Robert F. Baustian

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

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 F. Baustian (born 4 June 1921) was a Ritchie Boy (from United States; Protestant) who trained at Camp Ritchie in class 19 and served with IPW Team 153.

Biography

Robert F. Baustian (4 June 1921 – February 2016) was born in Storm Lake, Iowa. He graduated from East High School in Sioux City in 1938 and received a Bachelor of Music from the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester in 1942.

He enlisted in the U.S. Army Signal Corps in September 1942, trained in the enlisted reserve (radar) near Chicago, entered active service at Fort Custer, Michigan, in September 1943, and completed basic training at Miami Beach. He trained as a German prisoner-of-war interrogator at Camp Ritchie 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.

He returned to Eastman for a Master of Music (1948), studied in Zurich, and conducted opera and symphony in Europe and the United States, including as assistant conductor for Gian Carlo Menotti's The Consul (1950–1951). From 1953 to 1957 he was second conductor at the Hessisches Staatstheater in Wiesbaden. He joined The Santa Fe Opera in its first season (1957) and conducted there through 1977; from 1966 to 1983 he headed conducting at Oberlin Conservatory. He died in February 2016 at age 94.

Research notes

• ASTP
• 6/4/1921-a

Gallery

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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

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 2023-01-01 (1 post)