 Silver graduated at Tufts University and received a master's degree in German philology from Harvard University in 1942.During the second world war he participated in the Normandy landings and later became a prisoner-of-war interrogator (IPW), first in the IPW team of the 66th Infantry Division.In September 1945 he joined the IPW team in Oberursel, near Frankfurt-am-Main, at the 7707th European Intelligence Center, also referred to as Camp King.