Walter J. Monasch

Walter J. Monasch
Personal details
Born	29 August 1922 Stettin, Germany (now Szczecin, Poland)
Died	2011
Nativity	Germany
Religion	Jewish
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch	United States Army
ASN	36677017
Rank	Private
Camp Ritchie	Class 24 (26 October – 29 December 1944)
Section	4C
Specialty	Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC)
Unit / division	36th Infantry Division

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Walter J. Monasch (29 August 1922–2011) was a German-born Jewish Ritchie Boy (Class 24) who served in CIC with the 36th Infantry Division and later worked as a city and regional planner in California.

Biography

Walter Julius J. Monasch was born on 29 August 1922 in Stettin, Germany (now Szczecin, Poland). His Jewish family left Germany in 1938 for the United States; he finished high school near Chicago and worked as a tool-and-die maker before entering the Army in early 1943.

After medical and ordnance training and an unfinished officers’ course at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Monasch was sent to Camp Ritchie for Counter Intelligence Corps training (Class 24). He went overseas with a CIC detachment, was assigned to the 36th Infantry Division in Alsace in late 1944, and took part in CIC work through southern Germany and Austria, including the liberation of the Hurlach/Landsberg area labor camp complex.

Discharged in mid-1946, he studied civil engineering at Antioch College and city planning at MIT, then worked as a planner and housing official in California (including San Jose, Alameda, Santa Cruz County, and Novato). He died in 2011.

Research notes

• Oral history also names Camp Ritchie classmate Freddie Robacheck (Brooklyn); no matching soldier page located under that spelling.

Gallery

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Technical record

Field	Imported value
Approx Age at Death	89
Class_ASN	36677017
Class_Name	MONASCH, Walter J.
match_method	asn_exact_name_exact
row_source	both

Timeline

• 29 August 1922 — Born in Stettin, Germany (now Szczecin, Poland).
• 1938 — Emigrated with his family to the United States; finished high school near Chicago.
• Early 1943 — Entered the U.S. Army; later trained at Aberdeen Proving Ground.
• 29 November 1943 — Became a naturalized citizen.
• June 1944 — Attended Officers Candidate School at Aberdeen (did not graduate).
• 29 December 1944 — Graduated Camp Ritchie Class 24 (CI).
• Late 1944–1945 — CIC with 36th Infantry Division in Alsace, southern Germany, and Austria; Hurlach/Landsberg camp liberation.
• Mid-1946 — Left the Army; later Antioch College (civil engineering) and MIT (city planning).

Sources

• Dan Gross research archive (miscellaneous timeline-adjacent documents; not uploaded): Walter Monasch - Oral History.doc (transcript of Telling Their Stories interview)
• Walter Monasch oral history, Telling Their Stories / Urban School of San Francisco (interview 10 February 2008)
• 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 Walter J. Monasch for Camp Ritchie (private research document; 1 source documents reviewed)
• Dan Gross, Timeline of Monasch, Walter J. for Camp Ritchie (private research files; selected non-private narrative findings; 1 source files: WALTER J. MONASCH.doc)