Rene E. Menzel

Rene E. Menzel
Personal details
Born	1919
Died	2017
Nativity	Netherlands
Religion	Catholic
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch	United States Army
Arm / service	Coast Artillery Corps
ASN	01054061
Rank	Second Lieutenant
Camp Ritchie	Class 11 (25 August – 23 October 1943)
Section	6B
Team	MII 415-G

Teammates

Team — MII 415-G

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.

Rene E. Menzel (1919–2017) was a Ritchie Boy (from Netherlands; Catholic) who trained at Camp Ritchie in class 11.

Biography

Rene Eugene Menzel was a Ritchie Boy. Rene was born November 22nd 1919 in The Hague, Netherlands. Rene and his younger brother Georges spent their formative years growing up in Brussels, Belgium. Rene's father, Jean was an industrialist, art collector, and champion horse owner. The family traveled frequently throughout Europe. Rene graduated from the University of Brussels just as WWII was breaking out in Europe. He and his family were forced to flee Belgium during the Nazi blitzkrieg. His family escaped through a perilous car journey to the Pyrenees Mountains in the South of France. Eventually making their way to Spain and Portugal and finally catching a steam ship to the US. While his parents and Georges were evading the Nazis by sleeping out in remote farm houses, Rene enlisted in the Free French Army. He was subsequently injured during a skirmish by shrapnel and convalesced in a hospital in Nazi occupied France. He escaped through falsifying a pass that allowed him to travel freely throughout German occupied France. He eventually made his way to Casablanca Morocco which at that time was not under Vichy government control. From Morocco he made his way to the US through a ship that was going to Guadeloupe where he was reunited with his parents who had previously escaped war torn Europe and were living in New York City. Rene immediately enlisted in the US Army and rose to the rank of First Lieutenant. He became a naturalized US citizen while stationed at the Military Intelligence Training Center in Camp Ritchie, Maryland. Rene was assigned back to Europe where he was part of military intelligence interviewing people fleeing across the English Channel to insure they were not spies. Rene was part of D-Day and landed in Normandy under extreme conditions. He participated in the liberation of France where his detachment assisted in the freeing of over 50,000 Prisoners of War. One of Rene's favorite war stories detailed how he and his Sergeant got ahead of the other allied troops and much to their surprise would arrive in their jeep in towns that hadn't been officially liberated yet. Rene was awarded the highest honors for his performance throughout the war. From the provisional French Government under General Charles de Gaulle, Rene was awarded the Croix de Geurre for his contribution to the liberation of the French Republic. From the USA under the orders of General Eisenhower, Rene was awarded the Purple Heart, the Bronze Star and the Oak Leaf Cluster. At the conclusion of the war, Rene reunited with his family who were already residing in Manhattan, NY. Soon after arriving back in the States, Rene went to work for the IBM Corporation. Rene met his future wife Marjory Diemer at a formal dance at the Anchor and Saber Club in New York City. After a courtship that included frequent trips to Europe, the two professionals married and resided in Manhattan, NY. Rene would rise to become a top executive at IBM World Trade where his linguistic skills came in handy. Rene spoke four languages: French, German, Spanish, and English. After starting a family in Manhattan, Rene and Marjory moved to Tokyo with their two young boys. It was a fascinating period in their lives as they traveled frequently throughout the Orient. After several years, Rene and Marjory returned to the States and called Darien, CT home. They resided in Darien for over 20 years, becoming active in the local community. On the volunteer side, Rene became very involved in the local town government; heading up the Planning and Zoning Committee as well as becoming a Power Squadron instructor. Upon his retirement Rene joined SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives). Rene was awarded the SCORE Connecticut Chapter executive of the year award. He was very fond of helping small business succeed. Rene Eugene Menzel died May 10th, 2017 at the age of 97.

Research notes

• See notes
• MII 415

Technical record

Field	Imported value
Approx Age at Death	98
Class_ASN	54061
Class_Name	MENZEL, Rene E.
match_method	asn_partial_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 2022-12-13 (1 post)