Werner T. Angress

Werner T. Angress
Personal details
Birth name	Tom
Born	1920
Died	2010
Nativity	Germany
Religion	Jewish
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch	United States Army
ASN	33043440
Rank	Sergeant
Camp Ritchie	Class 11 (25 August – 23 October 1943)
Section	5A
Enlisted	Richmond, Virginia
Team	IPW 45

On film Werner T. Angress appears in The Ritchie Boys (Christian Bauer, 2004).

Teammates

Team — IPW 45

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.

Werner T. Angress (1920–2010) was a Ritchie Boy (born Tom; from Germany; Jewish) who trained at Camp Ritchie in class 11 and served with IPW Team 45.

Biography

Werner T. Angress (1920–2010) was a German-born Jewish trainee who studied German Order of Battle at Camp Ritchie in class 11 and served with IPW Team 45. His memoir Witness to the Storm recounts his route from Nazi Berlin to the U.S. Army. Teammates included Fred Guttman, Siggi Koesterich, Leo Brodsky, and Ernest Greenwald.

He parachuted into France on D-Day with the 82nd Airborne Division, was captured and held as a prisoner of war, later jumped into Holland in Operation Market Garden, fought in the Battle of the Bulge, and helped liberate Camp Wöbbelin, a subcamp of Neuengamme. He received the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star.

Research notes

• Gross Breeson
• Ritchie Boy
• 508th PIR BS
• Historian, SUNY Professor
• Author, "Between Fear and Hope"
• Portrait and summary from Notable Ritchie Boys slides (source).

Gallery

• 
  Cover of Witness to the Storm by Werner T. Angress
• 
• 

Technical record

Field	Imported value
Approx Age at Death	90
Nara ASN	33043440
Nara Name	ANGRESS WERNER T
Nara State	33
Nara County	133
Nara POE	3386
Nara DOE	70541
Nara Grade Alpha	PVT
Nara Grade Code	8
Nara Branch Alpha	BI
Nara Branch Code	0
Branch	Branch Immaterial - Warrant Officers, USA
Nara Term or Enlistment	0
Term of enlistment	Unknown
Defer. Date	0
Nara Source	0
Nara Nativity	N1
Nara Year of Birth	20
Nara Race	J
Nara Race Description	White not yet a citizen
Nara Education	4
Nara Civilian Occupation	316
Nara Marital Status	6
Nara Height (inches)	65
Nara Weight (lbs)	126
Class_ASN	33043440
Class_Name	ANGRESS, Werner T.
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 2020-02-09 (1 post)
• Ritchie Boys of WWII Facebook page, post dated 2021-05-22 (1 post)
• Ritchie Boys of WWII Facebook page, post dated 2021-06-29 (3 posts)