438th AAA AW BN
Camp Edwards, Mass
Sept 27, 1943 1800
Dearest Wilma -
I have a little time right now so I thought I’d start a letter. If I mail this in the morning you’ll hear from me Wednesday.
Today was kind of mixed up. In the first place one of the teeth I had filled the other day, kicked up. I went over to the clinic & had an x-ray which showed trouble deep in the tooth. So bingo they started drilling and nearly took my head off. They’re draining the tooth and I’ll need more work on it. I never did get up to the hospital. Late in the a.m. I was scheduled for a sex lecture and I got back in time for it. (It was gruesome.)
Around noon I got the letter from you, dear, that I should have received Saturday. I wish I had received it then because I might have asked you a few questions. Gee dear – practically on the eve of coming home to see me you go out with a fellow whose company you enjoy so much? Now you know I understand about your going out, but do you have to have such a good time dear? He must like you in more than just a friendly way to arrange to meet you at the train. Who is he? I told you I was jealous, I guess, and I certainly was when I read your letter. Well I had to tell you, darling, and I know you’ll tell me he’s just an old friend – as you’ve already implied, but remember – if I wrote something like going out for an evening, you’d think too, dear – wouldn’t you?
I’m waiting around to call you soon – so don’t go out, huh?
This p.m. an interesting thing turned up. It seems that the army is always presenting problems to me and leaves me with the decision to be made. An officer who used to be in our outfit – left it for the diplomatic service in Wash. That was about 10 weeks ago. His father was an Army officer & he, Bob, was born in Mexico, his mother being a native of Ecuador. He speaks French, Spanish and a couple of other languages fluently. Today he returned to Camp Edwards, called & left word for me to be around the area at 1500, that he had something very important to ask me. So I waited dear, and this is what he had to say: there’s a separate branch of the intelligence service, formed recently, to do highly technical saboteuring & demolition work in the theaters of war – European, N. African & Middle Eastern. The men travel in groups & for several groups there is one general director headquarters – in close collaboration with the Chief of Staff of the theater. For each headquarters – a medical officer is necessary, one with a knowledge of French and German. Without asking – while in Washington – he actually got permission to contact me – from the Surgeon General’s office, because he knew we were alerted. As it stands, I could get out of the 438th by just agreeing to go with this new group – but it has to be purely voluntary on my part. Talk about adventure, dear, boy! They train them to fly, jump from parachutes etc. A course is given in Wash. (about 1 mo.) and again when you arrive in the theater of choice. If I didn’t know you darling, and if I didn’t feel the way I do, if I didn’t love you, in other words – I think I’d sign up. I could tell my folks I was begin transferred. But darling – I want to come back to you and in ---
See, I told you I’d feel better after talking with you. I’ll miss not calling you dear whenever I want to. I wish I was like Myrus –
Your statement about crying, dear – made me think. Were you happy or sad? Or was it both? I don’t cry too easily but I’ll bet there’ll be times when I’ll feel like it, Sweetheart – you’ve changed me in such a short time. How did you do it? And if I care for you so much now – aren’t you afraid how much I’ll love you when I really can?
Late p.m. I drove down to Falmouth with Charlie. We both bought combination trench coat, overcoat, wind-breaker – fully equipped with hood & neck protection. I really didn’t need it what with a regular overcoat, trench coat & oil skin – but it looked nice. It’s a new army regulation coat and when I put it on with all accouterments – I look like the male counterpart of Tess of the Storm Country – and as I always say, next week “East Lynne”.
I’m looking forward to your letter, darling, and also to calling you tomorrow. I’ll do my best to get a decision for the Holidays. Excuse me, dear, won’t you – for what I wrote about Herb – I didn’t mean to be so sharp. So long for now darling and
I have a little time right now so I thought I’d start a letter. If I mail this in the morning you’ll hear from me Wednesday.
Today was kind of mixed up. In the first place one of the teeth I had filled the other day, kicked up. I went over to the clinic & had an x-ray which showed trouble deep in the tooth. So bingo they started drilling and nearly took my head off. They’re draining the tooth and I’ll need more work on it. I never did get up to the hospital. Late in the a.m. I was scheduled for a sex lecture and I got back in time for it. (It was gruesome.)
Around noon I got the letter from you, dear, that I should have received Saturday. I wish I had received it then because I might have asked you a few questions. Gee dear – practically on the eve of coming home to see me you go out with a fellow whose company you enjoy so much? Now you know I understand about your going out, but do you have to have such a good time dear? He must like you in more than just a friendly way to arrange to meet you at the train. Who is he? I told you I was jealous, I guess, and I certainly was when I read your letter. Well I had to tell you, darling, and I know you’ll tell me he’s just an old friend – as you’ve already implied, but remember – if I wrote something like going out for an evening, you’d think too, dear – wouldn’t you?
I’m waiting around to call you soon – so don’t go out, huh?
This p.m. an interesting thing turned up. It seems that the army is always presenting problems to me and leaves me with the decision to be made. An officer who used to be in our outfit – left it for the diplomatic service in Wash. That was about 10 weeks ago. His father was an Army officer & he, Bob, was born in Mexico, his mother being a native of Ecuador. He speaks French, Spanish and a couple of other languages fluently. Today he returned to Camp Edwards, called & left word for me to be around the area at 1500, that he had something very important to ask me. So I waited dear, and this is what he had to say: there’s a separate branch of the intelligence service, formed recently, to do highly technical saboteuring & demolition work in the theaters of war – European, N. African & Middle Eastern. The men travel in groups & for several groups there is one general director headquarters – in close collaboration with the Chief of Staff of the theater. For each headquarters – a medical officer is necessary, one with a knowledge of French and German. Without asking – while in Washington – he actually got permission to contact me – from the Surgeon General’s office, because he knew we were alerted. As it stands, I could get out of the 438th by just agreeing to go with this new group – but it has to be purely voluntary on my part. Talk about adventure, dear, boy! They train them to fly, jump from parachutes etc. A course is given in Wash. (about 1 mo.) and again when you arrive in the theater of choice. If I didn’t know you darling, and if I didn’t feel the way I do, if I didn’t love you, in other words – I think I’d sign up. I could tell my folks I was begin transferred. But darling – I want to come back to you and in ---
1925
See, I told you I’d feel better after talking with you. I’ll miss not calling you dear whenever I want to. I wish I was like Myrus –
Your statement about crying, dear – made me think. Were you happy or sad? Or was it both? I don’t cry too easily but I’ll bet there’ll be times when I’ll feel like it, Sweetheart – you’ve changed me in such a short time. How did you do it? And if I care for you so much now – aren’t you afraid how much I’ll love you when I really can?
Late p.m. I drove down to Falmouth with Charlie. We both bought combination trench coat, overcoat, wind-breaker – fully equipped with hood & neck protection. I really didn’t need it what with a regular overcoat, trench coat & oil skin – but it looked nice. It’s a new army regulation coat and when I put it on with all accouterments – I look like the male counterpart of Tess of the Storm Country – and as I always say, next week “East Lynne”.
I’m looking forward to your letter, darling, and also to calling you tomorrow. I’ll do my best to get a decision for the Holidays. Excuse me, dear, won’t you – for what I wrote about Herb – I didn’t mean to be so sharp. So long for now darling and
All my love
Greg
* TIDBIT *
about The Ritchie Boys
CLICK ON PICTURE TO ENLARGE
Camp Ritchie Headquarters Building
about The Ritchie Boys
CLICK ON PICTURE TO ENLARGE
Camp Ritchie Headquarters Building
Greg mentioned being asked to join a "separate branch of the intelligence service..." It is now known that the service he was invited to join later became known as "The Ritchie Boys". While Greg was not a German immigrant, he was fluent in French and German, having graduated from Boston Latin School in 1929, and having partially majored in German Language and Literature at Harvard University, Class of 1933. He mentioned that the course was given in Washington... but not that it was happening at Camp Ritchie.
Dave Roos's post, "How the Ritchie Boys, Secret Refugee Infiltrators, Took on the Nazis" (19 January, 2023) on How Stuff Works, tells a comprehensive story of The Ritchie Boys. Some of it is extracted here:
Stanley Carnarius, a Ritchie Boy, describes his experience in this YouTube video, posted by the American Veteran Center, whose purpose is to guard the legacies and honor the sacrifices of all American veterans through oral history preservation, educational programs and civic events.
Historian Dr. Beverley Driver Eddy compiled this list of Ritchie Boys who went on to be involved in various fields such as the arts, politics, science, academia, and technology. It was posted (without sound) on YouTube by The Ritchie History Museum.
Dave Roos's post, "How the Ritchie Boys, Secret Refugee Infiltrators, Took on the Nazis" (19 January, 2023) on How Stuff Works, tells a comprehensive story of The Ritchie Boys. Some of it is extracted here:
During World War II, the U.S. Army recruited and trained a secret army of nearly 20,000 intelligence officers at a site called Camp Ritchie in rural Maryland. The "Ritchie Boys," as they're known today, weren't your average American soldiers — they represented 70 different nationalities and spoke many different languages... The best-known Ritchie Boys were 2,800 Jewish refugees from Germany and Austria who fled the Holocaust, then heroically returned to Europe as American soldiers... In April 1942, the U.S. Army converted a Maryland National Guard site into Camp Ritchie, a dedicated military intelligence training center. From the start, the Army sought out recruits with foreign language skills, particularly the languages of their enemies. Of the nearly 20,000 trainees who passed through Camp Ritchie, about 60 percent were American-born.
For eight weeks, Camp Ritchie recruits learned how to extract information from captured POWs, write propaganda pamphlets to drop behind enemy lines, analyze reconnaissance photos and kill the enemy in hand-to-hand combat, if necessary. To complete their training, Ritchie Boys were shipped off to England to learn advanced intelligence techniques. As newly minted intelligence officers, Ritchie Boys were embedded in every American military branch and unit, and they fought in every major WWII battle from the D-Day invasion of Normandy to the Battle of the Bulge to Iwo Jima.
The Ritchie Boys conducted tens of thousands of interrogations of both enemy soldiers and civilians. In fighting the Nazis, one of the Ritchie Boys' most important contributions was something called "The Order of Battle of the German Army" aka the "Red Book." Using captured German documents, the Ritchie Boys assembled a continuously updated master list of every Nazi unit in Europe — its leadership structure, its troop numbers, its battle history, etc. According to a U.S. Army report published in 1946, the Ritchie Boys were responsible for gathering 60 percent of all actionable battlefield intelligence in WWII. Of the nearly 20,000 Ritchie Boys who served in WWII, around 140 were killed in action, including at the costly landings at Normandy and Iwo Jima. Ritchie Boys earned more than 65 Silver Star Medals and countless Bronze Star Medals for their heroic service.
For eight weeks, Camp Ritchie recruits learned how to extract information from captured POWs, write propaganda pamphlets to drop behind enemy lines, analyze reconnaissance photos and kill the enemy in hand-to-hand combat, if necessary. To complete their training, Ritchie Boys were shipped off to England to learn advanced intelligence techniques. As newly minted intelligence officers, Ritchie Boys were embedded in every American military branch and unit, and they fought in every major WWII battle from the D-Day invasion of Normandy to the Battle of the Bulge to Iwo Jima.
The Ritchie Boys conducted tens of thousands of interrogations of both enemy soldiers and civilians. In fighting the Nazis, one of the Ritchie Boys' most important contributions was something called "The Order of Battle of the German Army" aka the "Red Book." Using captured German documents, the Ritchie Boys assembled a continuously updated master list of every Nazi unit in Europe — its leadership structure, its troop numbers, its battle history, etc. According to a U.S. Army report published in 1946, the Ritchie Boys were responsible for gathering 60 percent of all actionable battlefield intelligence in WWII. Of the nearly 20,000 Ritchie Boys who served in WWII, around 140 were killed in action, including at the costly landings at Normandy and Iwo Jima. Ritchie Boys earned more than 65 Silver Star Medals and countless Bronze Star Medals for their heroic service.
Stanley Carnarius, a Ritchie Boy, describes his experience in this YouTube video, posted by the American Veteran Center, whose purpose is to guard the legacies and honor the sacrifices of all American veterans through oral history preservation, educational programs and civic events.
Historian Dr. Beverley Driver Eddy compiled this list of Ritchie Boys who went on to be involved in various fields such as the arts, politics, science, academia, and technology. It was posted (without sound) on YouTube by The Ritchie History Museum.
