Leo Prokopf
Biographical Information
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| Name | Leo Prokopf | |
Leo Prokopf was born in Oberaltenbuch, Germany in 1907, the son of Ludwig Prokopf and Charlotta Dick. He had a cousin, Alma Stadler, living in Milwaukee when he sailed on the S.S. Derfflinger from Stuttgart to New York in 1926. On the passenger list he was listed as a baker, an occupation he was again listed as in the 1928 city directory for Milwaukee while living with his cousin. He enlisted for the US Army at Fort Slocum in Westchester County, NY in May of 1929 and was sent to Panama for a three year term.
After having previously served in the Panama Canal Zone for the US Army from 1929 to 1932, Leo Prokopf reinlisted in San Francisco in Oct 1932 and was assigned to the Hawaiian Department, setting sail on 29 Oct 1932 from Fort McDowell on Angel Island. While in Honolulu he received his United States citizenship on 2 Nov 1933. On 12 Jan 1934 he was sentenced to 5 years for "sodomy and escape". He was sent back to San Francisco on the transport ship U.S.A.T. Chateau Thierry in April 1934. He was officially transferred out of the Army and into the Federal Penitentary at Alcatraz upon its opening on 19 Jun 1934. At Alcatraz his record also included a note that he had no known prior criminal record. He was transferred to Leavenworth in Aug 1936.
He seems to have been released on, or soon after, his minimum released date of 29 Sep 1937, as he was married in Oct 1938 to a woman named Ann Johnson. By the 1940 census, taken in April, he was already divorced. He enlisted in the US Army for a third time in Feb 1943 and served until Sep 1943. His records from WW2 make no mention of his second enlistment and time in Hawaii, nor the criminal charges. As he would have been dishonorably discharged, and ineligible for reenlistment, it looks like the US Army may have purposefully ignored the second enlistment and arrest in order to accept another able bodied and willing soldier during the war. Sometime shortly after his final return to Milwaukee, he remarried to Anna Toth, as they had a daughter in about 1944. He appears to have lived the remainder of his life in Milwaukee and died there in 1976 at the age of 69.
Documentation[edit]
Census[edit]
- 1930 Census: "Leo Prokopf" - Fort Sherman, Panama
- 1940 Census: "Leo Prokopf" - Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
- 1950 Census: "Leo Prokopf" - Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
City Direcotries[edit]
- 1928 - Milwaukee, Wisconsin: "Prokopf, Leo - baker, r1783 5th"
Ship Manifests[edit]
- SS Derfflinger - 23 Oct 1926: "Leo Prokopf", 19, baker; from Stuttgart, Germany to New York City
- USAT Somme - 3 May 1929: "Leo Prokopf", pvt. cac. #6702030; from Ft. Slocum, NY to Panama Canal Zone
- USAT St. Mihiel - 29 Oct 1932: "Leo Prokopf", 6702030; from San Francisco, CA to Honolulu, HI
- USAT Chateau Thierry - 13 Apr 1934: "Leo Prokopf", General Prisoner; from Honolulu, HI to San Francisco, CA
Newspaper Articles[edit]
- 2 Nov 1933 - Honolulu Star-Bulletin (Honolulu, Hawaii) - Admitted to Citizenship