Wanting to somehow contribute to the defeat of the Nazis persecuting her fellow Jews, Bebe Koch enlisted at age nineteen and rose through the ranks to become a platoon commander. Koch enlisted in the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) through Hunter College in 1942 and was stationed at the Bureau of Naval Personnel in Washington DC. She became a close aide to Rear Admiral Hopewood. After the war, Koch settled in Montgomery Country, Maryland, where she served as chair of the first human relations and landlord-tenant commission.