Helmut Isenberg was born on June 15, 1919, in Saarbrücken, Germany, and grew up as the middle child of three brothers in a Jewish family. Active in scouting, he traveled Europe with Prince Emanuel of Liechtenstein. In 1935, his family fled Nazi Germany to Switzerland and later settled in Vaduz, Liechtenstein, before emigrating to the United States in 1938, aided by Harvard connections and family friend John F. Kennedy.
Helmut worked as a photographer in Queens and married Ellen Pollack Kaufman in the early 1940s. He enlisted in the U.S. Army on February 1, 1943, serving with the 603rd Engineer Camouflage Battalion, part of the Ghost Army, and stationed at Fort Meade in Maryland. It was from there that he applied for US citizenship on June 28, 1943.
After his discharge from the Army, Helmut worked as a global salesman for Paper Mate Pens, traveling extensively. His personal life included marriages to Ellen and later Josephine Johanna Woelfl, with whom he had children. In the 1960s, he became an influential figure in the American Legion Department of France, meeting leaders like German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and U.S. President Richard Nixon.
Helmut owned businesses in Europe, patented inventions, and lived in Germany from the 1990s until his death on May 17, 1992. He is now buried in the Jewish Cemetery in Wiesbaden, where his legacy is honored by the American Legion.
Source of information: ghostarmy.org