Robert F. Baustian

Robert F. Baustian
Personal details
Born	4 June 1921 Storm Lake, Iowa
Died	February 2016
Nativity	United States
Religion	Protestant
Awards	Bronze Star
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch	United States Army
ASN	16126186
Rank	Major
Rank at Ritchie	Private First Class
Camp Ritchie	Class 19 (16 May – 13 July 1944)
Section	5C
Enlisted	Chicago, Illinois
Team	IPW 153

Awards and honors

Bronze Star

Teammates

Team — IPW 153

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.

Robert Frederick Baustian (4 June 1921 – February 2016) was a United States Army interrogator who trained at Camp Ritchie, Maryland, in Class 19 and later became an opera conductor.

Biography

Robert Frederick Baustian was born on 4 June 1921 at Storm Lake, Iowa, the son of Alfred and Grace E. Martin Baustian. He graduated from East High School in Sioux City in 1938 and earned a Bachelor of Music from the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester in 1942.

Baustian enlisted in the Army Signal Corps enlisted reserve (radar) in Chicago in September 1942 and entered active service at Fort Custer, Michigan, in September 1943. After basic training at Miami Beach, Florida, he trained for German prisoner-of-war interrogation at Camp Ritchie (Class 19) and served in combat with the 4th Infantry Division and the 11th Armored Division in Germany from November 1944 to May 1945. Discharged as a technician fifth grade at Camp Grant, Illinois, in March 1946, he received the Bronze Star.

Returning to Eastman for a Master of Music in 1948, Baustian studied further in Zurich and conducted opera and symphony in Europe and the United States, including assistant conducting on Gian Carlo Menotti’s The Consul tour (1950–1951) and service as second conductor at the Hessisches Staatstheater in Wiesbaden (1953–1957). From 1957 he was associated with the Santa Fe Opera and later with the University of Kansas and Oberlin Conservatory. He died in February 2016.

Research notes

• ASTP
• Birth place: packet/obituary materials support Storm Lake, Iowa (replacing earlier Malcom, Iowa). Live |rank_final=Major is not supported by the wartime packet (T/5 at discharge); left unchanged pending stronger evidence of a later commission.

Gallery

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  Robert F. Baustian biographical sketch page (RB Archive)

Technical record

Field	Imported value
Nara ASN	16126186
Nara Name	BAUSTIAN ROBERT F
Nara State	72
Nara County	169
Nara POE	6120
Nara DOE	180942
Nara Grade Alpha	PVT
Nara Grade Code	8
Nara Branch Alpha	SC
Nara Branch Code	90
Branch	Signal Corps
Nara Term or Enlistment	0
Term of enlistment	Unknown
Defer. Date	3
Nara Source	0
Nara Nativity	72
Nativity.1	IOWA
Nara Year of Birth	21
Nara Race	1
Nara Race Description	White citizen
Nara Education	8
Nara Civilian Occupation	992
Nara Marital Status	6
Nara Height (inches)	71
Nara Weight (lbs)	145
Class_ASN	16126186
Class_Name	BAUSTIAN, Robert F.
match_method	asn_exact_name_exact
row_source	both

Timeline

• 4 June 1921 — Born in Storm Lake, Iowa.
• 1938 — Graduated East High School, Sioux City, Iowa.
• 1942 — Bachelor of Music, Eastman School of Music.
• September 1942 — Enlisted in Army Signal Corps reserve (radar training, Chicago).
• September 1943 — Inducted at Fort Custer, Michigan; basic training at Miami Beach.
• 1943–1944 — Trained at Camp Ritchie (Class 19) for German POW interrogation; IPW Team 153.
• November 1944–May 1945 — Combat interrogation service with 4th Infantry Division and 11th Armored Division in Germany.
• March 1946 — Discharged as T/5 at Camp Grant, Illinois; Bronze Star.
• 1948 — Master of Music, Eastman School of Music.
• 1957 — Began long association with the Santa Fe Opera.
• February 2016 — Died.

Sources

• Robert F. Baustian biographical sketch page (RB Archive)
• Slipped Disc, “Santa Fe mourns formative opera maestro”
• AP News remembrances of Robert Baustian
• Robert Baustian obituary (Santa Fe New Mexican / Legacy)
• RB Archive biographical sketch (University of Kansas / Santa Fe Opera era), Robert F. Baustian packet
• 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 2023-01-01 (1 post)
• Dan Gross, Timeline of Robert F. Baustian for Camp Ritchie (private research document; 1 source documents reviewed)
• Dan Gross, Timeline of Baustian, Robert F. for Camp Ritchie (private research files; selected non-private narrative findings; 1 source files: ROBERT F. BAUSTIAN.doc)