Leonard Auslander

TECHNICIAN FIFTH CLASS LEONARD AUSLANDER was born in Pennsylvania on April 5, 1919 to Benjamin and Anna Auslander, Jewish immigrants from Austria and Russia, who had come to America. His father operated a tailor shop at 232 Federal Street in Camden NJ. Leonard was the second child, his sister Hilda came two years before. By 1930 the family had moved to Camden NJ, and his father had purchased a home on Magnolia Avenue in the Parkside section of Camden. The 1930 census lists this home at 1244 Magnolia Avenue. The Camden Courier-Post on Aril 26, 1944 and the Camden County Centennial book from 1944 gives an address on 1234 Magnolia Avenue, while his high school yearbook from the January 1938 carries the address 1246 Magnolia Avenue. City Directories from the 1947 list an address of 1234 Magnolia Avenue. The family next door at 1248 Magnolia Avenue were the Levys. Their son Jerome Levy was about the same age as Leonard Auslander. They both would not come back from the war in Europe. Leonard Auslander was a graduate of Woodrow Wilson High School, on Federal Street in Camden NJ, and a member, along with fellow Woodrow Wilson High School Class of 1938 member Bernard Rose, of the Pi Alpha Psi fraternity.

Leonard Auslander was inducted into the Army in 1941. He served at Fort Dix NJ and Fort Bragg NC, and was promoted to Technician 5th Class. He was initially assigned to the HQ Battery, 1st Battalion, 69th Coast Artillery (AA) and was stationed in Paterson NJ until November of 1942. He was sent overseas with an artillery unit and served in Sicily and in Italy. While overseas he was wounded and hospitalized for illness a total of three times, each time requesting permission to return to his unit on the front lines. He had been awarded the Purple Heart. According to the Camden Courier-Post, after the third time he was hospitalized, he was assigned to a conditioning company. 

Leonard Auslander last wrote home on April 12, 1944, telling his parents he was well and happy. This letter arrived the same day that the War Department telegram came saying that Leonard Auslander had been killed in action on April 16, 1944. 

Woodrow Wilson High School and the Pi Alpha Psi fraternity sponsored an oratorical contest in honor of Bernard Rose and Leonard Auslander, who also died while serving in the Army during World War II.