Skala, Peter Hans (01326224): Difference between revisions

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Peter Hans Skala was born on 3 September 1924 in Vienna, Austria; Army records list him as Protestant, of Jewish roots. As a schoolboy he fled Austria after Kristallnacht in November 1938 and from December 1938 to October 1939 stayed in Birmingham and Liverpool, England. He then went on with his family to the United States, lived in Queens, New York City, and studied English at Queens College. He enlisted in the Army on 5 April 1943 (enlisted ASN 32883052) and took basic training as a supply soldier with Company I, 6th Quartermaster Training Regiment, at the Quartermaster Replacement Training Center at Camp Lee, Virginia. In July 1943 he was transferred to the Military Intelligence Training Center at Camp Ritchie, where he trained as a German-language prisoner-of-war interrogator and graduated with [[:Category:Class 10|Class 10]] (section 5A; certificate 3548); he became a United States citizen in September. From October to December 1943 he was detached with a provisional IPW team to the Desert Training Center at Camp Young, California, for exercises.

In January 1944 Skala was sent to the Infantry Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Georgia, where by May he had completed class No. 329 with the 24th and 27th Companies of the 3rd Student Training Regiment and was commissioned a second lieutenant (officer ASN O1326224). In June 1944 he returned to the MITC, and in July, as a member of provisional IPW Team 169, he sailed for Europe and was assigned to the Military Intelligence Service and its Field Interrogation Detachment at Broadway, England. In August he was placed in command of [[Team IPW 101|IPW Team 101]], which was divided into two groups and detached to the Ninth (later the Third) U.S. Army for service with the 95th Infantry Division. After a rapid advance, from October 1944 he served at and in Metz with the 377th Infantry Regiment as an interrogation officer and, as a platoon leader in its Company I, as a "combat interrogator" in the house-to-house fighting, taking part among other actions in the capture of Generalleutnant Heinrich Kittel; for this he was awarded the Silver Star. His team included [[Necker, Herbert F. (32962743)|Herbert F. Necker]]. In December 1944 he was wounded by rifle fire at Fraulautern (Saarlautern) on the Westwall and evacuated to the 109th Evacuation Hospital. He returned to the United States through Britain in February 1945, received the Purple Heart in March 1945 at Newton D. Baker General Hospital in Martinsburg, West Virginia, and was discharged there as a first lieutenant in October 1945. From 1946 he served in the intelligence branch of the Officers' Reserve Corps, leaving the Army for good in April 1953.

In January 1944 Skala was sent to the Infantry Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Georgia, where by May he had completed class No. 329 with the 24th and 27th Companies of the 3rd Student Training Regiment and was commissioned a second lieutenant (officer ASN O1326224). In June 1944 he returned to the MITC, and in July, as a member of provisional IPW Team 169, he sailed for Europe and was assigned to the Military Intelligence Service and its Field Interrogation Detachment at Broadway, England. In August he was placed in command of [[Team IPW 101|IPW Team 101]], which was divided into two groups and detached to the Ninth (later the Third) U.S. Army for service with the 95th Infantry Division. After a rapid advance, from October 1944 he served at and in Metz with the 377th Infantry Regiment as an interrogation officer and, as a platoon leader in its Company I, as a "combat interrogator" in the house-to-house fighting, taking part among other actions in the capture of Generalleutnant Heinrich Kittel; for this he was awarded the Silver Star. His team included [[Necker, Herbert Ferdinand (32962743)|Herbert Ferdinand Necker]]. In December 1944 he was wounded by rifle fire at Fraulautern (Saarlautern) on the Westwall and evacuated to the 109th Evacuation Hospital. He returned to the United States through Britain in February 1945, received the Purple Heart in March 1945 at Newton D. Baker General Hospital in Martinsburg, West Virginia, and was discharged there as a first lieutenant in October 1945. From 1946 he served in the intelligence branch of the Officers' Reserve Corps, leaving the Army for good in April 1953.

After the war Skala earned B.A. (1947) and M.A. (1949) degrees at Yale and worked in international marketing and executive search, including Boyden International posts in Brussels and London. He later received the French Legion of Honor (2014). He died in London on 3 April 2017 and was buried at Fort Myer, Arlington, Virginia.

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 Peter Hans Skala was born on 3 September 1924 in Vienna, Austria; Army records list him as Protestant, of Jewish roots. As a schoolboy he fled Austria after Kristallnacht in November 1938 and from December 1938 to October 1939 stayed in Birmingham and Liverpool, England. He then went on with his family to the United States, lived in Queens, New York City, and studied English at Queens College. He enlisted in the Army on 5 April 1943 (enlisted ASN 32883052) and took basic training as a supply soldier with Company I, 6th Quartermaster Training Regiment, at the Quartermaster Replacement Training Center at Camp Lee, Virginia. In July 1943 he was transferred to the Military Intelligence Training Center at Camp Ritchie, where he trained as a German-language prisoner-of-war interrogator and graduated with [[:Category:Class 10|Class 10]] (section 5A; certificate 3548); he became a United States citizen in September. From October to December 1943 he was detached with a provisional IPW team to the Desert Training Center at Camp Young, California, for exercises.
-In January 1944 Skala was sent to the Infantry Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Georgia, where by May he had completed class No. 329 with the 24th and 27th Companies of the 3rd Student Training Regiment and was commissioned a second lieutenant (officer ASN O1326224). In June 1944 he returned to the MITC, and in July, as a member of provisional IPW Team 169, he sailed for Europe and was assigned to the Military Intelligence Service and its Field Interrogation Detachment at Broadway, England. In August he was placed in command of [[Team IPW 101|IPW Team 101]], which was divided into two groups and detached to the Ninth (later the Third) U.S. Army for service with the 95th Infantry Division. After a rapid advance, from October 1944 he served at and in Metz with the 377th Infantry Regiment as an interrogation officer and, as a platoon leader in its Company I, as a "combat interrogator" in the house-to-house fighting, taking part among other actions in the capture of Generalleutnant Heinrich Kittel; for this he was awarded the Silver Star. His team included [[Necker, Herbert F. (32962743)|Herbert F. Necker]]. In December 1944 he was wounded by rifle fire at Fraulautern (Saarlautern) on the Westwall and evacuated to the 109th Evacuation Hospital. He returned to the United States through Britain in February 1945, received the Purple Heart in March 1945 at Newton D. Baker General Hospital in Martinsburg, West Virginia, and was discharged there as a first lieutenant in October 1945. From 1946 he served in the intelligence branch of the Officers' Reserve Corps, leaving the Army for good in April 1953.
+In January 1944 Skala was sent to the Infantry Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Georgia, where by May he had completed class No. 329 with the 24th and 27th Companies of the 3rd Student Training Regiment and was commissioned a second lieutenant (officer ASN O1326224). In June 1944 he returned to the MITC, and in July, as a member of provisional IPW Team 169, he sailed for Europe and was assigned to the Military Intelligence Service and its Field Interrogation Detachment at Broadway, England. In August he was placed in command of [[Team IPW 101|IPW Team 101]], which was divided into two groups and detached to the Ninth (later the Third) U.S. Army for service with the 95th Infantry Division. After a rapid advance, from October 1944 he served at and in Metz with the 377th Infantry Regiment as an interrogation officer and, as a platoon leader in its Company I, as a "combat interrogator" in the house-to-house fighting, taking part among other actions in the capture of Generalleutnant Heinrich Kittel; for this he was awarded the Silver Star. His team included [[Necker, Herbert Ferdinand (32962743)|Herbert Ferdinand Necker]]. In December 1944 he was wounded by rifle fire at Fraulautern (Saarlautern) on the Westwall and evacuated to the 109th Evacuation Hospital. He returned to the United States through Britain in February 1945, received the Purple Heart in March 1945 at Newton D. Baker General Hospital in Martinsburg, West Virginia, and was discharged there as a first lieutenant in October 1945. From 1946 he served in the intelligence branch of the Officers' Reserve Corps, leaving the Army for good in April 1953.
 After the war Skala earned B.A. (1947) and M.A. (1949) degrees at Yale and worked in international marketing and executive search, including Boyden International posts in Brussels and London. He later received the French Legion of Honor (2014). He died in London on 3 April 2017 and was buried at Fort Myer, Arlington, Virginia.