Michigan Military and Veterans Hall of Honor

Born on January 14, 1922, in Hildesheim, Germany, Master Sergeant Guy Stern, USA, Ph.D., was a decorated member of the secret World War II military intelligence unit known as the Ritchie Boys. Fleeing Nazi Germany as the only survivor of his Jewish family, Stern immigrated to the United States and later joined the U.S. Army. During the war, he conducted frontline interrogations, earning the Bronze Star Medal for his critical intelligence work. After the war, Stern became a prominent scholar, earning a Ph.D. from Columbia University and serving as a professor and administrator at several institutions, including Wayne State University. He was also director of the International Institute of the Righteous at the Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington Hills, Michigan. Stern received numerous awards throughout his life, including the Great Cross of Merit from Germany and the French Legion of Honor. A celebrated author and academic, he passed away on December 7, 2023, at the age of 101, leaving a profound legacy of service, scholarship, and resilience.