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True. The Third Reich was gone by 1948, but the scientists were still around.
Perhaps they were working with other scientists from other nations; an international team. Or perhaps just with the US.
We know that Kurt Debus and Wernher von Braun were working with the military in 1952.
Later, in 1958, they were transferred to the newly formed NASA.

The rest is history, as they say; the history we know of, anyway.

France and Germany were aviation leaders, when the US was … not so much.

Germany arguably broke the sound barrier in 1944, and their rockets were going into space, depending on how “space” is defined. They had very good designers, and the technology specialists that followed our troops closely during the war were especially impressed with the wind tunnels. Far beyond anything we had at the time. They disassembled all of that sort of stuff and sent it to the US.

They were also pioneering in aviation or space medicine. The problem with that is they used prisoners of war to experiment on.

How long does it take someone to freeze to death in the ocean? “Well let’s find out”. If you notice modern life vests or flotation devices, they keep the neck area well above the water, as much heat is lost there. Guess how they figured that out? By killing people.

Hubertus Strughold was one of many “paperclip” personnel brought to the US. I think there might have been an Air Force clinic named after him. Kinda wacky.

...Perhaps they were working with other scientists from other nations...

It is a well-documented fact that some of those German scientists, technicians, and lab rats went to the United States and the rest were taken by the Soviets. They even have lists of names for each group.