John W. Wolff
Biography: John Werner Wolff was born on April 10, 1920, in Pirmasens, Germany. He was originally named Hans but it was Americanized when he came to the U.S. He was the son of Maximillian Wolff and Meta Lindheimer and attended public school in Pirmasens until 1935, when the government enacted the Nuremberg Race Laws. These laws basically stripped Jews and other minority groups of their citizenship and banned relationships between Jews and non-Jews, thus banning Jews from public school among many other things.
On November 10th, 1938, John, along with his brother and father were sent to the Dachau Concentration Camp, accused of anti-Nazi activities. John’s father died later that month on the 28th while still imprisoned. The two boys were released in December and along with their mother, traveled to France in an attempt to leave Europe. It would take until February of 1940 before they were able to leave France and travel to the United States.
The family made their home in Manhattan, New York and John was able to find work at a plating company, also located in Manhattan. The business was positioned next to a sewing factory and there was no air conditioning so during his lunch break, he would sit on the building’s fire escape to escape the heat. It was there that he met Anne Linz who was born in Siegberg, Germany, and was a seamstress in the factory next door. The two would begin a relationship which continued throughout the war.
Service Time: John was drafted and entered military service in January of 1943. At that time, the men that were not citizens were given their citizenship during their basic training. His initial training was focused on artillery but he was eventually assigned to the Headquarters Company of the 771st Tank Destroyer Battalion. His transfer may have been because the 771st had it’s beginnings in the 71st Field Artillery Brigade. We are not sure if he trained with the 771st within the U.S. or joined them while overseas.
Throughout the war, John corresponded with Anne and their letters were written in German since that was their native language. All the letters that were sent home were reviewed and censored by unit officers and John’s letters were flagged. In January of 1944, John was instructed to start writing in English.
The unit had shipped out from the New York port on October 21, 1943 and arrived at Liverpool, England on November 2nd. The 771st was chosen to train other TD personnel in the ETO Troop Replacement system. Company A would move out and act as an advanced unit to ship to France in late August 1944. The rest of the battalion shipped out on September 15th and joined them on the mainland, equipped with M10 Tank Destroyers. They entered combat with the 102nd Infantry Division against the Siegfried Line defenses along the Würm River on November 3rd and participated in the drive to the Roer River. They held defensive positions there during December.
The 771st converted to the M36 tank destroyer in January 1945, and supported the drive toward the Rhine River in February, crossing the Rhine beginning on March 31st and joining the 102nd ID’s drive across Germany to the Elbe River, reaching the river on April 14th. They spent the remainder of the war helping to mop up bypassed pockets of resistance between the Rhine and the Elbe while attached to the 5th Armored Division, the 102nd Infantry Division and the 11th Cavalry Group. John’s late entry into the war required him to serve on occupational duty and his uniform jacket indicates that he may have been attached to the 29th Infantry Division during that time. The 771st received credit for campaigns in Rhineland and Central Europe and John received credit for both as indicated by his EAME Ribbon. He also received the WWII Victory ribbon and the Good Conduct Medal. He left the service at the rank of Private First Class.
Once back in the U.S., John took advantage of the G.I. Bill and went to school for watch repair. He had considered working for the Port Authority as a police officer but watch repair was probably the safer choice after all he had been through overseas. John would go on to open his own business, which he named the Genova Watch Service. On February 4, 1946, John married Anne who was the daughter of Benny Linz and Meta Hirsh. The new couple would have one son, Melvin, born in 1949.
In his spare time, he enjoyed stamp collecting and was a member of the 771st Tank Destroyer Association and the Horological (study of time) Society of New York. John passed away on June 23, 2010, and was buried in the Beth-El Cemetery located in Paramus, New Jersey. I want to thank John’s son, Melvin , for providing the photo of his father. Thank you also to Find A Grave contributor, dalva d, for the use of the grave marker photo.
