Fred Howard

Fred Howard
Personal details
Born	16 June 1922 Silesia, Germany
Died	2008
Nativity	Germany
Religion	Jewish
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch	United States Army
ASN	32799358
Rank	Technician Third Grade
Rank at Ritchie	Private First Class
Camp Ritchie	Class 17 (11 March – 8 May 1944)
Section	5A
Enlisted	New York City, New York
Teams	IPW 8, IPW 109

On film Fred Howard appears in The Ritchie Boys (Christian Bauer, 2004).

Teammates

Team — IPW 8

Team — IPW 109

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.

Fred Howard (1922–2008) was a United States Army Pfc who trained at Camp Ritchie, Maryland, in Class 17.

Biography

Fred Howard was born Manfred Ehrlich in Silesia in 1922 and moved with his parents to Berlin in 1933. In the late 1930s he emigrated to the United States with his mother; his father and other relatives who could not obtain U.S. visas spent the wartime years in Shanghai.

Howard joined the U.S. Army in 1943 and trained at Camp Ritchie as an interrogator. In 1944 he returned to Europe and worked interrogating German prisoners of war in a team with fellow Ritchie Boy Guy Stern. After the war he returned to the United States and built a career as a designer and businessman.

Research notes

• Manfred Ehrlich; OSS
• Ritchie Boy
• Display company owner; invented L’Eggs pantyhose

Gallery

• 
  Earlier profile photograph (retained after press-photo update)
• 
  Ritchie Boys team on V-E Day, 8 May 1945 — Guy Stern, Walter Sears, Fred Howard (© TANGRAM; Bauer film press photo)

Technical record

Field	Imported value
Approx Age at Death	86
Nara ASN	32799358
Nara Name	HOWARD FRED
Nara State	23
Nara County	81
Nara POE	2364
Nara DOE	100243
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	5
Term of enlistment	Enlistment for the duration of the War or other emergency, plus six months, subject to the discretion of the President or otherwise according to law
Defer. Date	0
Nara Source	0
Nara Nativity	N1
Nara Year of Birth	22
Nara Race	J
Nara Race Description	White not yet a citizen
Nara Education	4
Nara Civilian Occupation	432
Nara Marital Status	1
Nara Height (inches)	71
Nara Weight (lbs)	146
Class_ASN	ti 32799358
Class_Name	HOWARD, Fred
match_method	asn_exact_name_exact
row_source	both

Timeline

• Born 16 June 1922 in Germany (as Manfred Ehrlich); Religion: Jewish.
• 1933 — Moved with his parents from Silesia to Berlin.
• 22 April 1943 — Naturalized as citizen (with name change) in Wash.
• 14 June 1944 — Transferred to DEML. Promoted to T/3.
• 18 February 1944 — Attached to unit at Camp Ritchie.
• 1944 — Served in Europe as an interrogator with Guy Stern.
• 9 August 1945 — Transferred from MIS to OSS.
• Shipment via Camp Myles Standish, included 40 six man IPW Ge teams (80 officers and 160 enlisted men). Assigned to IPW Team 8.
• Late 1930s — Emigrated to the United States with his mother; father and relatives spent the war in Shanghai.

Sources

• Camp Ritchie Museum, Inc. (The Ritchie History Museum), Classes 1–31 roster data
• Dan Gross research spreadsheets, including original Excel timeline/roster work, combined with other research and records
• NARA World War II Army enlistment records (where a NARA ASN is present)
• 1940 U.S. Census (where a census match is present)
• Dan Gross, Timeline of Fred Howard for Camp Ritchie (private research document; 1 source documents reviewed)
• Dan Gross, Timeline of Howard, Fred for Camp Ritchie (private research files; selected non-private narrative findings; 1 source files: FRED HOWARD.doc)
• The Ritchie Boys: Fred Howard
• The Ritchie Boys film site — press photos (© TANGRAM (Harald Stuckmann); high-res https://ritchieboys.com/DL/photos-highq/boys/howard.jpg)
• The Ritchie Boys film site — press photos (© TANGRAM; V-E Day team photo)