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Although Ritchie Boy. Paul Fairbrook: Well, because it was an unusual part of the United States Army. The Ritchie Boys were members of a secret American intelligence unit that fought in World War II. They never met for reunions, they did not join veteran associations. Readers may be amazed to learn that the Ritchie Boys included five Marines who died on Iwo Jima, including two who graduated with a specialty of Terrain Intelligence) and were killed in action on the day the Marines stormed Iwo Jima (19 February 1945). Some Ritchie Boys were recruited to go on secret missions during the war. I think that's quantifiable. Ritchie Boys This was our kind of war. Jon Wertheim: Do you consider yourself a hero? And that has been the driving force in my life. But there were the odd grace notes among the wreckage of a continent. You want to give them that feeling that you know who they are, they know who you are. The Ritchie Boys, as they were known, trained in espionage and frontline interrogation. Of the nearly 20,000 Ritchie Boys who served in WWII, around 140 were killed in action, including at the costly There were two who were actually captured at the Battle of the Bulge. Mothers Day.. After Germany's surrender, the Ritchie Boys took on the difficult task of identifying and tracking down Nazi criminals. They all became American success stories, businessmen or academics. Singer. I mean this is you're taking your life in your hands here. Then came the surprise transfer to secretive Camp Ritchie in backwoods Maryland, where his first sight was a platoon of soldiers marching byin full-dress Wehrmacht uniforms. Please enter valid email address to continue. One of these was. Essentially they were intellectuals. It was wonderful to see these people again. Surviving soldiers were among the attendees. The intelligence they gathered was coveted by higher commanda postwar Pentagon report ascribed more than half of the credible battlefield intelligence gathered in Europe to the Ritchie Boys. July 20, 2017, Martin Selling questions German prisoners near the front in France, 1944. Many of the 15,200 selected were Jewish soldiers who fled Nazi-controlled Germany, which was systematically killing Jews. But within a few months the government realized these so-called enemy aliens could be a valuable resource in the war. For 99-year-old Guy Stern, a German Jew whose entire family was killed by the Nazis, the Allies' victory over Hitler was the culmination of a public crusade and a private one as well. Jon Wertheim: This-- This is a remarkable story. I have some that were shot. And incredibly, they were responsible for most of the combat intelligence gathered on the Western Front. We had to-- we got a lot of German prisoners who were willing to help us catalog all those documents. Many of the 15,200 selected were Jewish soldiers who fled Nazi-controlled Germany, which was systematically killing Jews. Victor Brombert: There were long and demanding exercises and close combat training. We were briefed that the Germans were not going to welcome us greatly. Jon Wertheim: How effective were they at gathering intelligence? His mother answered the door. Guy Stern: I was called to the company office and told you're shipping out. In trucks equipped with loudspeakers, Ritchie Boys went to the front lines under heavy fire, and tried, in German, to persuade their Nazi counterparts to surrender. And I gave myself the name Commissar Krukov. Eager to fight the Nazis, he, too joined the Army. And that's why civilians could be useful and soldiers could be useful, "where is the minefield?" Victor Brombert: What happened to one of the Ritchie Boys - at night on the way to the latrine, he was asked for a password and he gave the name - the word for the password - but with a German accent. But it gave me great deal of satisfaction.