Vito Trause

In May 2019, just over five months before his death, Washington Township and the Borough of Westwood, New Jersey each petitioned the Bergen County Board of Chosen Freeholders to rename the stretch of the township's Ridgewood Road in front of Westwood Regional High School in honor of Trause.

Trause died suddenly on Halloween in 2019, after attending a party with a local senior organization. His daughter attributed his death to heart and lung problems. He was buried at George Washington Memorial Park in Paramus, New Jersey.

Locals considered Trause to be a war hero. In July 2015, a parade was held in honor of his 90th birthday in Washington Township; among the participants were a brigade of police cars, firetrucks, and 20 motorcycle riders of the Carlstadt-based Nam Knights of America. At a June 2018 ceremony, Trause was awarded his high school diploma at the age of 92, at Henry P. Becton Regional High School as a part of the New Jersey Department of Education Operation Recognition program. With military commanders in attendance, the school's principal awarded him a diploma from East Rutherford High School as well as replicas of each of the awards that Trause had received as a result of his military service during the Second World War. Four months later, the Borough of Carlstadt renamed a portion of its Lincoln Street after Trause, who had grown up on the street during his childhood. In January 2019, the New York Knicks presented Trause with an honorary jersey and a graduation cap signed by its players.

After the war, Trause returned to the United States, living in his hometown of Carlstadt, New Jersey. He competed as a semi-professional football and baseball athlete in the years following the war and married a receptionist from East Rutherford, New Jersey in June 1952. After moving to Clifton, New Jersey with his wife in 1952, he moved to Washington Township in Bergen County in 1967, where he lived the remainder of his life. In his later years, he became a well-known New Jersey community figure and gained international attention after being awarded his high school diploma at the age of 92. Following his death in October 2019, Trause was buried at George Washington Memorial Park in Paramus, New Jersey.

Trause married Theresa Iwanowski, an East Rutherford receptionist, on June 7, 1952. The pair moved to Clifton, New Jersey and had two daughters, Cynthia and Victoria. The family moved to Washington Township, a town in Bergen County, New Jersey, in 1967. Trause remained married to his wife until she died on August 6, 2005.

Trause, a Catholic, joined the Catholic War Veterans in September 1948. He was also a member of the Knights of Columbus and the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

While at Stalag VII-A, Nazi Germany subjected Trause to forced labor involving the repair of railroads that had been damaged by bombs dropped by the Royal Air Force and the recovery of corpses. Trause often found himself working alongside Jews imprisoned within Nazi concentration camps. Throughout the winter of 1945, he was not provided proper footwear by his German captors, leading to one of his feet becoming swollen. A Jewish prisoner who worked with Trause stole shoes from a corpse, smuggled them under his coat, and delivered them to Trause. Trause would go on to say the stolen footwear saved him from dying or having his foot amputated; Trause believed that the Jewish prisoner's actions saved his life.

While detained in the German prison camp, Trause subsisted on a diet of bread and potatoes. When he was liberated by American troops on May 2, 1945, Trause weighed 131 pounds (59 kg), some 35 pounds (16 kg) less than at the time of his capture.

As a private first-class, Trause fought in the Italian Campaign, where he served as a scout in the 168th Regiment of the 34th Infantry Division. He participated in the Battle of Anzio and thereafter began participating in scouting operations on the Gothic Line. On the morning of September 24, 1944, Trause became separated from his fellow soldiers while on a scouting mission in the Apennine Mountains outside of Florence and hid inside of a nearby farmhouse. Later that day, Trause was ambushed by Waffen-SS soldiers and captured in the farmhouse. After briefly being taken to Bologna, he was subsequently transported by boxcar to Stalag VII-A, a camp for prisoners of war run by Nazi Germany, where he was held for much of the remainder of the war in Europe.

By November 30, 1943, Trause dropped out of high school during his junior year in order to join the United States Army. As a private first-class, Trause trained in Africa and fought in the Italian Campaign, where he served in the United States infantry as a scout. He was captured by the SS outside of Florence in September 1944 and subsequently transported to Stalag VII-A, a camp for prisoners of war run by Nazi Germany, where he was held until he was liberated by American troops on May 2, 1945.

Vito Trause (July 19, 1925 – October 31, 2019) was an Italian-American soldier in the United States Army, prisoner of war during World War II, semi-professional athlete, and community figure in New Jersey.

Trause was born on July 19, 1925. He grew up in Carlstadt, New Jersey and received his elementary education at Carlstadt Public School, where he was a member of the school's choir. He later attended East Rutherford High School, where he played football and baseball. On November 30, 1943, Trause dropped out of high school during his junior year in order to enlist in the United States Army during World War II.