George M. Avakian

George M. Avakian
Personal details
Born	1919 Armenia
Died	22 November 2017
Nativity	Russia
Religion	Greek Orthodox
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch	United States Army
ASN	32171331
Rank	Sergeant
Rank at Ritchie	Staff Sergeant
Camp Ritchie	Class 18 (13 April – 10 June 1944)
Section	6E

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.

George M. Avakian (1919 – 22 November 2017) was a Ritchie Boy (from Russia; Greek Orthodox) who trained at Camp Ritchie in class 18.

Biography

George M. Avakian (1919–2017) trained at Camp Ritchie in class 18 with a specialty in photo interpretation. After the war he became a record producer and talent scout, overseeing jazz operations at Columbia Records and working across many facets of the music business. He died in New York City on 22 November 2017 at age 98.

Research notes

• PI 247 Phillipines see notes

Gallery

• 
  From the archives of the New York Public Library's Digital Collection

Technical record

Field	Imported value
Approx Age at Death	98
Class_ASN	32171331
Class_Name	AVAKIAN, George M.
match_method	asn_exact_name_exact
row_source	both

Timeline

• 3/15/1919 Born in Armenia (Russia). Religion: Greek Orthodox. (Dan Gross private research timeline; GEORGE AVAKIAN (2020).doc, page unknown; paragraph 5)
• 1941 Drafted into Army as Pvt (ASN: 32171331). (Dan Gross private research timeline; GEORGE AVAKIAN (2020).doc, page unknown; paragraph 9)
• 1945 Served with Occupation Force in Japan. (Dan Gross private research timeline; GEORGE M. AVAKIAN.doc, page unknown; paragraph 26)
• 4/1942 Basic training as Sgt with 30th Inf. Bn at Fort Benning, GA. (Dan Gross private research timeline; GEORGE M. AVAKIAN.doc, page unknown; paragraph 10)
• 6/1943 ASTP at Harvard University (languages) as S/Sgt. (Dan Gross private research timeline; GEORGE M. AVAKIAN.doc, page unknown; paragraph 11)
• Class 18 (Photo Interpretation). (Dan Gross private research timeline; GEORGE AVAKIAN (2020).doc, page unknown; paragraph 13)
• JW: What did you do in the Army? GA: I ended up in New Guinea and then at the invasions of Leyte and Mindanao islands in the Philippines. I was fortunate. Even though I was a sergeant in the infantry, I wasn’t actually on the front lines. I was assigned to a rear-echelon unit. We did interpretations of aerial photos and reconnaissance work. It was an.... (Dan Gross private research timeline; GEORGE AVAKIAN (2020).doc, page unknown; paragraph 28)
• JW: What did you do in the Army? GA: I ended up in New Guinea and then at the invasions of Leyte and Mindanao islands in the Philippines. I was fortunate. Even though I was a sergeant in the infantry, I wasn’t actually on the front lines. I was assigned to a rear-echelon unit. We did interpretations of aerial photos and reconnaissance work. It was an.... (Dan Gross private research timeline; GEORGE AVAKIAN (2020).doc, page unknown; paragraph 28)

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 2017-11-29 (2 posts)
• Dan Gross, Timeline of George M. Avakian for Camp Ritchie (private research document; 3 source documents reviewed)