Lubran, Walter H. (33668332): Difference between revisions

'''Walter H. Lubran''' (1912–2000) was a Ritchie Boy (from Germany; Jewish) who trained at Camp Ritchie in class 16 and served with IPW Team 141.

On Christmas Day 1944, my late Dad, Walter Lubran, was serving with IPW (Interrogator of Prisoners of War) Team 141 attached to the 84th Infantry Division. They were in Belgium at the Ardennes Forest during the fiercest fighting taking place at the Battle of the Bulge. I found a letter that he wrote to my late Mother that day that included this menu. It's so hard to imagine.

I don't know the date of this news article or where it was published. But it's gratifying to know that Ritchie Boy IPW Team 141 (Gerard Pick, Henry Wagner, Curt Shelton, Joseph Wertheim, Walter Lubran, and Victor Wolff) was part of the 84th Infantry Division that was given the nickname of the "Terror Division" and the soldiers were referred to as "Eisenhower's Hatchet Men." More about IPW 141 to follow.

The Ritchie Boys IPW Team #141 In action Spring 1945 in Europe. Victor Wolff, 19th Class SSgt Joseph Wertheim, 19th Class MSgt Walter Lubran (my late Father), 16th Class In a letter home from my Father on March 6, 1945, he wrote that, ..."even though I have not seen the 'River (ie. the Rhine),' as yet it is very close from here." He also wrote, We (IPW Team #141) will be assigned to another outfit and I have no idea when we will go...." His next letter is dated March 16, 1945 and it in he says that, "...we were just a couple of miles from the Rhine when we were ordered to move to this new unit." That unit turned out to be the 16th Armored Division which went South through Germany into Czechoslovakia where they liberated Pilzen.

Prior to being transferred to Camp Ritchie, my Father, Ritchie Boy Walter Lubran, attended training at Camp Ellis (IL), Fort George G. Meade (MD), and Camp Lee (VA). Here are some maps of two of the three camps. On the Camp Ellis map, my Dad wrote some notes such as "about 3 or 4 miles long," the place I work" and "my barrack," "service Friday nights," Parade ground "just rough terrain," and "prospective hitchhikers" outside the Camp HQ Area.

Military historian Bryan Dickerson's book about the Liberation of Pilsen, Czechoslovakia, by the US Army's 16th Armored Division, has been recently published by McFarland Publishing. Ritchie Boys were part of the 16th Armored Division. My late Father, MSgt Walter Lubran and the others of the 141th IPW team interrogated German soldiers fleeing from Prague as the Russian Army approached that city from the East. The 16th Armored Division reached the furthest east of any US Army unit and was prepared to capture Prague but was called back to Pilsen.

Frank Hauser's application for naturalization submitted to the US District Court's Western District of South Carolina at Spartanburg. Ritchie Boy Hauser sailed to the United States from Liverpool on the SS Georgic and arrived to the United States on March 27, 1940. In an interesting coincidence, my Father, Walter Lubran, also sailed on the SS Georgic in the Fall of 1939. Like Frank Hauser, my Father also trained as an Interrogator of Prisoners of War (IPW). RB Hauser served with IPW team 140 and my Father served on IPW team 141.

At the invitation of Ritchie Boy Harry Jacobs, I was able to attend an annual luncheon meeting of WWII Veterans who served in the US Army's 4th Armored Division during World War II, their families, and friends at Fort Myers in Arlington, VA. Harry had invited me because my late Father, Ritchie Boy Walter Lubran, had served in the US Army's 16th Armored Division, which had liberated Pilzen, Czechoslovakia around the same time that the 4th Armored Division was fighting in Czechoslovakia. Many veterans of the 4th AD helped cadre the newly formed 16th AD when it entered into the ETO in March 1945. Attending the meeting was special guest Brigadier General Creighton W. Abrams III, USA (Ret), whose late Father, General Creighton Abrams, Jr., had as a Lieutenant Colonel commanded the 4th Armored Division's 37th Tank Battalion during WWII. Three 4th Armored Veterans attended the luncheon and, to my surprise, all three were graduates of Camp Ritchie's Military Intelligence Training Center. I had an opportunity to talk with all three of them and will be posting some more stories in the future.

On February 4, 2020, I addressed the Men's Club at the Bender Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington about Camp Ritchie and the Ritchie Boys. Among the attendees were Michael R. Landauer (below left), the son of Ritchie Boy Henry Landauer; Ambassador Richard Schifter (below center), one of the original Ritchie Boys; and Bernie Lubran (below right), the main speaker whose father, Walter Lubran, was a Ritchie Boy. Alan Field, the son of Ritchie Boy George R. Field, also attended the program.

bit.ly/3rvISIP If you happen to be in New York City this week, and want to learn about the Ritchie Boys, you are invited to attend the Tisha B'Av service at the Carlebach Shul on West 79th Street in Manhattan. In addition to the showing of the Ritchie Boys documentary film, there will be a presentation by the sons of two Ritchie Boys, Bernie Lubran (son of RB Walter Lubran and Rafael Kellman (son of RB William Kellman). Details can be found below.

1354674987887752.jpg|From left to right they are: Gerard Pick, 20th Class Captain Henry Wagner, 20th Class T3 Kurt Schimmerl (Curt Shelton), 19th Class 2nd Lt.

1810051279016785.jpg|Pictured below, they are (left to right): Harry Jacobs, Gideon Kantor, and Alfred Shehab.