Rene Eugene Menzel

Rene Eugene Menzel
Personal details
Born	22 November 1919
Died	10 May 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 Eugene Menzel (22 November 1919 – 10 May 2017) was a Ritchie Boy (from Netherlands; Catholic) who trained at Camp Ritchie in class 11.

Biography

. 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. Rene graduated from the University of Brussels just as WWII was breaking out in Europe. His family escaped through a perilous car journey to the Pyrenees Mountains in the South of France. While his parents and Georges were evading the Nazis by sleeping out in remote farm houses, Rene enlisted in the Free French Army. Rene immediately enlisted in the US Army and rose to the rank of First Lieutenant. 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. 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. Rene would rise to become a top executive at IBM World Trade where his linguistic skills came in handy.

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)