Karl W. Abt

Karl W. Abt
Personal details
Born	20 August 1923 Helmstedt, Germany
Died	9 August 2008
Nativity	Germany
Religion	Protestant
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch	United States Army
ASN	16081924
Rank	Major
Rank at Ritchie	Private First Class
Camp Ritchie	Class 16 (6 February – 5 April 1944)
Section	5E
Enlisted	Ft Custer, Michigan
Teams	IPW 94, IPW 97, MII 499-G

Teammates

Team — IPW 94

Team — IPW 97

Team — MII 499-G

These are other soldiers listed on the same team roster. People moved between teams; overlapping service dates are not always documented.

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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.

Karl W. Abt (1923–2008) was a United States Army Private First Class who trained at Camp Ritchie, Maryland, in Class 16. Karl enlisted at Ft Custer, Michigan.

Biography

Karl W. Abt was born on 20 August 1923 in Helmstedt, Germany. He entered Northwestern University as a chemistry major in 1941 and played clarinet and bass clarinet in the university band.

Inducted into the Army in 1943, Abt studied European languages at Princeton and trained at Camp Ritchie (Class 16). Fluent in German, he served with IPW Team 94 from Normandy through France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany, interrogating prisoners, translating captured documents, and helping identify enemy personnel and spies. He remained in military intelligence until his 1946 discharge.

Abt returned to Northwestern and changed his major to business administration. He later recounted his wartime work in A Few Who Made a Difference: The World War II Teams of the Military Intelligence Service (2004). He died on 9 August 2008.

Research notes

• Enlisted Reserve or Medical Administrative Corps (MAC) Officer
• Exact dates come from the packet folder identification; no death place or award is inferred. The live lowercase 'major' rank is not carried forward because the packet reviewed here does not support it.

Gallery

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Technical record

Field	Imported value
Approx Age at Death	85
Nara ASN	16081924
Nara Name	ABT KARL
Nara State	61
Nara County	13
Nara POE	6220
Nara DOE	210443
Nara Grade Alpha	PVT
Nara Grade Code	8
Nara Branch Alpha	NO
Nara Branch Code	2
Branch	No branch assignment
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	5
Nara Nativity	5
Nara Year of Birth	8
Nara Race	1
Nara Race Description	White citizen
Nara Education	0
Nara Civilian Occupation	992
Nara Marital Status	8
Nara Height (inches)	80
Nara Weight (lbs)	149
Class_ASN	16081924
Class_Name	ABT, Karl W.
match_method	asn_exact_name_exact
row_source	both

Timeline

• 20 August 1923 — Born in Helmstedt, Germany.
• 1941 — Entered Northwestern University as a chemistry major.
• 1943 — Inducted into the Army; studied European languages at Princeton and trained at Camp Ritchie (Class 16).
• 1944–1945 — Served with IPW Team 94 from Normandy through France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany.
• 1946 — Discharged and returned to Northwestern University.
• 2004 — Published A Few Who Made a Difference.
• 9 August 2008 — Died.

Sources

• RB Archive Northwestern biographical material and course-record summary
• David Alvarez, review of Karl W. Abt, A Few Who Made a Difference, History: Reviews of New Books 33, no. 3 (Spring 2005): 124 (RB Archive ProQuest copy)
• 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 Karl W. Abt for Camp Ritchie (private research document; 1 source documents reviewed)
• Dan Gross, Timeline of Abt, Karl W. for Camp Ritchie (private research files; selected non-private narrative findings; 1 source files: KARL W. ABT (references).doc)