Saul Kokotovich Verified listing

Saul "Savo" Kokotovich was the third of six children of George & Stella Kokotovich and was born in Gary Indiana on November 20, 1924.

He loved music and played the Brac and the Accordian. Saul married Martha Serbian on July 8, 1944 before shippping out to Europe.

After being drafted and scoring high on the army’s classification test, he joined the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP). In March 1944, when the army curtailed the ASTP program, Saul transferred to Camp Maxey, Texas, where the 99th Division was in training. Just before going overseas, he married his longtime girlfriend, Martha, at Camp Maxey’s chapel. He was nineteen.

Once in Texas, Saul became acquainted with Jack Beckwith, also from the ASTP. Jack was born in LaMoure, North Dakota, on March 12, 1924. In early 1943, he entered the army and qualified for the ASTP. His hope to become an aviator disappeared upon his release from the program. He joined the 99th as a foot soldier at age twenty.

He was serving in C Company, 395th Infantry Regiment, 99th Infantry Division when he was Killed in Action on December 15, 1944 in the woods near Wahlerscheid, Germany on Hill 627 when they came under attack from German artillery.

Postwar attempts to locate his remains following the war were unsuccessful and PFC Kokotovich was Memorialized with the Missing at the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial.

In 2001, a group of Belgian Civilians who were part of a MIA Project looking to return US servicemen to their families located remains in a shallow grave on the slope of Hill 627.

PFC Saul "Savo" Kokotovich was positively identified and buried at the Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery and Memorial in Belgium - Plot C Row 7 Grave 58.

Learn more about his story -> 88 Hill - MIA Project