RIP: "Battle of the Bulge" Hero Lyle Bouck Jr. dies at 92

Lyle Bouck Jr: Recipient of Distinguished Service Cross, former P.O.W., dies

ST. LOUIS • Lyle J. Bouck Jr., a Sunset Hills chiropractor whose platoon played a notable role in the Battle of the Bulge, died Friday. He was 92.

“He was at home, right up until the last,” said Diane Bouck Simcik, a daughter.

She said the former prisoner of war fell ill on Tuesday. She said he had pneumonia and was congested and weak.

In April, Dr. Bouck and his young caretaker were the subjects of a front-page story in the Post-Dispatch about aging at home. He was healthy but couldn’t move on his own anymore.

Dr. Bouck was a leader of the 99th Infantry Division’s 394th Intelligence and Reconnaissance Platoon. It wasn’t until Gen. Dwight Eisenhower’s son, John, interviewed Dr. Bouck years after the war that he realized his grossly outnumbered but strategically positioned platoon held up a major part of Germany’s legendary offensive at the Battle of the Bulge.

The 2004 book, “The Longest Winter,” suggests that the platoon eventually became the most decorated of any that fought in the war. And Dr. Bouck had been its leader.

Dr. Bouck eventually received the Distinguished Service Cross, second only to the Medal of Honor in distinction for members of the Army.

Dr. Bouck didn’t relish publicity from the honor.

“It’s not how he wanted to be remembered,” Simcik said.

She said her father qualified to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington but chose the family plot at Sunset Cemetery.

Visitation will be from 3 to 9 p.m. Monday at Kutis Affton Chapel, 10151 Gravois Road. A funeral will be held there at 10 a.m. Tuesday, followed by burial.

Dr. Bouck’s wife Lucy and son Daniel died previously. Among the survivors, in addition to his daughter, are a brother, Eugene Bouck, of St. Louis County; another daughter, Denise Bouck of Sunset Hills; two sons, Douglas Bouck of St. Louis County and Dwight Bouck of Wheaton, Ill.; 13 grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren.

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