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Sounds like a Law firm right? It was two
Generals and a Corporal in reality. George Koskimaki (Coach K) related this information
April of 2009. He was gracious enough to
have invited to his home and the next day to
The Lunch Bunch.
Let's get back into it;
On March 23, 1944,
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and
Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight D.
Eisenhower gathered at RAF Welford (and
adjacent lands at Court Oak Farm and Welford
Park) in Berkshire, England.
They were joined by
other top-ranking military officials
including 101st Airborne Division Commander
Brigadier General Maxwell D. Taylor to
observe a massive demonstration jump and
military equipment inspection.
In the middle of the
demonstration General Taylor told is radio
operator to call one of the 506th
Battalion commander. This is where it got
interesting. The radio operator T/5
(Corporal) George Koskimaki blanked out.
General Taylor was a
different beast compared to General Lee.
Taylor took over the 101st just 9
days before because Lee had recently had a
heart attack. Taylor hadn’t learned all of
the call signs yet, so he asked for the
Battalion commander by name not by the Call
Sign.
Radio Operator
Koskimaki had worked with General Lee for
months and at the moment he didn’t expect he
had to call out the signs that way. Lee
would give the Call Sign and Koskimaki would
then call out the sign.
It was only a glitch
but Taylor was not a happy man that his
Radio Operator didn’t know all of the Call
Signs for the Division. This was on Taylor
as well as he should have known them as
well.
A few minutes later
Koskimaki was in the dumps, letting his new
General down in front of the other brass.
Then someone’s arm went around Koskimaki’s
shoulder and said “we all make mistakes once
in a while”. Koskimaki realized that the
person who had given that advice was none
other than General Theodore Roosevelt!
Roosevelt had a knowing
smile when talking to the crestfallen Radio
Operator that day. Two months later General
Roosevelt would be on Utah Beach directing
traffic as the ranking officer during the
first wave.
Coach K always had
something interesting to say, usually about
others but on this day it was about two
Generals and a Corporal.
Brian Siddall
October 23, 2026
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