John C. Ausland ’47

John Ausland died of cancer May 13, 1996, in Oslo, Norway, his home since 1974. John was born in LaCrosse, Wis., and transferred to Princeton in 1945 from Hardin Junior College. During WWII he spent four years in the Army and in June 1944 landed on Utah Beach with the Allies' invading forces. He received the bronze star and the silver star.

John's military service turned him into a dedicated man of peace. In the midst of combat, he asked himself, "if there were not some better way to deal with the world's problems." He studied diplomacy at Princeton. Following graduation, he proceeded to Washington, DC, for further training, which led to postings in Germany, Yugoslavia, Australia, Norway, and Switzerland. He served on the State Dept.'s Berlin Task Force when the Berlin Wall went up in 1961. He was an adviser to the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Cuban missile crisis in 1962.

John was the author of several books as well as hundreds of articles, many on military issues. The last of his books, Letters Home: A War Memoir, was published in 1995 in connection with the 50th anniversary of the end of WWII.

John will be missed by us and by the many circles of international diplomacy of which he was a member. To his wife, Else, and his children, Anne, Hayden, and Steven, the class extends its deepest sympathy.

The Class of 1947