Category: The Ritchie Boys
The Muralist and LBJ, a Secret Hero.
WWII novels always figure importantly among the stacks of books waiting for me to read and summer is a great time for catching up. Maybe your “to read” stack is on your bedside table, or in leaning towers on the floor under your desk, or stashed neatly in boxes in a…
Camp Ritchie, Maryland – Development of the Intelligence Training Center
The 400 acres that was to become the Camp Ritchie Intelligence Training Center, began life in 1889 as the property of the Buena Vista Ice Company. They created two manmade lakes where winter allowed natural ice to form which could be shipped via the nearby railroad spur to Washington, DC. The lakes also served as…
The Ritchie Boys and D-Day
I have just returned from a trip to France which included almost a month in a Brittany village and a tour with Road Scholar. Because of my interest in World War II, the highlight of the tour was the two days dedicated to learning about the Normandy Landings on D-Day. We visited…
The Archivist of the Ritchie Boys
Whenever I need statistics about the Ritchie Boys, I contact Dan Gross. I have come to call him “The Archivist.” I don’t know if this title is original to me, or if I heard it somewhere, but it is well-deserved. For the last decade, Dan has spent countless hours researching the Ritchie Boys at the…
The Ritchie Boy Who Helped the Quakers
Rudi Hockenheimer was born in Karlsruhe, Germany, in 1925. It seemed a safe time to his middle-class Jewish parents— Germany was recovering from the devastation of World War I which had ended seven years before—and they were pleased to have a son only a year and a half after the birth of their first baby,…
The Ritchie Boys and Questions of Death and Spies
Last November, when I spoke to the Hot Springs Women’s Club about Immigrant Soldier, I was asked two questions regarding the Ritchie Boys I had never fielded before. One of the ladies wanted to know how many, if any, Ritchie Boys were killed in action. Another lady inquired if any of the Ritchie-trained men were later…
Life on the Ringstrasse and a Ritchie Boy Discovered
This year, I read two books that reveal the opulent life of many Jewish families living in Vienna, Austria before World War II. Both books are well worth reading for their intimate view of these families, the leaders of Austrian business, thought, and artistic culture in the first four decades of the twentieth century— of…
Remembering V-E Day
On May 8, 1945, the world erupted in celebrations. With the acceptance of Nazi Germany’s unconditional surrender by the Allies, the fighting in Europe was finally over. In commemoration of the 70th anniversary of victory in Europe, I decided to speak to a few Ritchie Boys and ask them to remember where they were on…
Eight Notable Ritchie Boys
The Ritchie Boys, brought together by their proficiency in German, Italian or French, were trained in intelligence work by the US Army under whose command they helped defeat the Axis powers in WWII. After their service was completed, like veterans today, they had to find a place for themselves in civilian life. As a group,…
A Very Big Man – Man Mountain Dean
One common memory that almost all the Ritchie Boys share is of the oversized instructor of hand-to-hand combat, Man Mountain Dean. He obviously made an impression commensurate with his size. Dean, who stood over six feet tall and weighed in excess of 300 pounds, must have seemed, to the young soldiers he instructed, a literal…