Schafer, Karl H. (0556062)

Karl H. Schafer
Personal details
Born	1922
Died	25 February 1945
Nativity	Germany
Religion	Protestant
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch	United States Army
Arm / service	Corps of Engineers
ASN	0556062
Rank	Second Lieutenant
Camp Ritchie	Class 22 (23 August – 21 October 1944)
Section	5D
Team	IPW 164

Teammates

Team — IPW 164

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.

Karl H. Schafer (1922 – 25 February 1945) was a Ritchie Boy (from Germany; Protestant) who trained at Camp Ritchie in class 22 and served with IPW Team 164.

Biography

At end of October 1944, fifteen IPW teams (30 officers and 60 enlisted men) were transported to Camp Shanks and then embarked on the SS Aquitania to ETO (Scotland). (RB Max Horlick was on same shipment) I didn’t know that Karl Schafer was a replacement for Alfred Kupferschmidt. Mark Hellman writes that his Father "had grown up in a German-speaking Lutheran farm family in Nebraska, gone to the Univ of Nebraska, graduating at age 19 and then getting an MA there in the mid-1930's in Latin and German. One sad thing about the momento: 2nd Lt. Shafer was a replacement....2nd Lt. Alfred Kupferschmidt, was killed in action on February 25, 1945, three days after the photo (below left)...was taken. According to RB historian Dan Gross, "Captain Fred W. Hellman (1912-1991) graduated Class 20 (German) and was officer in charge of IPW 164 attached to XXI Corps.

Research notes

• Replacement for Kupferschmidt

Gallery

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Technical record

Field	Imported value
Approx Age at Death	91
Class_ASN	556062
Class_Name	SCHAFER, Karl H.
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 2018-01-10 (1 post)