Oscar Ascher

Oscar Ascher was born to Ignatz Ascher (1845-1900) and Sophie Katz (1853-1936) on 1 October 1892 in Merklin, Austria (now Merklin, Karlovy Vary Region, Czech Republic). Ascher was the last of seven children, Wilhelm (1874-?), Helen (1879-?), Max (1881-?), Julia (1883-?), Henry (1884-1955), Clara (1888-1972), and Alexander (1890-1960). The family arrived in the United States on or around 28 May 1901, sailing through Bremen, Germany via the steamship Königin Luise*. The family resided in Manhattan, New York into the 1910s; Ascher attended public school and several years of preparatory school before becoming an office boy and law clerk in 1907. Ascher worked as a clerk until 1912, when he was employed as a tabulating machine operator** up to 1917.

*http://www.passengerlists.de/. Unfortunately, passenger lists from 1875-1908 were destroyed.

**Tabulating machines were early versions of data processing systems, typically used for accounting and statistics needs. They grew in popularity into the 1910s, and quickly developed electronic systems.

Ascher was drafted, and inducted, into the U.S. Army on 10 September 1917, assigned as a Private to Co. K, 305^th Infantry Regiment, 82^nd Division, American Expeditionary Forces. Ascher was promoted to Corporal in January of 1918; he and Co. K left New York on 16 April 1918 aboard the U.S. Army Transport Ship Cedric. Cpl Ascher received the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions near the Argonne Forest, France on 6 October 1918;

“The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to Corporal Oscar Ascher (ASN: 1698293), United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving with Company K, 305th Infantry Regiment, 77th Division, A.E.F., in the Argonne Forest, France, 6 October 1918. Engaged as messenger, Corporal Ascher made repeated trips to the most advanced positions, each time under severest of machine-gun fire. On one occasion he volunteered and carried a message to a platoon sergeant, when the latter was actually engaged in charging the enemy. Corporal Ascher accomplished this hazardous mission by verbally delivering the instructions contained in the message, thereby materially aiding in the success of the attack.”

According to Ascher’s notes, his duties were primarily as a “liaison, scout, and observer”; he details other service information as follows,

“Gassed, Phosgene, August 1918. Vesle-Pisme Advance. Returned within 2 weeks (306 Field Hospital). Bayonet wound, Oct. 15, 1918, Argonne Forest. Field Hospital-Evacuation Hospital #49- Base Hospital #56. Contracted Cerebral Spinal Meningitis and Influenza. Did not return to unit, came back as casual, March 23, 1919.”

Ascher was Honorably Discharged on 28 March 1919.

Upon returning to the United States, Ascher lived with his family on Fox Street in the Bronx and worked in ‘electrical logs’. He married Carrie Rosenfeld (1896-1990) in Manhattan, New York on 18 April 1920; the couple had one son, John (1926-?). The couple briefly lived with Ascher’s mother and two siblings into the late 1920s. In the 1930s, the family lived at 2364 Tiebout Ave, Bronx, where Ascher was the manager of a laundromat; the 1940s, working as a salesman, living at 350 E 184^th St., Bronx. In the 1950s, the Aschers lived in Washtenaw, Michigan, working as a laundry supervisor for the Department of Justice, Bureau of Prisons (at one point, Federal Correctional Institute, Sandstone, Michigan).

In 1962, the couple relocated for a final time to St. Petersburg Beach, Florida, where they retired. Ascher died in St. Petersburg on 28 June 1985 and is buried at Royal Palm South Cemetery, Saint Petersburg, Pinellas County, Florida.