Klinger, Walter (39713200)

Walter Klinger
Walter A. Klinger, OSS portrait. Photo credit: (c) National Archives and Records Administration
Personal details
Born	12 May 1912 Vienna, Austria
Died	15 March 2003 Camarillo, California
Nativity	Austria
Religion	Jewish
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch	United States Army
ASN	39713200
Rank	Master Sergeant
Enlisted	Los Angeles, California

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Walter Klinger (12 May 1912 – 15 March 2003) was a Vienna-born film publicist and Ritchie Boy who passed through the OSS and Camp Ritchie, Maryland, into the Mobile Radio Broadcasting Companies, served as a propaganda and leaflet writer with SHAEF, and after the war was a film distribution officer in Bavaria. Walter enlisted at Los Angeles, California.

Biography

Walter A. Klinger was born in Vienna on 12 May 1912 into a Jewish family. Before the war he worked in Europe as a publicist and sales manager for American film companies such as Warner Bros. After the Nazi takeover of Austria in 1938 he fled through France to Trinidad, and in January 1941 he went on to New York. In Los Angeles he worked in the film business as an assistant, publicist (also for Latin American magazines), and press agent, and wrote scripts for the Office of War Information.

Klinger was drafted at Los Angeles on 9 October 1943 and, by his own account, worked there in censorship, writing, and public relations. In November 1943 he was transferred to the Morale Operations Branch of the Office of Strategic Services in Washington, D.C., and trained as a propaganda writer. In February 1944 he moved to the Military Intelligence Training Center at Camp Ritchie, where he was assigned directly to the 2nd Mobile Radio Broadcasting Company, soon afterward to the 3rd MRBC, and trained in combat propaganda at Camp Sharpe, Pennsylvania. He went overseas with the 3rd MRBC and from May 1944 took advanced propaganda training at the Psychological Warfare School in Brondesbury Park near London.

In September 1944 Klinger was assigned to Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) and worked as a public relations writer and leaflet writer in Britain, France, and Germany. Toward the end of the war he worked in London with the Film, Theater and Music Control Section of the Psychological Warfare Division of SHAEF (later the Information Control Division), and after Germany's defeat he served mainly in Bavaria as a film distribution officer with the 6870th District Information Services Control Command. He was discharged as a master sergeant at the Separation Center at Fort Bliss, Texas, in April 1946. He died in Camarillo, California, on 15 March 2003.

Gallery

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Timeline

• 12 May 1912 — Born in Vienna, Austria.
• 1938 — Fled through France to Trinidad.
• January 1941 — Arrived in New York; later publicist and press agent in Los Angeles.
• 9 October 1943 — Drafted at Los Angeles (ASN 39713200).
• November 1943 — OSS Morale Operations Branch, Washington, D.C.
• February 1944 — Camp Ritchie; assigned to the 2nd and then the 3rd MRBC; Camp Sharpe, Pennsylvania.
• May 1944 — Psychological Warfare School, Brondesbury Park, England.
• September 1944 — Assigned to SHAEF; public relations and leaflet writer.
• 1945 — PWD/SHAEF Film, Theater and Music Control Section; 6870th DISCC film distribution officer in Bavaria.
• April 1946 — Discharged as M/Sgt at Fort Bliss, Texas.
• 15 March 2003 — Died in Camarillo, California.

Technical record

Field	Imported value
MRBC3	3
Approx Age at Death	91
Nara ASN	39713200
Nara Name	KLINGER/WALTER A
Nara State	91
Nara County	037
Nara POE	9141
Nara DOE	091043
Nara Grade Alpha	PVT
row_source	demographics

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)
• Austriansoldiers biography: Walter A. Klinger, Austriansoldiers / Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Research on Consequences of War (in German; accessed 25 September 2026)