Alfred M. Richter

March 12, 1912 – April 18, 1991

Alfred M. Richter of Evansville, Indiana, was the first son of Edward and Edna (Fairchilds) Richter. [1] He had an older sister, Elvira, and a younger brother, Gilbert. Alfred attended Central High School of Evansville through his junior year and then went to work as an auto mechanic. 

He married Bertha Viola Kranson [*] in 1930, and she gave birth to a son, "Alfred Morris Richter, Jr." one year later, but theirs was a rocky relationship. During those years, Al worked as a laborer at American Rolling Mill Company, commonly known as Armco. The plant was primarily engaged in producing steel for various uses, including automotive components. From early 1940, Al worked for Servel Manufacturing of Evansville, Indiana, manufacturing cabinets for gas-powered refrigerators that when combined with the refrigeration unit (made in  Newburgh, New York) were sold as "Electrolux" or "Electrolux Servel".  Starting in 1942, his work at Servel, Inc. involved producing wings for the P-47 Thunderbolt. [2] Bertha's petition to divorce Alfred was granted on May 23, 1943, but the judge prohibited her from remarry for two years. [3]

He entered the Army on October 23, 1943, and went to bootcamp at Camp Wheeler, Georgia. He was then sent to Fort Benning, Georgia, where he trained as a paratrooper [4] before shipping out to England in May of 1944, and taking part in the Normandy invasion, for which he was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation.

The 508th Parachute Infantry of the 82nd Airborne Division was involved in Operation Market Garden in Holland and was engaged in the Battle of Nijmegen when On September 19, 1944, Alfred's unit was dropped behind enemy lines in an isolated position well staked out by the Germans. It seemed like the Germans knew they were coming and many men were killed in the air before they even landed and many of the gliders were blasted before the men could scramble out of them. They were surrounded. As they tried desperately to dig into the muddy, indefensible position, they were relentlessly pounded by mortar rounds from two nearby ridges and then attacked by Tiger tanks. Alfred received shrapnel wounds to both legs. Incapacitated, he was captured. 

A month later, his parents were notified that Alfred was MIA. [5] Then, in the first week of January of 1945, the War Department informed his parents that he was a POW “somewhere in Germany”. [6]

Stalag 7-A and Nussdorf 

Alfred was the only ethnically Jewish POW among the 20 men who lived and worked in Nussdorf, according the the records of the National Jewish Welfare Board, which checked on his status as a POW with the War Department in March of 1945 on behalf of his parents. Alfred's family were not religious, and his father married a non-Jewish woman.  However, Alfred's grandfather, Chas Richter, was a German Jew who migrated to Indiana at the turn of the century.

In the early years of the war,  Jewish POWs at Stalag 7-A were segregated in a separate barracks. In the last two years of the war, that was no longer the practice. Jewish POWs were not permitted to hold religious services despite the fact that even the small Hindu population was granted that right. There is no indication that his fellow POWs at Stalag 7-A or in Nussdorf knew of his partial Jewish heritage. The German family he was assigned to work for in Nussdorf didn't know either.

Shortly after V-E Day, Al sent a cablegram to his younger brother, Gilbert, with the news of his liberation. [7]

Al was in rough shape when he returned to the US, so the Army sent him to Welch Convalescent Hospital in Daytona Beach, Florida. A month later he was discharged from military service and sent home with an unspecified disability that had something to do with his spine. He was awarded the Purple Heart, the Good Conduct Ribbon, and the European Theater Ribbon. [8]

In the last years of his life, Alfred lived in Highland Park, Michigan, and worked as an auto mechanic.  

Alfred is buried in Fort Custer National Cemetery, Augusta, Kalamazoo County, Michigan.

[1] The name on his birth certificate is "Alford Morris Richter" with a DOB of MAY 12, 1912 (not March): Indiana Archives and Records Administration; Indianapolis, Indiana; Birth; Year: 1912; Roll: 021; Certificate Number 44411; Note:  His middle name is often spelled Maurice.

[*] Alfred Morris Richter, birth certificate indicates "Elma Fern Byrley" was his mother's name.  Alfred M. Richter's wife is listed on his 1942 Draft Registration card as "Bertha May Richter" which does not match "Bertha Viola Kranson". This is obviously the same person so the reason for the difference in names unknown. A divorce seems highly likely, considering that her name never appears on another document related to him for the rest of his life.

[2] Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library (EVPL) Digital Library: Inklings. v. 7-8 1940-1941, Vol. VII, No. 16 (August 1, 1941).

[3] US Federal Census of 1930: Evansville, Vanderburgh, Indiana, USA

[4]  "Richter Qualifies as Paratrooper", Evansville Courier and Press, April 25, 1944, p. 11.; US Nat. Archives: "Co. Morning Report of March 18, 1944", RG 64, Roll 246, "Company F, 1st Parachute Training Regiment: Alfred M. Richter No. 35876871.

County Court Records: Circuit Court announcement published in The Evansville Courier, Mar. 18, 1943, p. 20 & Evansville Press

May 23, 1943, p. 22.

[5] "Paratrooper is Reported Missing", Evansville Courier and Press, Oct. 17, 1944, p. 14: Note: He was "captured in Holland on 9 September 1944" (not the 19th) according to the 508th PIR Associate Website: www.508pir.org

[6] Evansville Courier and Press, Jan. 6, 1945, p. 2.

[7] Evansville Courier and Press, May 10, 1945, p. 16. Note: Al's brother, Gilbert Raymond Richter (1918-1991). Al had an older sister named Elvira May Richter (1910-1995).

[8] "Richter Arrives at Welch Hospital", Evansville Courier and Press, Sept. 11, 1945, p. 16.