People and Happenings
Interments of Note by Lauren Marsh, Communications, Grants & Events Coordinator
Veteran, Businessman, and Loving Father
People and Happenings
Interments of Note by Lauren Marsh, Communications, Grants & Events Coordinator
Each individual interred at Mount Auburn has his own unique story, and we are so fortunate to be able to hear some of these remarkable personal histories. Though life took Henry Walter and Reinhard Frank down different paths, similarities in their past experiences connect them now in their final resting place.
Henry Walter was a young man in Vienna when the Nazis occupied Austria. He had been attending university in Prague in what is now the Czech Republic. After hearing that the Nazis were searching for young Jewish men, he tried twice to escape to the U. S. On his first attempt, he and a friend planned to flee to Poland after they heard that some Czech troops had escaped to freedom through the underground coal mines.
However, once they arrived there, the Nazis had already discovered this route. He and his companion were then told that if they could find a guide to take them, they could escape Nazi patrol, but that effort was unsuccessful. Henry returned to Prague where his father, a prominent businessman, was able to bribe a Czech official working for the Nazis to grant Henry an exit visa to leave the country. The visa in question happened to be in someone else’ s name and did not match his passport. This risk paid off when the Nazi official on the train he was attempting to take to Poland failed to notice the discrepancy, and Henry was able to cross the border. In Krakow, an uncle helped him to the seaports where he took a steamship to London and from there gained passage to New York City. He arrived with less than $ 50 in his pocket. Later in the war, all the members of his immediate family escaped safely to the U. S., but he lost most of his extended family during the Holocaust.
Working odd jobs between 1939 and 1942, Henry also attained his citizenship. In 1942, he was happily drafted and anxious to serve the country that had taken him in. He trained with the 10th Mountain Division ski troops in the Army, but soon found himself transferred to be in military government because of his ability to speak German. He served with distinction: not only was he part of the second wave of men who landed on Omaha Beach in the D-Day invasion, but he also fought in the Battle of the Bulge. After the war, he served as a Lt. Colonel in Stuttgart, Germany, where he met and married Ruth Stiles of Scarsdale, N. Y., the love of his life. They returned to the U. S. in 1949 where Henry earned a Master’ s Degree in Public Administration from Harvard and went on to have a successful career in
18 | Sweet Auburn
Henry Walter:
Veteran, Businessman, and Loving Father
( November 18, 1916 – August 18, 2010)
investment analysis and counseling, first at J. P. Chase followed by Gardner, Preston, Moss and then Congress Asset Management. He also taught economics at Northeastern University’ s School of Business.
Henry and Ruth were longtime residents of Wellesley and Needham, Mass., and had four children: Jenni King, Chris, Ellen Sneider, and Matthew, who treasure their family’ s special history and the memory of their parents. Henry’ s legacy is multifaceted. It brims with the pride he felt about serving his adopted country as well as his love for his homeland.“ There was a BBC documentary series about WWII when I was growing up called World at War,” relates Henry’ s youngest son, Matt.“ I used to love watching
“ Pride for His Adopted Country”
it with my father and having him relate his personal war experiences as they pertained to the program. It was one of the first times I really understood who he was and why he was not like other suburban dads. It was also the first time I really felt proud of him.” Eldest daughter, Jenni King, also reflects on this.“ He was very proud and positive about his service to his country. He considered it an honor
The exit visa that Henry Walter used to escape to Krakow.
to serve and to fight against the forces of the Third Reich that had wrecked such havoc on his homeland. When I was sixteen, my father took the family on a tour of the Europe that he remembered including Paris, Germany( mostly Bavaria), and Austria. He was proud of the beauty and history of Europe and took great joy in showing us all that he loved and remembered. For me as the oldest child, the trip was a wonderful experience and his enthusiasm made it all