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John Friedrich Krasny
| John Friedrich Krasny | |
|---|---|
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1914 Vienna, Austria |
| Died | 8 April 2005 |
| Nativity | Austria |
| Religion | Catholic |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch |  United States Army |
| ASN | 34170536 |
| Rank | Sergeant |
| Rank at Ritchie | Technician Fourth Grade |
| Camp Ritchie | Class 10 (23 July – 20 September 1943) |
| Section | 5B |
| Enlisted | Ft Bragg, North Carolina |
{{Needs source}}, or explain disagreements on talk. Baseline import notes: About the data.
John Friedrich Krasny (1914 – 8 April 2005) was a Ritchie Boy (from Austria; Catholic) who trained at Camp Ritchie in class 10.
Biography
From 1920 to 1935, John attended School (Elementary, Secondary and 3 years college) in Austria. He received a master’s degree in statistics from American University in 1958.
From 1935 to 1938, he worked in textile processing laboratory. John was a native of Vienna, Austria, and worked in his mother’s textile factory in Czechoslovakia until he immigrated to the United States in 1938. On 16 October 1942, he became a naturalized citizen.
On 9 July 1944, he member of OB Team 29 assigned to G-2 with 5th Armored Div. In 1972, he returned to the Bureau of Standards (now the National Institute of Standards and Technology), where he worked on garment and furniture flammability. He served as Order of Battle specialist and.
Krasny was a Ritchie Boy. He was a laborer in textile factories in North Carolina. He was attached to the 5th Armored Division from D-Day through the end of the war and used his language skills as an interrogator of German prisoners and civilians.
He told his family that he and other “Ritchie boys” used creative methods to gather intelligence — for instance, they would telephone an Axis armaments factory, impersonate a German officer and attempt to order certain weapons to ascertain whether production was underway. The information, gleaned from prisoner interviews, was passed to Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force, but he and his colleagues felt that their warnings were ignored. “For me, knowing that SHAEF had strong warnings but did not act upon them remains the most frustrating event in my life,” Mr.
He was awarded a Bronze Star by the Army. While in Colorado, he indulged his love of skiing long before ski lifts were common in the mountainous West. He settled in the Washington area, working for what was then known as the National Bureau of Standards and later for the Gillette Research Institute on textile research-and-development projects.
Research notes
- Class 10 GerOB NBS/NIST
- OB 29 BS
Technical record
| Field | Imported value |
|---|---|
| Approx Age at Death | 91 |
| Nara ASN | 34170536 |
| Nara Name | KRASNY JOHN F |
| Nara State | 46 |
| Nara County | 21 |
| Nara POE | 4625 |
| Nara DOE | 130941 |
| Nara Grade Alpha | PVT |
| Nara Grade Code | 8 |
| Nara Branch Alpha | BI |
| Nara Branch Code | 0 |
| Branch | Branch Immaterial - Warrant Officers, USA |
| Nara Term or Enlistment | 0 |
| Term of enlistment | Unknown |
| Defer. Date | 0 |
| Nara Source | 0 |
| Nara Nativity | N2 |
| Nara Year of Birth | 14 |
| Nara Race | J |
| Nara Race Description | White not yet a citizen |
| Nara Education | 7 |
| Nara Civilian Occupation | 50 |
| Nara Marital Status | 1 |
| Nara Height (inches) | 67 |
| Nara Weight (lbs) | 140 |
| Class_ASN | 34170536 |
| Class_Name | KRASKY, John F. |
| match_method | asn_exact_name_compatible |
| row_source | both |
Timeline
- Born 22 October 1914 in Vienna (Religion: Catholic, but father was Jewish).
- 13 September 1941 — Enlisted as Pvt. At Fort Bragg, North Carolina (ASN 34170536).
- 16 October 1942 — Became naturalized citizen.
- 9 July 1944 — Member of OB Team 29 assigned to G-2 with 5th Armored Div.
- May 1945 — Joined CIC Detachment.
- Graduated Class 10 (IPW Ge) as M/Sgt.
Sources
- Camp Ritchie Museum, Inc. (The Ritchie History Museum), Classes 1–31 roster data
- Dan Gross research spreadsheets, including original Excel timeline/roster work, combined with other research and records
- NARA World War II Army enlistment records (where a NARA ASN is present)
- 1940 U.S. Census (where a census match is present)
- Ritchie Boys of WWII Facebook page, post dated 2022-12-06 (1 post)
- Dan Gross, Timeline of John Friedrich Krasny for Camp Ritchie (private research document; 1 source documents reviewed)
- Dan Gross, Timeline of Krasny, John Friedrich for Camp Ritchie (private research files; selected non-private narrative findings; 1 source files: JOHN F. KRASNY.doc)