Ralph Hockley defies convention.
In his 96 years, he has survived the Holocaust, faced combat in the U.S. Army in Germany and Korea, and served as an intelligence officer for the U.S. government in numerous posts.
The dapper gentleman walks without assistance and, during the interview for this story, jumped up to retrieve the French medal he recently received. In addition to his vitality, he recalls dates and events as if they were yesterday. (“The Berlin Wall, you know, went up Aug. 13, 1961,” he says.)
In November, Hockley — born Rudolf Martin Hockenheimer on Oct. 17, 1925 — was honored with France’s highest civilian honor, the Legion of Honor, in a ceremony at the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum.
“We were so pleased to host Ralph’s Legion of Honor presentation,” says Mary Pat Higgins, museum president and CEO. “Ralph is a shining example of Upstander behavior, and we are very grateful that the French government recognized him for his resilience, heroism and service.”
Upstanders, as defined by the museum, are ordinary people who stood up against injustice during the Holocaust and in the fight for human rights throughout history.
Consul General of France Valérie Baraban bestowed the medal. Napoleon Bonaparte established the Legion of Honor in 1802 to recognize the merit of civilians and soldiers who achieved great things in the service of France.
Hockley’s relationship with France has deep roots.
Hockley’s father, Julius, uprooted their Jewish family to move from Germany to Marseilles, France, in 1935. Hockley lived in Marseilles from ages 9 to 15. “These were formative years,” he says.
“My sister Marianne [a year older] and I were enrolled in school here. I remember that my parents were not treated well. We spoke German and French at home. My father had served four years in the German army during WWI and felt insulted when Hitler persecuted Jewish people. That is why he left Germany,” he said.
In fall 1940, the school notified the family that since much of France was occupied by Germany, 14-year-old Ralph could not come back to school for fear that the other kids would beat him up. “No one would have beaten me up. These were my friends,” Hockley said.
In essence, he was kicked out of school, but he says this act ultimately saved his family.
“My mother was afraid for me. She thought that I’d get into trouble by not attending school.” She got him a volunteer position with the Quakers, the Religious Society of Friends, which organized relief and advocated for rescues in Europe before, during and after the Holocaust.
Since young Ralph was fluent in German and French and spoke passable English, he was employed as an interpreter for the American consulate in Marseilles and for the Quakers. During this time, he researched applications for U.S. visas for internees in camps, which included his own father, interned allegedly for his own “protection.”
In his position, Hockley met Hiram “Harry” Bingham, the American vice consul in Marseilles. Hockley says that, contrary to U.S. State Department instructions, Bingham followed his conscience and did what he could to save more than 2,500 refugees and help them escape from France. (The rescue of French artist Marc Chagall was among Bingham’s most famous.)
In March 1941, Hockley was told to see Bingham, who assured him that at the recommendation of the Quakers, Bingham was ready to issue his family visas.
But because visas were only valid for 90 days, Bingham gave him a letter to the French authorities to get his father out of the camp. This was successful. They then had to get passage by ship out of France. The Quakers listed them as staff members and obtained passage for them on the SS Winnipeg to French Martinique. The ship was captured in the Caribbean by the Royal Dutch Navy and taken to Trinidad, British West Indies. From there, the Hockleys made it to New York.
At the November ceremony, Baraban said, “At the end of this chapter of your life, you could have taken advantage of the refuge offered to you by the United States, far from the barbarism which was unleashed in Europe. But your courage and your sense of duty continued to guide you.”
As soon as Hockley turned 18, he enlisted in the U.S. Army. “I wanted to personally kill Hitler,” he says, matter-of-factly. “Although I was not yet a citizen, after we went through basic training, I was made a citizen.”
After training in intelligence work, Hockley was sent to Germany, where he worked in counterintelligence as well as “de-Nazification.” He was in Paris on May 8, 1945, when the war in Europe ended, which he calls “an unbelievable experience.”
He completed his service in May 1946 as a sergeant. He then enrolled at Syracuse University, graduating with a degree in Soviet area studies and political science in 1949.
After college, he returned to active military service in Korea. He served with the French United Nations Battalion as an artillery forward observer during the Battle of Heartbreak Ridge in 1951. For his service in Korea, he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for Valor. He remained on active duty in Berlin until 1953 and then transitioned to civilian work in intelligence.
In 1955, at age 29, he returned to the United States and married Eva Frankel, also a Holocaust survivor. Hockley returned to the Army as a civilian in Berlin, where their children, Clifford and Denise, were born. He was assigned to various civilian posts in Germany and simultaneously rose to the rank of colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve. Upon retirement from the U.S. government in 1981, the family settled in San Francisco. Eva died in 1983 after 27 years of marriage.
While stationed at the American Embassy in Bonn, Hockley had become friends with the family of Carolyn Harris, who was married to a U.S. Air Force pilot. The two families had been neighbors and their children attended the same school, where Harris worked.
“After our return to the U.S., we stayed in touch,” Harris says. “The Hockleys were always on the Christmas card list.”
Back in San Francisco, Hockley decided to look up Harris, by then a divorced mother of three working in Houston. The two enjoyed a long-distance relationship for about a year and married in December 1984. She joined him in San Francisco, and the couple later moved to Houston before ultimately settling in 2013 in Carrollton to be near her daughter.
Despite being retired, Hockley has stayed busy. In 2001, he chronicled his life’s journey in his book, Freedom Is Not Free, available through online booksellers.
UPDATED at 7:50 a.m. Feb. 23 to correct the name of the French United Nations Battalion.
