Gerst, Eric F. (32416739)

Eric F. Gerst
Personal details
Born	23 March 1918 Nuremberg, Germany
Died	21 June 2011
Nativity	Germany
Religion	Protestant
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch	United States Army
ASN	32416739
Rank	Sergeant
Camp Ritchie	Class 21 (21 July – 18 September 1944)
Team	MII 483-G

Teammates

Team — MII 483-G

These are other soldiers listed on the same team roster. People moved between teams; overlapping service dates are not always documented.

Research notes on this page are compiled from the source file and later edits. They may be unverified, incomplete, or incorrect, and should not be treated as established fact. Please correct the article or add sources on the talk page. For class-roster terms, see About the data.

Sources & confidence: Treat Research notes as leads, not settled fact. Prefer NARA, the class roster, newspapers, Find a Grave, or published histories for contested claims. Mark unsourced claims with {{Needs source}}, or explain disagreements on talk. Baseline import notes: About the data.

Eric F. Gerst (1918–2011) was a Ritchie Boy (from Germany; Protestant) who trained at Camp Ritchie in class 21.

Biography

Eric Frank Gerst was a Ritchie Boy. Eric was born March 23, 1918 in Nuremberg, Germany, where he attended textile school in Reutlingen. Due to the rise of the Nazi party and Hitler's anti-Jewish policies, in 1937 he emigrated to the U.S. and worked in the textile industry at American Bemberg Corp in Tennessee. Determined to help his family escape Germany, Eric's efforts enabled his father Ernst, mother Annie and sister Lizelot to find asylum in the States too. Grateful for the refuge given him and his family, he wrote a letter published by the New York Times in 1942 objecting to the Selective Service ruling preventing German refugees from serving in the U.S. Army and requesting the right to defend his new homeland. He was subsequently able to enlist and trained as a radio operator at Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where he met and married Dawn Idarius of Chicago. Eric was then transferred to Camp Ritchie, MD. for intelligence training and was assigned in 1944 to the 63rd Infantry Division in Europe where he served in France and behind enemy lines in Germany until the end of the war, attaining the rank of Master Sergeant. Proud to have fought and also for being able to fit into his army uniform throughout his life, he would often wear the uniform on Veteran's Day. Eric passed away on June 21 2011.

Research notes

• DEML Also Fr 405
• 483-G

Technical record

Field	Imported value
Approx Age at Death	93
Class_ASN	32416739
Class_Name	GERST, Eric F.
match_method	asn_exact_name_exact
row_source	both

Sources

• Camp Ritchie class roster (classes 1–31), merged research file
• 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 2022-12-01 (1 post)