Glass, Walter H. (32883220)

Walter H. Glass
Personal details
Born	1921
Died	2012
Nativity	Austria
Religion	Jewish
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch	United States Army
ASN	32883220
Rank	Private First Class
Camp Ritchie	Class 13 (30 October – 23 December 1943)
Section	E (13); 5A (13)
Enlisted	New York City, New York

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.

Walter H. Glass (1921–2012) was a Ritchie Boy (from Austria; Jewish) who trained at Camp Ritchie in class 13.

Biography

Glass passed away on April 15, 2012 at the age of 91. Walter was born Walter Heinz Frauenglas in Vienna, Austria. As a boy Walter was interested in international affairs and had read Mein Kampf. He held no illusions about what Hitler’s rise portended for European Jews. However, he could not persuade his family of the danger, and was forced to flee alone. After being sent back to Vienna from France on his first attempt, he managed to escape Austria and Europe, sailing for New York on the Acquitania in February 1939. On his departure from New York to Texas for college in September 1939 he adopted the name Walter Henry Glass, which became his legal name upon his naturalization in 1943. His last communication from his parents was a letter dated January 20, 1940, and he never heard from them again. When efforts to find them after the war proved fruitless, he assumed they had perished in the Holocaust. A son-in-law later found records that they had been shipped by train from Vienna to Lodz, Poland. There the trace was lost. Walter graduated Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude from the University of Texas at Austin, completing his course work in three years and obtaining admission to Harvard Law School, where he enrolled in 1942. His legal education was interrupted by two years of military service in the U.S. and Europe, where he was a technician in the U.S. Army Psychological Warfare Branch (Signal Corps). He trained for this work at Camp Ritchie, the subject of the documentary film “The Ritchie Boys,” about the exploits of German-speaking Jewish immigrants in the U.S. Army, stateside and at the front. In Europe a fellow soldier patiently taught him to drive their truck. (He later copied his friend’s method to successfully teach each of his four children to drive stick-shift automobiles.) More information about Walter can be read here: Photos are from the archive of Walter's widow Ann, which were posted on the website - a project created by Walter's granddaughter, Sarah Poyet to celebrate his legacy.

Research notes

• 3rd
• 4th
• 5th Mobile

Gallery

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Technical record

Field	Imported value
Approx Age at Death	91
Nara ASN	32883220
Nara Name	GLASS WALTER H
Nara State	13
Nara County	17
Nara POE	2364
Nara DOE	60443
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	N2
Nara Year of Birth	21
Nara Race	J
Nara Race Description	White not yet a citizen
Nara Education	7
Nara Civilian Occupation	177
Nara Marital Status	6
Nara Height (inches)	98
Nara Weight (lbs)	119
Class_ASN	32883220
Class_Name	Giass, Walter H.; GLASS, Walter H
match_method	asn_exact_name_compatible; 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 2022-10-03 (1 post)
• Facebook-linked source: walterglass.last-memories.com
• Facebook-linked source: theglassfiles.com