946, then-Staff Sergeant Cohn was discharged from active duty. While in college, he joined the Army Reserve. He married Pauline “Paula” Brimberg in 1948. Cohn later transitioned into the Military Police Corps and commissioned as a second lieutenant after graduating from the City College of New York in 1949. They have one daughter, Laura Cohn. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology and education from the City College of New York, followed by a Master of Science degree in police administration from Michigan State University. During his two years of combat branch service in the infantry, Cohn served with the 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division in Bamberg, Germany, as well as the 6th Infantry Regiment in Berlin. He subsequently transitioned to military police roles, serving as a platoon leader in the 1st MP Company, 1st Infantry Division, and later as company commander for Company D, 728th MP Battalion in Korea. His later command and staff assignments included provost marshal for the 7th Army Support Command in Germany, battalion commander of the 793rd MP Battalion, chief of operations for the Provost Marshal Office in Vietnam, and commander of the 42nd MP Group (Customs) and Customs Chief for U.S. Army Europe in Heidelberg.

He remained in active-duty for 35 years. His post-WWII assignments included deployments during the Korean War and the Vietnam War in 1969, as well as tours of duty in West Germany. While serving as the final O-6 Branch Chief of the Military Police Corps, Cohn sent a letter to the Secretary of the Army expressing concern over the reduction of general officer positions within the branch. Within a few years, six military police colonels were promoted to brigadier general. Toward the end of his career, he served as Director of Security for President Jimmy Carter's inauguration in 1977 and concluded his active duty service as Chief of Staff of the Military District of Washington. He retired from active service in 1978 with the rank of colonel.

Post-military service and legacy

Cohn at the Fairfax Retirement community in Fort Belvoir, Virginia in 2020.

Following his retirement from active duty, Cohn lived in The Fairfax Retirement Community, Fort Belvoir, Virginia. He volunteered and spoke on behalf of several organizations, including the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the National Museum of American Jewish Military History, and the Jewish War Veterans of the USA. He also participated in events at the National World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C., where he spoke about his experiences as a refugee and service member. The Russians later honored Cohn's service and invited him to Moscow, all expenses paid, for the 60th, 65th and 70th anniversaries marking the end of World War II in Europe. He received the highest military police award on September 29, 2020, the Order of the Marechaussee. His wife Pauline died in 2021 after 72 years of marriage. The Fairfax County community celebrated Cohn’s 100th birthday on August 2, 2025.

Cohn died on July 4, 2026 on the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, at his retirement home at The Fairfax military retirement community. A celebration of life was held for Cohn on July 15, 2026, at Adas Israel Congregation in Washington, D.C. He is scheduled to be buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.

Awards and honors

Cohn's military decorations and foreign honors include the following:

Row	Decorations and ribbons
1st Row	Legion of Merit (with oak leaf cluster)	Bronze Star Medal	Meritorious Service Medal	Army Commendation Medal
2nd Row	European–African–Middle Eastern Campaign Medal (with 3 campaign stars)	World War II Victory Medal	Army of Occupation Medal	National Defense Service Medal
3rd Row	Korean Service Medal	Vietnam Service Medal (with 4 campaign stars)	Legion of Honour (Chevalier, France)	Grand Service Cross (Germany)
4th Row	Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal	United Nations Korea Medal	Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross (with palm)	—

Other honors

• Order of the Marechaussee – Highest honor awarded by the U.S. Army Military Police Corps
• U.S. Army Military Police Hall of Fame – Inducted in 2004

External links

• Media related to Frank Cohn at Wikimedia Commons
• Full video interview with Frank Cohn at the American Veterans Center published on March 23, 2018