Kay, John Lewis (01584444)

John Lewis Kay
Personal details
Born	1919 Germany
Died	2015
Nativity	Germany
Religion	Jewish
Awards	Bronze Star Medal
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch	United States Army
Arm / service	Quartermaster Corps
ASN	01584444
Rank	First Lieutenant
Rank at Ritchie	Second Lieutenant
Camp Ritchie	Class 7 (15 April – 12 June 1943)
Section	15

Awards and honors

Bronze Star Medal

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.

John Lewis Kay (1919–2015) was a Ritchie Boy (from Germany; Jewish) who trained at Camp Ritchie in class 7. The record lists a final rank of First Lieutenant. Source image

Biography

John Kay (birth name Hans Kaumheimer), was born in Germany, and went to high school in Italy. He served in the US Army during WWII and later worked as a Civil Affairs Officer (CAO). He fought in the campaigns to liberate Italy where he served as CAO with the following Divisions since the initial landing at Salerno: 56 Div (Brit), 7th Armored Div (Brit), 5 Div (Brit), 45th Div (US), all Divs in X Corps except 45th. Officer also served as CAO for the Communes of Mondragone, Carolina-Falciano, and Francolise. Lt John Kay was awarded the Bronze Star medal by Gen. Mark Clark for "heroic achievement in action" on October 31, 1944, in recognition for his actions that resulted in saving the lives of more than 1,000 civilians during the Italian campaign.

A Bronze Star citation identifies him as a first lieutenant of the Quartermaster Corps and credits his work organizing the evacuation of Italian civilians during combat operations. Source image

Research notes

• IV Corps (to Major)
• OCR (97%) of `3332775190077712.jpg` (Bronze Star) — dated 2 March 1944 — rank mentioned: First Lieutenant.
• OCR mentioned officer rank First Lieutenant (not auto-filled — verify).

Gallery

• 
• 

Technical record

Field	Imported value
Approx Age at Death	96
Class_ASN	584444
Class_Name	KAY, John L.
match_method	asn_partial_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 2020-07-18 (1 post)
• OCR-reviewed Facebook gallery document: 3332775190077712.jpg