Egon Arthur Weiss

Egon Arthur Weiss
Personal details
Born	1919 Vienna, Austria
Died	5 September 2003 San Diego, California
Nativity	Austria
Religion	Jewish
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch	United States Army
ASN	31138437
Rank	Lieutenant Colonel
Rank at Ritchie	Staff Sergeant
Camp Ritchie	Class 22 (23 August – 21 October 1944)
Section	5A
Enlisted	Boston, Massachusetts
Unit / division	VII Corps
Team	IPW 173

Teammates

Team — IPW 173

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.

Egon Arthur Weiss (1919 – 5 September 2003) was a Vienna-born Ritchie Boy (Class 22 / IPW Team 173) who later became librarian emeritus of the U.S. Military Academy.

Biography

Egon Arthur Weiss was born in 1919 in Vienna, Austria, the son of a physician. After the Anschluss he emigrated to New York City in 1938, sponsored by his sisters Gertrud and Franziska Weiss. He attended Berea College in Kentucky (1938–1940) and worked in the New England textile industry.

Weiss was drafted in 1942 and trained as an interrogator at Camp Ritchie (Class 22; IPW Team 173). Assigned to U.S. Army VII Corps, he used German and French in the Battle of the Bulge, in the liberation of concentration camps, and in postwar occupation government work in Germany. He remained in the Army Reserve Civil Affairs and retired as a lieutenant colonel in 1969.

After the war he earned a B.A. in economics from Harvard (1947), an M.A. in Germanic languages from Boston University, and an M.S. in library science from Simmons College. He joined the West Point library in 1958, served as library director from 1962 to 1987, and was later librarian emeritus. In retirement he lived in Carlsbad and La Jolla, California. He died on 5 September 2003 in San Diego after a brief illness.

Technical record

Field	Imported value
Approx Age at Death	84
Nara ASN	31138437
Nara Name	WEISS EGON
Nara State	13
Nara County	25
Nara POE	1306
Nara DOE	90742
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	72
Nativity.1	IOWA
Nara Year of Birth	19
Nara Race	J
Nara Race Description	White not yet a citizen
Nara Education	6
Nara Civilian Occupation	118
Nara Marital Status	6
Nara Height (inches)	68
Nara Weight (lbs)	154
Class_ASN	31138437
Class_Name	WEISS, Egon
match_method	asn_exact_name_exact
row_source	both

Timeline

• 1919 — Born in Vienna, Austria.
• 1938 — Emigrated to New York City; Berea College (1938–1940); New England textile work.
• 1942 — Drafted; Camp Ritchie Class 22 / IPW Team 173 interrogator training.
• WWII — VII Corps; Battle of the Bulge; camp liberation; postwar Germany.
• 1947 — B.A., Harvard (economics); later M.A. Boston University; M.S.L.S. Simmons.
• 1958–1987 — West Point library (director from 1962); librarian emeritus.
• 1969 — Retired U.S. Army Reserve Civil Affairs as lieutenant colonel.
• 1997–2003 — Lived in Carlsbad / La Jolla, California.
• 5 September 2003 — Died in San Diego, California.

Sources

• The Ithaca Journal, 18 October 2003 — obituary for Egon Arthur Weiss (RB Archive ProQuest PDF; private copy, not uploaded)
• San Diego Union-Tribune, 15 September 2003, p. B-5 — Jack Williams obituary for Egon Weiss (RB Archive ProQuest PDF; private copy, not uploaded)
• 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)
• Ritchie Boys of WWII Facebook page, post dated 2022-11-24 (1 post)