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Henry Herbert Kolm
| Henry Herbert Kolm | |
|---|---|
| Personal details | |
| Birth name | Heinz Kolm |
| Born | 10 September 1924 Vienna, Austria |
| Died | 29 July 2010 Concord, Massachusetts |
| Nativity | Austria |
| Religion | Jewish |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch |  United States Army |
| ASN | 33784680 |
| Rank | Staff Sergeant |
| Camp Ritchie | Class 29 (13 April – 12 June 1945) |
| Enlisted | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Unit / division | 20th Armored Division |
{{Needs source}}, or explain disagreements on talk. Baseline import notes: About the data.
Henry Herbert Kolm (born Heinz Kolm; 10 September 1924 – 29 July 2010) was an Austria-born U.S. Army soldier who served as an armored engineer with Patton’s 20th Armored Division and trained at Camp Ritchie with Class 29. A small group from his class, including Kolm, was later selected for P.O. Box 1142.
Biography[edit | edit source]
Henry Herbert Kolm was born Heinz Kolm on 10 September 1924 in Vienna, Austria, into a well-educated, multilingual family of Jewish roots; his father was a physician and medical researcher. He attended the Realschule Schottenbastei in Vienna. After the Nazi annexation of Austria the Kolms fled in October 1938, first to Czechoslovakia, then through Luxembourg, Brussels, and Paris; Kolm personally saw Hitler enter Vienna and later Prague, and part of the escape included being smuggled under barbed wire into Luxembourg with help from HIAS. From Belgium the family sailed from Rotterdam in November 1939 and reached the United States in December 1939. They lived first in Queens, New York City, and from the autumn of 1940 in Philadelphia, where alongside high school he worked as a mechanic's helper, at a furniture factory and a cigar maker, and as a physics laboratory assistant testing cement and concrete for a construction firm. He graduated from Gratz High School in June 1942 and briefly studied mechanical engineering at Drexel University.
Kolm was drafted in June 1943 (ASN 33784680) and went through the Reception Center at the New Cumberland Army Depot near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to infantry basic training with Company C, 4th Infantry Training Battalion, at Camp Wheeler, Georgia; he had hoped for the Air Force. He became a United States citizen during service (naturalized 1 October 1943). In November 1943 he was assigned as a student to Army Specialized Training Assignment and Reclassification Unit No. 3411 at John B. Stetson University in DeLand, Florida, and by his own account also studied French at Rollins College; in February 1944, specializing as a scout, he moved to Army Specialized Training Unit No. 3535 at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. In March 1944 he was assigned to Company C of the 220th Armored Engineer Battalion of Patton’s 20th Armored Division at Camp Campbell, Kentucky, and trained as an automotive mechanic. There he did dangerous engineer work: flamethrowers with jellied gasoline that could melt bunker hatch armor, satchel charges to breach thick concrete, and shaped charges against “dragon’s teeth.” He extracted stuck tanks, ran bulldozers and tank-dozers, helped test weapons for Siegfried Line assault training, and remembered driving Eisenhower and Patton to demonstrations. Befriending the motor-pool sergeant, he became licensed on every Corps of Engineers vehicle from bulldozers to tanks.
In August 1944 Kolm entered the Engineer Officer Candidate School at Fort Belvoir, Virginia (Company C, Officer Candidate Regiment), but decided engineering was not his long-term fit and did not complete the course. He walked uninvited into the Pentagon’s G-2 office and asked for military intelligence; General Clayton Bissell reportedly ordered him sent to Camp Ritchie. In March 1945 he began training there with Class 29 (IPW 5B, German)—aerial photo interpretation (including stereoscope work that later required a year of eye therapy), foreign weapons, German order of battle, aircraft silhouette recognition, orienteering drops, parachute-tower training, and mock combat. Among fellow refugee trainees he later recalled were Arno Mayer and Peter Weiss.
Before completing the interrogator course, Kolm was among a small group—about seven to ten men from his class—chosen for a classified assignment and taken by staff car to P.O. Box 1142 at Fort Hunt, Virginia, the Military Intelligence Service interrogation and monitoring center (MIS-Y), under orders not to tell anyone where they were; he was serving there by July 1945. Kolm lived in bachelor officers’ quarters and joined the top-secret interrogation program that handled German POWs, scientists, engineers, and other high-value targets—work the Army did not publicly acknowledge for decades. By his own account he interrogated high-ranking Wehrmacht officers and questioned prisoners about bombing targets in Germany, and later did intelligence work with German scientists under Operation Paperclip. He was discharged as a staff sergeant at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland, in March 1946. He died in Concord, Massachusetts, on 29 July 2010.
Gallery[edit | edit source]
No portrait on file yet.
Timeline[edit | edit source]
- 10 September 1924 — Born in Vienna, Austria (parents Richard and Elly Kolm).
- October 1938 – 1939 — Family fled Austria via Czechoslovakia, Luxembourg (HIAS; barbed-wire crossing), Brussels, and Paris; witnessed Hitler in Vienna and Prague.
- June 1942 — Graduated Gratz High School.
- 9 June 1943 — Enlisted (ASN 33784680); infantry basic at Camp Wheeler, Georgia.
- 1 October 1943 — Naturalized as a U.S. citizen.
- November 1943 — ASTP, John B. Stetson University, DeLand, Florida.
- February 1944 — ASTP, Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio.
- March 1944 — Company C, 220th Armored Engineer Battalion, 20th Armored Division (Patton), Camp Campbell, Kentucky: demolitions, flamethrowers, engineer vehicles; drove Eisenhower and Patton to weapons demonstrations.
- August 1944 — Engineer OCS, Fort Belvoir (not completed); walked into Pentagon G-2 (Gen. Clayton Bissell → Camp Ritchie).
- March 1945 — Camp Ritchie Class 29 (photo interpretation, OB, weapons, orienteering, parachute tower).
- July 1945 — P.O. Box 1142 (Fort Hunt) interrogation assignment, selected with ~7–10 classmates.
- March 1946 — Discharged as S/Sgt at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland.
- 29 July 2010 — Died in Concord, Massachusetts.
- November–December 1939 — Sailed from Rotterdam; arrived in the United States; lived in Queens, then from autumn 1940 in Philadelphia.
Technical record[edit | edit source]
| Field | Imported value |
|---|---|
| Approx Age at Death | 86 |
| Nara ASN | 33784680 |
| Nara Name | KOLM HENRY H |
| Nara State | 32 |
| Nara County | 101 |
| Nara POE | 3295 |
| Nara DOE | 90643 |
| 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 | 0 |
| Nara Nativity | N2 |
| Nara Year of Birth | 24 |
| Nara Race | J |
| Nara Race Description | White not yet a citizen |
| Nara Education | 4 |
| Nara Civilian Occupation | 867 |
| Nara Marital Status | 6 |
| Nara Height (inches) | 38 |
| Nara Weight (lbs) | 494 |
| row_source | demographics |
Research notes[edit | edit source]
- Fort Hunt / P.O. Box 1142 — selected from Camp Ritchie class for secret interrogation assignment (NPS oral history).
- U.S. maneuvers with 20th Armored Division / 220th Armored Engineer Battalion.
- Trained alongside classmates he later named including Arno Mayer and Peter Weiss.
- Dates corrected from the Austriansoldiers biography and NARA: enlistment June 1943 (NARA 9 June 1943; the earlier timeline had 26 March 1943) and Camp Ritchie Class 29 from March 1945 (the earlier text placed his Camp Ritchie training in late 1943 – spring 1944).
Sources[edit | edit source]
- NPS Fort Hunt Oral History — Henry Kolm interview transcript (armored engineer / Camp Ritchie / P.O. Box 1142; formerly published on the NPS Fort Hunt oral-history exhibit)
- 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 Henry H. Kolm for Camp Ritchie (private research document; 1 source documents reviewed)
- Dan Gross, Timeline of Kolm, Henry H. for Camp Ritchie (private research files; selected non-private narrative findings; 1 source files: HENRY H. KOLM (2020).doc)
- Austriansoldiers biography: Henry H. Kolm, Austriansoldiers / Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Research on Consequences of War (in German; accessed 25 September 2026)