Index
Scholarships
The 3rd Battalion, 26th Marines Scholarship
The 3rd Battalion, 26th Marines Scholarship, established in 2005 through a gift from COL Kurt L. Hoch, USMC (Ret.), a member of the Class of 1944, is awarded to rising sophomore, junior or senior students demonstrating financial need and strong leadership skills either through involvement in campus or community activities with preference given to students from Herkimer, Lewis, Madison or Oneida (N.Y.) counties who have an honorable familial background in the U.S. Marines Corps.
Kurt L. Hoch, a Colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps for over 25 years, was born to Franz and Antoinette Hoch in Baden, Germany. The Hochs emigrated to the U.S. and settled on a farm in Deansboro, New York, when Kurt was a child. He enrolled at Hamilton in 1940, but withdrew to join the Marine Corps after the attack on Pearl Harbor. He served on the aircraft carrier USS Bon Homme Richard in the Pacific and became an administration and combat troop leader, leading the Third Battalion 26th Marines in Vietnam in 1967.
He earned an A.B. from Hamilton in absentia in 1959, attended the U.S. Naval War College, and received his M.S. in secondary school education from Roosevelt University in 1973. He retired from the Navy that year and then taught and served as principal at several schools in central New York and Florida. When asked how his years at Hamilton impacted his life and career, Kurt wrote that the College “taught me to organize my thoughts, to write forcefully and accurately and when necessary, to stand on my feet and deliver my thoughts!” He currently resides in Remsen, New York.
August 2014
Please note: The named scholarships profiled on these pages are awarded as part of the College’s need-based financial aid packages. These funds help ensure the Hamilton Promise of keeping education affordable through meeting a student’s full demonstrated financial need.
Materials published here were diligently researched and written by students who strived for historical accuracy.
