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Scheuer, Paul Josef (31431249): Difference between revisions

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|surname=Scheuer
|surname=Scheuer
|first=Paul
|first=Paul
|middle=J.
|middle=Josef
|class_section=4D
|class_section=4D
|class_rank=Pvt
|class_rank=Pvt
|birth_year=1915
|birth_year=1915
|death_year=2003
|death_year=2003
|nativity=Ge
|nativity=Germany
|religion=J
|religion=Jewish
|enlistment_place=BOSTON MASSACHUSETTS
|enlistment_place=BOSTON MASSACHUSETTS
|state=MASSACHUSETTS
|state=MASSACHUSETTS
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|class_display=26
|class_display=26
|death_date=12 January 2003
|death_date=12 January 2003
|photo=6201655523189650.jpg
|birth_place=Heilbronn, Germany
|birth_date=25 May 1915
}}
}}


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'''[[Scheuer, Paul J. (31431249)|Paul J. Scheuer]]''' (1915–2003) was a Ritchie Boy (from Germany; Jewish) who trained at Camp Ritchie in class 26.
'''Paul Josef Scheuer''' (1915 – 12 January 2003) was a Ritchie Boy (from Germany; Jewish) who trained at Camp Ritchie in [[:Category:Class 26|class 26]].
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== Biography ==
== Biography ==
Ritchie Boy Paul Scheuer studied chemistry at Northeastern University in Boston. In January 1945, Scheuer was transferred to Camp Ritchie for military intelligence training. Scheuer received his PhD in chemistry in 1950 under the GI Bill, and joined the University of Hawai'i faculty that year.
Paul Josef Scheuer was born on 25 May 1915 in Heilbronn, Germany. After graduating first in his Realgymnasium class in 1934, Nazi racial laws barred university study. He apprenticed in leather tanneries in Germany and Hungary, where a chemist mentor drew him toward chemistry, then worked briefly in Yugoslavia and England before immigrating to New York in mid-October 1938. He worked as a leather packer and then as a foreman in a tannery in Ayer, Massachusetts, and from autumn 1939 studied at Northeastern University, first at night and from 1940 full-time. He earned a B.S. in chemistry from Northeastern University in April 1943 and began Harvard graduate work under R. B. Woodward.


Scheuer was a Ritchie Boy. Paul was born in 1915 in the city of Heilbronn, Germany, and emigrated to the United States in 1938 and graduated from Northeastern University, Boston, with a B.S. in Chemistry in 1943, His graduate studies at Harvard, interrupted by service in the U.S. As a German national, Paul was an enemy alien and had a few travel restrictions.
Army service interrupted his studies. Assigned first to the Chemical Warfare Service, Scheuer became a U.S. citizen while at Edgewood Arsenal, then transferred in January 1945 to Camp Ritchie ([[:Category:Class 26|Class 26]]). Flown to Paris days before VE Day, he served about fourteen months as a special agent with Third Army headquarters in Bavaria, including temporary duty at the Nuremberg war-crimes trials, before returning home in 1946.


Paul's research during the fall semester of 1943 consisted of many unsuccessful attempts to add ketene to alpha-vinylpyridine, probably in connection with the synthesis of quinine. Paul's spectacular chemical experience was the firing of WP (white phosphorus) shells from 4.2” chemical mortars in the Alabama hills. By January of 1945, Paul had left the Chemical Warfare Service and was assigned for training in military intelligence to Camp Ritchie,|Maryland.
Under the G.I. Bill Scheuer completed a Harvard Ph.D. in organic chemistry in 1950 and joined the University of Hawaiʻi chemistry faculty that year. He built a pioneering marine natural-products research program, directed dozens of graduate students, and retired as professor emeritus in 1985. He died in Hawaii on 12 January 2003.
 
Paul had a long and distinguished career as a chemist. Paul passed away on January 12, 2003. He was later drafted into the US Army where he was assigned to the Chemical Warfare Service.
 
He served in Europe at the 3rd Army headquarters in Bavaria, and became a special agent assigned to the Nuremberg trials. He was the author of 13 books on the subject of Marine Natural Products, chemical compounds produced by marine organisms, and was also the recipient of numerous awards. Another distinguished Ritchie Boy who didn't make Dan Gross' list of Ritchie Boy Notable.
 
Army, led to a Ph.D. in organic chemistry in 1950. In December of 1941, the United States entered the war and everybody’s life changed. Like everybody else, he registered for the draft, but was rejected, when was first called.


== Research notes ==
== Research notes ==
* Nuremberg
* Nuremberg
* Nazi Millionaires
* Nazi Millionaires
* Regenerated from Scheuer’s first-person career narrative. Chemistry prizes are postwar academic honors, not Army awards, and are omitted from the awards tuple.


== Gallery ==
== Gallery ==
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== Timeline ==
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* 25 May 1915 — Born in Heilbronn, Germany.
* 1934 — Graduated from the Heilbronn Realgymnasium.
* 1935–1938 — Apprenticed in tanneries in Hungary, Yugoslavia, and England.
* October 1938 — Immigrated to the United States.
* 1943–1944 — Began Harvard graduate study; Chemical Warfare Service duty.
* April 1943 — Graduated from Northeastern University with a B.S. in chemistry.
* January 1945 — Assigned to Camp Ritchie military-intelligence training (Class 26).
* May 1945–June 1946 — Served with Third Army in Bavaria, including temporary duty at Nuremberg.
* 1950 — Received a Harvard Ph.D. and joined the University of Hawaiʻi faculty.
* 1985 — Retired as professor emeritus.
* 12 January 2003 — Died in Hawaii.
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== Sources ==
== Sources ==
* Ritchie Boys of WWII Facebook material and live roster vitals for Class 26 / death date
* RB Archive reprint of Paul J. Scheuer’s autobiographical essay in ''The Chemical Intelligencer'' (1997)
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_J._Scheuer Wikipedia: Paul J. Scheuer]
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_J._Scheuer Wikipedia: Paul J. Scheuer]
* Camp Ritchie class roster (classes 1–31), merged research file
* 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)
* NARA World War II Army enlistment records (where a NARA ASN is present)
* 1940 U.S. Census (where a census match is present)
* 1940 U.S. Census (where a census match is present)
* Ritchie Boys of WWII Facebook page, post dated 2019-11-18 (1 post)
* Ritchie Boys of WWII Facebook page, post dated 2019-11-18 (1 post)
* Ritchie Boys of WWII Facebook page, post dated 2023-03-02 (1 post)
* Ritchie Boys of WWII Facebook page, post dated 2023-03-02 (1 post)
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