Schlesinger, Thomas O. (32997730)

Thomas O. Schlesinger
Personal details
Born	11 June 1925 Berlin
Died	12 February 2012
Nativity	Germany
Religion	Jewish
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch	United States Army
ASN	32997730
Rank	Private
Camp Ritchie	Class 14 (2 December 1943 – 31 January 1944)
Section	7B
Enlisted	New York City, New York
Team	MII 459-G

Teammates

Team — MII 459-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.

Thomas O. Schlesinger (11 June 1925 – 12 February 2012) was a Ritchie Boy (from Germany; Jewish) who trained at Camp Ritchie in class 14.

Biography

Thomas was born 11 June 1925 in Berlin.

He was fluent in four languages, struggled nights and worked overtime to earn a high school diploma, then a bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland (1958), then a master’s (1966) and doctorate (1967) from American University in Washington. He led Plymouth State University's Sidore lectures for several years from their inception, and he enthusiastically worked with the Model United Nations program.

In 1943, at the age of 18, he enlisted in the US Army and was sent to the Military Intelligence Training Center at Camp Ritchie, Maryland, and became one the “Ritchie Boys”—an elite unit of young, mostly Jewish immigrants from Germany and Austria who were trained in counterintelligence, interrogation, and psychological warfare.

Schlesinger escaped Hitler’s persecution in Berlin and fled to Italy and then Switzerland before arriving in the United States in 1940. He fought throughout the Korean War; participated in the Operation UPSHOT-KNOTHOLE atomic test in Nevada in 1953; served as interpreter (in German) for Lt. General William Arnold in creating Austria’s peace treaty in 1955 and then as interpreter (in Italian) for Brig.

He helped break German resistance at the Battle of the Bulge and at Remagen Bridge. He interrogated Nazi officials and camp guards in preparation for the Nuremberg Trials. General John “Iron Mike” Michaelis with the Southern European Task Force in northern Italy, helping establish the US Army’s first overseas missile command.

He rose to the rank of major and became a Green Beret instructor at the JFK Special Warfare Center at Fort Bragg. And he was devoted to learning. He began work on his PhD even before finishing his 21-year-active-duty military career.

He served on the boards of the World Affairs Council of New Hampshire and the New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union.

Technical record

Field	Imported value
Approx Age at Death	87
Nara ASN	32997730
Nara Name	SCHLESINGER THOMAS O
Nara State	23
Nara County	61
Nara POE	2364
Nara DOE	120843
Nara Grade Alpha	PVT
Nara Grade Code	8
Nara Branch Alpha	NO
Nara Branch Code	2
Branch	No branch assignment
Nara Term or Enlistment	5
Term of enlistment	Enlistment for the duration of the War or other emergency, plus six months, subject to the discretion of the President or otherwise according to law
Defer. Date	0
Nara Source	0
Nara Nativity	N1
Nara Year of Birth	25
Nara Race	J
Nara Race Description	White not yet a citizen
Nara Education	4
Nara Civilian Occupation	138
Nara Marital Status	6
Nara Height (inches)	0
Nara Weight (lbs)	0
Class_ASN	32997730
Class_Name	SCHLESNGER, Thomas O.
match_method	asn_exact_name_compatible
row_source	both

Sources

• 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)
• 1940 U.S. Census (where a census match is present)
• Ritchie Boys of WWII Facebook page, post dated 2022-12-08 (1 post)
• Facebook-linked source: plymouth.edu