Ritchie Boys Wiki - User contributions [en]

Site changelog

2026-09-17T03:32:39Z

Admin: Log Settle Early G-2 PDF

This page records '''site-level''' changes: new features, layout and tooling, directory structure, and major content systems. It is '''not''' a log of edits to individual soldier biographies (use [[Special:RecentChanges]] for those).

Newest entries first. When we change how the wiki works, add a dated bullet here.

== How to update this page ==
* Add a new dated heading (or bullets under today’s date) at the '''top''' of the changelog list below.
* Describe the feature or site change in plain language — not a file-by-file diff.
* Skip one-off soldier page corrections and routine data fixes unless they introduce a new site capability.
* Agents and maintainers: after a site feature ships to the live wiki, append it here in the same edit session when practical.

== Changelog ==

=== 16 September 2026 ===
* '''Settle Early G-2 account''' — Uploaded Lt. Col. Henry C. Settle’s 27 October 1944 ETOUSA G-2 organization interview (Fold3) to [[Training materials]]; Camp Ritchie graduate / European MITU / 29th Infantry Division staffing notes added to [[The Stories/Camp Ritchie Background|Camp Ritchie Background]].
* '''Nisei WAC translators''' — Enriched [[Hurt, Haruko (WAC)|Haruko Hurt]] (née Sugi; merged maiden-name duplicate) and [[Kato, Sue (WAC)|Sue Suzuko Kato]] from Wikipedia / Discover Nikkei; noted MISLS→PACMIRS “top twenty-one” assignment on [[Nisei and Pacific]] and [[Camp Ritchie]].
* '''MITU / Nisei redeployment training''' — [[Nisei and Pacific]] now summarizes July 1945 G-2 / Camp Ritchie records on Mobile Intelligence Training Units (demonstration teams, 442nd veterans, WRA concerns), with NARA PDFs from a JAVA packet; linked from [[Camp Ritchie]].
* '''EEIS monograph''' — Added the Signal Section history ''A Typical Enemy Equipment Intelligence Service'' (Detachment No. 9) as a PDF on [[Training materials]] (Camp Ritchie training + Ninth Army field work; Fold3 source).
* '''Passover at Camp Ritchie (1945)''' — New [[The Stories/Passover at Camp Ritchie (1945)|Stories]] page with Fold3 / JWB–USO documents for the first-night Seder (telegram, reports, program card).
* '''Camp Ritchie List of Directives''' — Personnel Section sheet (Pers. Sec. 214) uploaded to [[Training materials]] with a full transcription; linked from [[Camp Ritchie]].
* '''Camp Ritchie photos''' — Added wartime German-village training and late-1944 panoramic views on [[Photos]] and [[Camp Ritchie]] (filename captions; archival source not yet confirmed).
* '''Zekelman Holocaust Center oral histories''' — Added embeddable Zekelman interviews on [[Ritchie Boy Interviews]] for Fairbrook, Kosse, Lieberman, Michel, Norton, Schwarz, Stern (two parts), and Wachtel, with soldier-page cues and biography enrichments from the Center’s oral-history synopses.
* '''Internet Archive interview embeds''' — [[Ritchie Boy Interviews]] can play Internet Archive oral histories with click-to-play embeds (first: Robert A. Potash / Yiddish Book Center).
* '''Books — Olderman memoir''' — [[Books]] now lists Murray Olderman's ''A Year Apart: Letters from War-Torn Europe''.
* '''Infobox fields trimmed + Other class expanded''' — Soldier infoboxes no longer show Education, Spouse/marital, Occupation, State, Certificate, Arrived/Departed, or Years of service (NARA/roster snapshots stay in the Technical record). Roster '''Other class''' codes expand to readable names (e.g. SC8 → Special Course 8, DC36 → Division Class 36, MITU4 → Mobile Intelligence Training Unit 4).
* '''Aviary interview embeds''' — [[Ritchie Boy Interviews]] can play Milken Archive / Aviary oral histories with click-to-play embeds (first: Hugo D. Weisgall).
* '''Site link preview image''' — Homepage Open Graph / chat previews use the Ritchie Boys Wiki logo (same as the top-left site mark) instead of the MediaWiki “powered by” footer graphic.
* '''About the data — AI wording''' — Clarified that AI-assisted biographies are drafted from curated person-specific sources (profile text, newspapers, obituaries, family packets, research notes), not from open-web search, and still do not certify accuracy.
* '''Multi-person gallery photos''' — When a photo caption names two or more Ritchie Boys, the same file is added to each matched soldier’s Gallery with roster links in the caption (not only on the packet owner’s page).
* '''Ellen Kaufmann Boucher interview''' — Added her 1995 Canandaigua cable testimony to [[Ritchie Boy Interviews]] with a biographical blurb and soldier-page cue.
* '''Interview watchlist bios''' — New or newly found video/audio testimonies go on [[Ritchie Boy Interviews]] with a short biographical blurb before the player (not title-and-embed only).
* '''SoundCloud interview embeds''' — [[Ritchie Boy Interviews]] can play SoundCloud audio (click-to-play) the same way as YouTube videos; first entry is Alfred Goodwin’s 1986 OJMCHE oral history.
* '''Class section casing''' — Soldier infobox section codes use uppercase letters (e.g. 4C, not 4c); existing lowercase values normalized sitewide.
* '''Film synopsis link''' — [[Documentaries/Movies]] links the Bauer film site’s [https://ritchieboys.com/EN/story.html official synopsis] (© TANGRAM 2004).
* '''FOCUS press report''' — [[Documentaries/Movies]] links Christian Bauer’s May 2004 ''FOCUS'' English report ([https://ritchieboys.com/DL/focus-en.pdf At War Against Their Home Country]) and the film-site press reviews page.
* '''Main Page disclaimer''' — Replaced the long Classes 1–31 roster block on the homepage with a short pointer to [[About the data]] (class-roster attribution stays on that page, Contents, and class pages).
* '''Documentary press photos''' — High-resolution portraits and stills from [https://ritchieboys.com/EN/press_photos.html the Bauer film press page] (© TANGRAM) uploaded with source credits; set on documentary soldiers’ profiles/galleries and a gallery on [[Documentaries/Movies]].
* '''Life in Camp Ritchie''' — [[The Stories/Life in Camp Ritchie]] gathers short attributed quotes from Bauer’s film (enemy-alien arrivals, the MITC “Total Confusion” joke, classroom and practice) linked from [[Camp Ritchie]] and [[Documentaries/Movies]].
* '''My Life as a Fish''' — [[The Stories/My Life as a Fish]] posts Camp Ritchie–related excerpts from Alfred G. Meyer’s autobiography (© 2000; shared by Vera Meyer via the Bauer film site), with a Full-story cue on his soldier page and a related link under [[Documentaries/Movies]].
* '''Documentaries related reading''' — [[Documentaries/Movies]] links Henry Schwab’s 2005 ''Israel Philatelist'' Camp Ritchie mail article (PDF on the Bauer film site) under ''The Ritchie Boys''.

=== 15 September 2026 ===
* '''Place format standard''' — Soldier infobox birth/death places use `City, Country` abroad (e.g. Berlin, Germany) and `City, State` in the U.S. with no `US`/`USA`/`U.S.` suffix (e.g. Detroit, Michigan). Sitewide normalize pass applied for known cities, state abbreviations, and country-suffix cleanup.
* '''Documentary boys bios''' — Profiles for the ten soldiers featured on [https://ritchieboys.com/EN/boys.html The Ritchie Boys film site] were enriched from those biographies (vitals, wartime narrative, Sources cites).

=== 14 September 2026 ===
* '''No more “Related media” above the lead''' — Story and interview cues on soldier pages (“Full story”, etc.) no longer get wrapped in a “Related media” heading near the top of the article. Those cues keep their own labels under the lead.
* '''Training materials library''' — New [[Training materials]] page for Camp Ritchie / MITC manuals and other camp-wide PDFs (not soldier OCR). Logged-in editors can upload from the page; files appear in the Library list. Linked from Media and [[Camp Ritchie]]. Upload limit raised to about 120 MB for large manuals. The Library list is stored on [[Training materials/Library]] so hub-page edits do not wipe uploads.
* '''Short URLs''' — Article links use `https://ritchieboys.org/wiki/Page_title` (Wikipedia-style) instead of long `index.php?title=` addresses. Old links still work.
* '''Quiet anti-vandalism (AbuseFilter)''' — Automatic blocks for emptying established articles, anonymous multi-link spam dumps, and tiny new spam pages. Normal logged-in editing and Sources cites stay easy; no email-confirm gate.
* '''Mobile polish''' — Soldier pages show compact Edit / Draft buttons on phones (less help text above the bio). Wide tables scroll sideways; Drive and Contact embeds are shorter; the Main Page find box no longer flashes the “Open search” fallback when JavaScript is available.
* '''Mobile find box + hamburger''' — Main Page “Find a soldier” is a normal-height field on phones (no more tall square input). The Minerva hamburger adds Contents, Start here, Stories, Classes, and other site hubs alongside Home / Recent changes.
* '''Mobile site (Wikipedia-style)''' — Phones automatically get the Minerva mobile skin via MobileFrontend (same approach as Wikipedia). Desktop stays the classic Vector layout.

=== 13 September 2026 ===
* '''OCR handwriting cost guard''' — Checking '''Handwriting / hard scan''' still runs free RapidOCR first; paid LLM vision is used only when that preliminary quality score is weak. Clear print that was checked by mistake no longer bills a vision call.
* '''Site-wide OCR enrichment''' — Document OCR proposes infobox facts and a short woven biography draft (not raw OCR lines), with Sources on Apply. Printed pages stay on RapidOCR; '''Handwriting / hard scan''' uses the site LLM vision model when `RITCHIE_LLM_API_KEY` is set. [[Contribute documents]] and Gallery OCR are framed as profile enrichers; multi-person team rosters remain a preset.
* '''Pre-launch family UX''' — [[Contribute]] leads with a five-step photo path and uses '''Biography''' (not Life); Participate sidebar adds [[Contact Us]] and drops Random page; empty search / Main Page find point to “name not found” help; [[About]] and [[Patrol]] add corrections/privacy guidance; [[Photos]] and [[Contact Us]] lead with open-in-new-window links when embeds fail; mobile CSS for find box and embeds.
* '''Live Teammates lists''' — The Teammates box on soldier pages now loads other members live from each `Category:Team …` (same source as the team page roster). Adding `|ipw_ge=` / team fields on one profile updates that soldier’s box immediately and shows them on teammates’ pages on the next view—no roster-module rebuild.
* '''One Start here hub''' — [[Start here]] now covers both first-time visitors (story path) and families (find name → roster fields → photo/obituary). The short-lived [[For families]] page was removed (not kept as a redirect). Main Page uses a single “Start here” strip; Participate sidebar drops the duplicate family entry. Unused [[Directory]] alias redirect to Contents was deleted too.
* '''Class pages merged into categories''' — Dates, graduation counts, and specialties now sit on [[:Category:Class 1]]–[[:Category:Class 31]] above the roster list. Short [[Class 1]]-style stubs redirect there; soldier infobox class links go straight to the category.
* '''Still needed checklist removed''' — The automatic thin-profile “Still needed” box on soldier pages is gone.
* '''Discovery & theme hubs''' — [[Start here]] path for new readers; Main Page premise strip (later merged into Start here); new Themes galleries ([[Nisei and Pacific]], [[Nuremberg and postwar justice]], [[Military governors]], [[Iwo Jima Marines]]); [[Awards faces]]; [[By specialty]]; Books memoir/history/novel filters; Photos identify workflow; Class 1/10 story blurb on class pages.

=== 12 September 2026 ===
* '''Books page — profile memoirs''' — [[Books]] adds memoirs, letter collections, and related titles found on soldier profiles (Selling, Sigmond, Hargrove, Dolibois, Walters, Lord, Potash, Botsford, Bailey, Edel, Delnore, Cane, Seltzer, Bodlander, Edwards, Rockefeller, Friede, Warfield) plus Jacobs and Lerner novels not previously listed.
* '''Topic pages within one hop of the sidebar''' — Navigation rule: every public topic article is on the sidebar or linked from a sidebar hub (not discovery-only via Contents). Legacy [[The Patricia Crane Story]] now redirects to [[The Stories/The Patricia Crane Story]]; [[Facebook OCR review]] is linked from [[Contribute documents]] and [[Patrol]].
* '''Media in the sidebar''' — New '''Media''' section links [[Books]], [[Documentaries/Movies]], [[Ritchie Boy Interviews]], [[Photos]], and [[Ritchie Boy Programs]] (previously only under [[Contents]] / Site pages).
* '''Camp Ritchie WAC Association (1954 reunion)''' — [[Ritchie WACs]] notes the July 1954 Hagerstown reunion that organized the Camp Ritchie WAC Association ([[Massaro, Frances M. (A701441)|Frances Massaro]] and committee), from the ''Hagerstown Morning Herald'' via Dan Gross’s misc research files.
* '''French awards on the ribbon rack''' — Soldier profiles that document the French Croix de Guerre or French Legion of Honor now show those decorations in the Awards and honors ribbon rack (not only in notes or an incomplete awards line), with matching ribbon images.
* '''Hide merged-duplicate roster titles in search''' — Find-a-soldier suggestions, header search suggestions, and Special:Search no longer surface retired pages titled <code>… (merged duplicate)</code> (Cargo-blocked duplicate ASN stubs).
* '''Camp Ritchie — Wikipedia Camp Ritchie section''' — [[Camp Ritchie]] adds wartime POW compounds, the late-war Hill Project (German POW research), Nisei women / PACMIRS linguists, and activation of the 3rd Mobile Radio Broadcasting Company at Ritchie (29 December 1943), with Sources cites (Wikipedia Camp Ritchie section, Mallett, JAVA).

=== 11 September 2026 ===
* '''Camp Ritchie Faculty hub''' — [[Camp Ritchie Faculty]] lists the Gross “first 13” staff/faculty with face cards, section legend (I–X), and a roster table; linked from the Reading sidebar, [[Camp Ritchie]], and [[Introduction]].
* '''Camp Ritchie faculty (Gross “first 13”)''' — Staff and faculty names from Dan Gross’s private faculty spreadsheet published or enriched on soldier profiles (section roles, ranks, arrival notes; Legion of Merit racks where listed), with descriptive Sources citations; [[About the data]] notes the layer.
* '''Awards labels under ribbons''' — When ribbon images and award labels match cell-for-cell, names render in the same rack as the ribbons so each label stays centered under its image (fixes uneven two-award rows such as Silver Star + Croix de Guerre).
* '''Ritchie WACs spreadsheet import''' — Soldier profiles created or enriched from Dan Gross and Beverley Driver Eddy’s Camp Ritchie WAC roster spreadsheet (card types, ranks, assignments, notes; Sources credit both researchers). [[Ritchie WACs]] roster refreshed.
* '''About the data — WAC roster''' — [[About the data]] now documents the Gross–Eddy WAC spreadsheet as its own research layer (incomplete list, card codes, Sources credit, file not uploaded).
* '''About the data — layer order''' — Compilation subsections on [[About the data]] are listed roughly in the order those layers were added to the wiki (seed roster → Facebook → OCR/AI → timeline enrichment → WAC spreadsheet).

=== 10 September 2026 ===
* '''OCR review queue extras''' — '''Preview Apply''' shows planned soldier-page changes before writing. ASN matching tries padded/stripped ASN forms and title hits. Multi-person enrich results are cached on the job. Old applied/discarded jobs are pruned automatically. Facebook OCR candidates (70–79%) can be seeded into [[Contribute documents]] for human review without re-running the engine (`python scripts/seed_fb_ocr_review_jobs.py`).
* '''OCR soft-launch hardening''' — Document previews load through the wiki (not the loopback OCR port), so reviewers off localhost can see the scan. Dates and ranks are normalized before Apply; long PDFs warn when truncated at 8 pages. The Contribute documents queue shows who uploaded, age, match counts, and “Only mine / Ready / In progress” filters. Apply can optionally write selected notes into Research notes, checkpoints each soldier page so a failed mass roster Apply can resume, and soldier-page uploads can mark “multi-person roster” (or rebuild into roster mode from Advanced).

=== 6 September 2026 ===
* '''Interview and documentary watchlist''' — [[Ritchie Boy Interviews]] is a watchlist: pick a soldier, play the video on the wiki, then follow '''Watch next''' (same person or the next talk). Matching soldier profiles show an '''Interview''' and/or '''On film''' cue. [[Documentaries/Movies]] embeds trailers and lists confirmed Ritchie Boys in Bauer’s film (from the 2004 ''Variety'' review) and Karl Goldsmith in ''About Face''. The soldier index and interview cards sort by the name readers see (not the roster title), so changed names use forms such as '''Karl Goldsmith / Karl Goldschmidt''' and file under G rather than Smith.
* '''OCR roster table''' — On [[Contribute documents]], a multi-person scan is a table: person on the document, matched soldier page, and the change that would be written on that profile. Rank/role/ASN stay labeled as scan identity. A top list names each wiki page Apply would edit (or says nothing will be written).
* '''Multi-person OCR for any roster''' — Special orders (SO 103, 125, 135, and similar) no longer need a matching layout preset. OCR finds people from ASNs plus nearby name/rank lines, including fractured column scans, then uses the same person → wiki page → profile-change review.

=== 4 September 2026 ===
* '''OCR review redesign''' — Document OCR review is person-first: each person on a roster is a card with three clear blocks (who is on the scan → which wiki page → what changes on their profile). For team documents the default write is only Team membership; ASN/rank/role stay as matching cues unless you open “Also update other fields.” A live '''What will change on soldier pages''' list names the page and the update before Apply. Expert controls stay under '''Advanced'''.
* '''Multi-person OCR apply polish''' — Team-roster and transfer-order uploads on [[Contribute documents]] keep gallery attach off by default, cite “team roster mass apply” on each updated Sources section, and the review toolbar uses '''Select all matched''' / '''Deselect unresolved''' with one match picker per person.

=== 3 September 2026 ===
* '''Multi-person OCR (team rosters first)''' — From [[Contribute]] documents, OCR can detect many people on one scan across common layouts: numbered IPW Team special orders (e.g. SO 135 / SO 145), MITC role tables without team numbers (SO 103), and surname-first group lists (SO 125). Review is grouped by person, matches by ASN when possible, can infer a missing team number from teammates already on the wiki, and Apply can add team membership to each matched soldier’s infobox (Team pages update via categories). Other document types can plug into the same multi-person review flow later.
* '''Smarter document OCR review''' — Upload & OCR now extracts more infobox fields (nativity, religion, unit, awards, enlistment cues), groups proposals (infobox / biography / notes), skips fields already on the page by default, OCRs multi-page PDFs with a page picker, shows progress with cancel, resumes from the Contribute documents queue, suggests a document-type preset and gallery caption, and warns when the name or ASN on the scan may not match the profile.

=== 2 September 2026 ===
* '''Find a soldier suggestions''' — The Main Page find box now shows matching soldier titles as you type (name or ASN), like the header search.
* '''By The Numbers showcase''' — [[By The Numbers]] is now a visual summary (headline class, graduate, and award figures) with deep links into the existing student-numbers, eight-week schedule, curriculum, specialties, and awards tables — not only a link list.
* '''By birth country''' — New [[By birth country]] directory: browse soldiers by roster nativity (Germany, Austria, United States, and other cleaned country categories), with a live category tree under [[:Category:Nativity]]. Linked from the Directory sidebar, [[Contents]], [[Themes]], and [[For families]].
* '''Start here for families''' — New [[For families]] path: find a name, understand roster fields (ASN, class, team, research notes, unconfirmed banner), then add a photo or obituary. Linked from the Main Page find box, How to help, and the Participate sidebar.
* '''Site CSS on Preferences / login''' — Wider sidebar and other [[MediaWiki:Common.css]] styles now load on restricted special pages (Preferences, User login, create account, etc.), matching article pages.
* '''Theme face galleries''' — Browseable galleries listed from a single [[Themes]] hub in the sidebar Directory: [[Refugees who enlisted]], [[Postwar intelligence careers]], [[Inventors and artists]], [[Congressional Gold Medal faces]], [[Ritchie WACs]] (face cards + roster), and the Bulge faces section. Portrait cards with short sourced blurbs — not new essays; curated and expandable.
* '''Battle of the Bulge face gallery''' — [[Secret Heroes/Battle of the Bulge]] opens with a browseable portrait gallery of Ritchie Boys with a clear sourced link to the Ardennes offensive (warnings, combat, or contemporaneous intelligence work), above Dan Gross’s essay. Curated and expandable; not a complete roster.
* '''Story hubs and teammates rails''' — Person essays on [[The Stories]] open with a soldier-profile card; matching profiles show a '''Full story''' cue. Soldier pages with a known team assignment show a '''Teammates''' list (other soldiers on the same roster, with a link to the full team page).
* '''Weekly featured portraits''' — Main Page “Featured Ritchie Boys” rotates automatically from a curated [[Featured pool]] (administrator-only edit list). Editors change who can appear by editing that pool page; the Main Page does not need weekly hand-edits.
* '''Pre-launch hardening''' — Production mode now challenges anonymous edits with non-obvious CAPTCHA questions, rate-limits anon edits, and turns off anonymous <code>writeapi</code>. The OCR review service binds to localhost only. Soft-launch sitenotice reminds readers that research notes are leads; FAQ and footer disclaimers point to [[About the data]].
* '''Multiple teams in the soldier infobox''' — The Military service block now shows a single '''Team''' / '''Teams''' row that links every known assignment: roster IPW German/Italian fields, optional <code>|teams=</code> (semicolon-separated, e.g. <code>MII 439-G</code>), and team codes already present in Research notes. Example: IPW 69 and MII 439-G both appear as links instead of only the roster IPW line.
* '''Classes 1–31 roster attribution''' — [[About the data]], [[Template:Class data disclaimer]], and [[Contribute]] now describe the museum’s role as digitizing and making available public-domain National Archives Classes 1–31 roster records (not ownership or a reproduction ban). Cite Camp Ritchie Museum, Inc. / The Ritchie History Museum as the digitization source.

=== 1 September 2026 ===
* '''Ritchie WACs''' — New [[Ritchie WACs]] reading-list page listing soldiers whose roster certificate field is WAC; more background and names to follow.
* '''Soldier duplicate merge and redirect cleanup''' — Confirmed duplicate profiles (e.g. Van Loon, Habe-Bekessy) are merged onto canonical titles with no case-variant redirects; 123 leftover hyphen/apostrophe redirects were removed. Import and title-move scripts now use `noredirect` by default.
* '''Multi-document timeline merge''' — The timeline pipeline now merges facts from multiple Dan Gross research files per soldier (including supplemental filename-matched documents), recovers dated events from conversion excerpts, invalidates truncated legacy Word conversions, and inserts a Biography section when a profile lacked one. Major identity conflicts remain gated; republished profiles retain existing Stories and Facebook biographies.

=== 30 August 2026 ===
* '''Comprehensive timeline enrichment''' — Private Dan Gross timeline files are now processed with narrative extraction for education, careers, legal/government roles, publications, organizations, and major life events; equivalent claims retain provenance, major identity conflicts are gated, unreadable files are reported, and public profile enrichment preserves existing biographies while citing the selected findings.
* '''Timeline spacing repair''' — Timeline disclosures place their first event below the left-aligned expand control instead of letting the text overlap the button.
* '''Timeline and award presentation''' — Timeline research sections are collapsible with a left-aligned expand control, research notes are consolidated at the bottom of profiles, and supported awards can display matching ribbon images with their award names.
* '''Class-data attribution''' — [[About the data]] and the class-data disclaimer now clearly distinguish the Classes 1–31 material supplied by Camp Ritchie Museum, Inc. / The Ritchie History Museum from Dan Gross’s research spreadsheets and notes, and state the museum’s reproduction restriction.
* '''Additive timeline enrichment''' — Timeline imports retain existing profile biographies and data while adding clear new events to the appropriate profile sections.

=== 29 August 2026 ===
* '''Dan Gross timeline research policy''' — [[About the data]] now explains how the private Word-document timelines are reviewed, matched, privacy-screened, and cited descriptively without uploading the original documents.

=== 28 August 2026 ===
* '''Expanded Facebook OCR review queue''' — [[Facebook OCR review]] now preserves the applied ≥80% report while listing all 233 document candidates from 100% down to the lowest available 27%, grouped into confidence bands with soldier links, exact File links, concise document summaries, and OCR evidence. The queue is review-only; lower-confidence findings are not applied to profiles. Re-run: `python scripts/generate_fb_ocr_review_page.py`.

=== 26 August 2026 ===
* '''Soldier contribute box (upload + OCR)''' — Collapsed '''Add photos or OCR a document''' control directly under the Gallery heading on every profile (heading added if missing). Upload + OCR stay in the text column beside the infobox — no more full-width clear that left blank gaps on short pages. Site-wide OCR inbox on [[Contribute documents]] unchanged.
* '''Facebook OCR incorporate (≥80%)''' — High-confidence document OCR findings applied to soldier pages (empty rank fields for enlisted grades only; Research notes for document dates/cues). Review summary: [[Facebook OCR review]]. Full checklist: `import/facebook_posts/enrichments/FB_OCR_REVIEW.md`.
* '''Document OCR + review''' — Logged-in users can upload a document from a soldier page or from [[Contribute documents]]; the site OCRs it and shows proposed facts for human review. Nothing is written to profiles until '''Apply''' (requires the <code>ocr-reviewer</code> group or an admin). Staging files are not published automatically. Docker service: <code>ocr-review</code> on port 8090.
* '''Facebook photo OCR (pilot → full review)''' — OCR pipeline with confidence % for document-like Facebook gallery images; pilot facts applied to Atchley, Hauboldt, and Hauser. Full-run review checklist (numbered): `import/facebook_posts/enrichments/FB_OCR_REVIEW.md` (+ `.json` / `.csv`). Re-run: `python scripts/fb_photo_ocr_pilot.py --all`. Incorporate by telling the agent item numbers or soldier names.
* '''Facebook photo OCR (pilot)''' — Script to OCR document-like Facebook gallery images, extract dates/ranks/ASN/class cues, and write a review report (no auto-edits to soldier pages). Pilot: `python scripts/fb_photo_ocr_pilot.py --pilot`. Reports: `import/facebook_posts/enrichments/FB_OCR_PILOT_REPORT.md`, `FB_OCR_PILOT.json`. Requires `pip install rapidocr-onnxruntime pillow`.
* '''About the data (disclaimer)''' — Expanded how site information is compiled: Dan Gross research files, NARA and census merges, Facebook imports, family and contributor submissions, AI-assisted summaries and cleanup, and open wiki editing—with explicit limits on accuracy. Class roster / museum reproduction language kept in [[Template:Class data disclaimer]].
* '''Facebook biography curation (batch 2)''' — Hand-curated biographies for the remaining ~26 Facebook-enriched soldier pages that still had roster dumps, birthday-post voice, gallery stubs, or cross-post fragments (IPW Team 34 roster, Lewy/Bergman family posts, etc.). Re-run: `python scripts/apply_remaining_bio_fixes.py`. Report: `import/facebook_posts/enrichments/BIO_REMAINING_FIX_REPORT.md`.
* '''Facebook gallery captions''' — Restored truncated photo captions (e.g. identifications cut off at “Lt.”), stripped “Update: Stephen Goodell shared…” / “Thanks to…” Facebook framing, and wiki-linked other Ritchie Boys named in lineup captions. Re-run: `python scripts/fix_facebook_gallery_captions.py`. Report: `import/facebook_posts/enrichments/GALLERY_CAPTION_FIX_REPORT.md`.
* '''Infobox nativity / religion / branch''' — Nativity stays as country of birth (Germany, Austria, …), not adjectives. Religion roster codes expand fully (e.g. Qu → Quaker); blank placeholders like “Not stated” are hidden. Roster arm/service values (Field Artillery, Signal Corps, Cavalry, …) no longer appear as Branch — Branch is the service (usually United States Army) and those values show under '''Arm / service'''.
* '''Facebook-ported bios (final cleanup)''' — One pass across all Facebook-enriched soldier pages: restore biographies that earlier voice-scrubbing had emptied, scrub remaining Facebook voice safely (never wipe a bio when source facts exist), and dedupe identical gallery images. Fixed Biography-section editing so an empty bio can no longer swallow Research notes / Gallery. Re-run: `python scripts/fix_facebook_ported_bios.py`. Report: `import/facebook_posts/enrichments/BIO_FIX_FINAL_REPORT.md`.
* '''Facebook biography voice scrub''' — Swept ported Facebook soldier biographies to plain third-person summaries: removed “I’m saddened…”, holiday/family-forward framing, “Thanks to…”, “Attached is…”, “Wiki profile records list…”, and similar page voice. Gallery captions with Facebook update language were neutralized. Review: `import/facebook_posts/enrichments/BIO_VOICE_SWEEP_REPORT.md`.
* '''Draft opening summary''' — The editor draft tool now reads the '''Biography''' section (not only a heading named Life) and builds a fuller multi-sentence lead from personal details plus bio prose when no AI key is configured.
* '''Opening summaries (full dates)''' — Soldier opening blurbs use full birth/death dates when known (e.g. `(21 June 1924 – 15 April 1945)`), falling back to years only when that is all the roster has — same idea as Wikipedia.

=== 25 August 2026 ===
* '''Facebook profile enrichments''' — Published Facebook-post writeups onto matching soldier profiles (opening summary, biography, infobox fields when known, soldier portrait when suitable, extra images in Gallery, and dated Facebook sources). Skipped posts that were not primarily about the matched soldier. Other Ritchie Boys named in those bios/photo captions are wiki-linked when a clear roster match exists. Biographies framed as family inquiries, holiday posts, or first-person/opinion Facebook voice (“I believe…”, “have you ever heard…”, “more to follow”, “attached is a photo”, “family passed along…”) were rewritten as factual third-person bios. Where a biography named a birth/death city or full date but the infobox only had a country or year, those Born/Died fields were filled from the prose; document images used as profile photos (e.g. Hauboldt) were moved into Gallery. Certificate value '''NG''' (non-graduate marker) is hidden/cleared. Negative research notes (illness, excess absence, failure, etc.) are filtered from display and removed from pages. Review lists: `import/facebook_posts/enrichments/PUBLISHED_REVIEW.md`, `LINKED_MENTIONS_REPORT.md`, `BIO_REWRITE_REPORT.md`, `INFOBOX_FROM_BIO_REPORT.md`, and `BIO_NOTES_SCRUB_REPORT.md`.
* '''Navigation and discovery''' — Sidebar Reading is a shorter start-here list with [[Camp Ritchie]] added; secondary topic pages stay on [[Contents]] / Site pages. [[About]] is labeled “About this project” next to [[About the data]]. Special:Search reorders hits so title matches and site pages rise above research-notes noise. Main Page '''Featured Ritchie Boys''' links three fuller soldier profiles (Guy Stern, Ralph Baer, Eric Waldman) with equal-sized portrait thumbs.
* '''About (tone)''' — Rewrote [[About]] in a calmer wiki voice (dropped the ALL-CAPS work-in-progress banner); clarified how it differs from [[About the data]].
* '''Main Page polish''' — Find-a-soldier moved under the lead (TOC hidden); Secret Heroes tagline links to [[Introduction]]; quick links live inside the Find box (no separate Explore/Gold Medal blocks); Reading shortened to a start-here list.
* '''Camp Ritchie overview''' — Expanded [[Camp Ritchie]] with who trained there (including WACs and language selection), Camp Sharpe, Europe and Pacific/Nisei notes (with a link to [[Yamane, Kazuo E. (30101877)|Kazuo E. Yamane]]), Fort Ritchie closure and museum, plus light cross-links from [[FAQ]], [[Secret Heroes/Battle of the Bulge]], and [[The Stories/Camp Ritchie Background]].
* '''Page consolidation''' — Merged duplicate Camp Ritchie Background into [[The Stories/Camp Ritchie Background]] (both photos kept); folded Disclaimer into [[About the data]]; moved FAQ Camp Ritchie / military-records detail onto [[Camp Ritchie]] and [[Contact Us]] so FAQ points there without dropping wording.
* '''About''' — Added [[About]] (project background, Dan Gross legacy, ownership note, and copyright / museum disclaimer from theritchieboys.com).
* '''FAQ''' — Added [[FAQ]] (who the Ritchie Boys were, what Camp Ritchie was, and how to seek military records, with National Archives and Wikipedia links).
* '''Dan Gross Memorial''' — Added [[Dan Gross Memorial]] (tribute page for Daniel Gross, with portrait and biography from theritchieboys.com).
* '''Contact Us''' — Added [[Contact Us]] with the military-records note (National Archives link) and the embedded Google contact form from theritchieboys.com.
* '''Contributors''' — Added [[Contributors]] (Dan Gross’s project team bios and portraits, with soldier links for Guy Stern, Walter Lubran, and Kurt Kugelmann).
* '''Attribution notes''' — Removed redundant “adapted from theritchieboys.com” style wording from topic-page leads; kept real source cites (spreadsheets, Google Slides, authors).
* '''Photos''' — Added [[Photos]] with the National Archives / Signal Corps disclaimer, an embedded Google Drive grid album (Stephen Goodell collection), and the featured four-photo gallery with captions.
* '''Documentaries/Movies''' and '''Books''' — Added [[Documentaries/Movies]] (Bauer and Karras films with free-watch links) and [[Books]] (notable titles with Amazon links and covers).

=== 24 August 2026 ===
* '''Ritchie Boy Programs''' — Added [[Ritchie Boy Programs]] (talks and museum programs, with soldier links where matched).
* '''Ritchie Boy Interviews/Testimonies''' — Added [[Ritchie Boy Interviews]] (video interview list, with soldier links where matched).
* '''Symposium Presentation''' — Added [[Symposium Presentation]] from Dan Gross’s 2012 Camp Ritchie Symposium deck (documentary stars, select notables, WAC note, closing slides; 2012 class-count slide kept as historical presentation figures only).
* '''Reading order''' — Main Page Reading list and sidebar Reading links follow a consistent reading order (existing wiki pages plus coming-soon / external links for pages not imported yet). [[Notable Ritchie Boys]] sits under Directory with the roster.
* '''By The Numbers''' — Hub ([[By The Numbers]]) with [[By The Numbers/Student Numbers - All Classes]], [[By The Numbers/Eight Week Classes - Dates & Graduation Numbers]], [[By The Numbers/Eight Week Class Content]], [[By The Numbers/Eight Week Courses by Specialties]], and [[By The Numbers/Awards]] (Eddy tables/notes with copyright notices). Class 1–31 pages and soldier Camp Ritchie rows show eight-week class date ranges; matched award recipients get ribbon + awards-grid sections.
* '''Sidebar sections''' — Split the left nav into Navigation, Reading, Directory, and Participate portals (was one long list). Sidebar slightly widened so [[Congressional Gold Medal]] shows its full title.
* '''Notable Ritchie Boys gallery''' — Added [[Notable Ritchie Boys]], a single page of portrait+blurb cards from both Notable Ritchie Boys Google Slides decks (linked to soldier pages when matched).
* '''Site changelog''' — Added this page so feature work on the wiki has a chronological home ([[Site changelog]]); linked from the sidebar and related help pages.
* '''Awards and honors (Wikipedia-style)''' — Soldier pages can show a ribbon rack plus a labeled awards grid (multi-line cells, content-sized columns, short rows spanning full width, tiny gaps between ribbons), with extra award notes as bullets.
* '''Wikipedia notables import''' — Pipeline to enrich existing soldier profiles from English Wikipedia (infobox fields, biography sections, Commons portraits, ribbon uploads) without inventing new soldier pages.
* '''Contents directory layout''' — Classes, Teams, and Site pages lists on [[Contents]] use a compact three-column layout (same idea as category pages). Any page that embeds a category tree gets that layout from site CSS.
* '''Soldier page chrome''' — Awards block sits in the main column after Biography (not crushed in the infobox); table of contents stays near the top after the lead.

=== 21 August 2026 ===
* '''The Stories''' — Hub and essay pages for Camp Ritchie narratives and individual biographies.
* '''Congressional Gold Medal''' — [[Congressional Gold Medal]] page for the Ritchie Boys Gold Medal Act.
* '''Secret Heroes / Battle of the Bulge''' — [[Secret Heroes/Battle of the Bulge]] essay and navigation.

=== 20 August 2026 ===
* '''Introduction''' — [[Introduction]] (Dan Gross).
* '''Secret Heroes / First Class''' — [[Secret Heroes/First Class]] page with photo and roster links.
* '''Find a soldier''' — Main Page search by name or ASN.
* '''Patrol''' — [[Patrol]] guide for watching [[Special:RecentChanges]].
* '''Contribute / Patrol links''' — Sidebar links for editors.
* '''Draft opening summary''' — Optional tool to draft a short lead from personal details and the Life biography for review before saving.

=== 19 August 2026 ===
* '''Edit soldier facts''' — Form on soldier pages to edit structured infobox fields (including specialty) without raw wikitext.

=== 18 August 2026 ===
* '''Initial roster import''' — ~21,000 soldier pages titled <code>Surname, First (ASN)</code>, with infobox, research notes, sources, and categories by class, letter, and teams.
* '''Site shell''' — [[Main Page]], [[Contents]], [[Camp Ritchie]], [[Contribute]], [[About the data]], soldier template/module, and base CSS/JS/sidebar.
* '''Directory foundations''' — [[:Category:Classes]], [[:Category:Teams]], and [[:Category:Soldiers by letter]].

[[Category:Ritchie Boys Wiki]]

Nisei and Pacific

2026-09-17T03:32:36Z

Admin: Distinguish 1945 Pacific MITUs from earlier European Elyachar MITUs

{{DISPLAYTITLE:Nisei and Pacific}}
'''Nisei and Pacific''' gathers Japanese American (Nisei) soldiers and WACs tied on this wiki to Pacific document work, PACMIRS, or related Military Intelligence Service language training at [[Camp Ritchie]] — a story often missing from the popular “European interrogator” picture of the Ritchie Boys. English Wikipedia’s overview of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nisei_women_translators_in_World_War_II Nisei women translators in World War II] notes that the top twenty-one Japanese American women translator graduates from the Military Intelligence Service Language School (MISLS) were assigned to translate captured documents in the Pacific Military Intelligence Research Section (PACMIRS) at Camp Ritchie.

This is '''not''' a complete roster. Names appear when soldier pages on this wiki document the connection; more will be added as sources grow.

<div class="notable-slides">
<div class="notable-slide-card">
<div class="notable-slide-nophoto">No portrait yet</div>
<div class="notable-slide-body">
<div class="notable-slide-name">[[Yamane, Kazuo E. (30101877)|Kazuo E. Yamane]]</div>
<ul>
<li>Nisei document work / PACMIRS; identified Japanese armory notes from Saipan</li>
<li>Featured on [[Camp Ritchie]]</li>
</ul>
</div></div>
<div class="notable-slide-card">
<div class="notable-slide-nophoto">No portrait yet</div>
<div class="notable-slide-body">
<div class="notable-slide-name">[[Abe, Davis (36918429)|Davis Abe]]</div>
<div class="notable-slide-meta">[[Class 2|Class 2]]</div>
<ul>
<li>Nisei / Pacific intelligence connection on profile</li>
</ul>
</div></div>
<div class="notable-slide-card">
<div class="notable-slide-nophoto">No portrait yet</div>
<div class="notable-slide-body">
<div class="notable-slide-name">[[Moriyama, Charles H. (30107766)|Charles H. Moriyama]]</div>
<div class="notable-slide-meta">[[Class 29|Class 29]]</div>
<ul>
<li>Nisei soldier; Pacific / MIS connection on profile</li>
</ul>
</div></div>
<div class="notable-slide-card">
<div class="notable-slide-nophoto">No portrait yet</div>
<div class="notable-slide-body">
<div class="notable-slide-name">[[Wakai, Theodore Y. (30107713)|Theodore Y. Wakai]]</div>
<div class="notable-slide-meta">[[Class 29|Class 29]]</div>
<ul>
<li>Nisei soldier; Pacific / MIS connection on profile</li>
</ul>
</div></div>
<div class="notable-slide-card">
<div class="notable-slide-nophoto">No portrait yet</div>
<div class="notable-slide-body">
<div class="notable-slide-name">[[Hurt, Haruko (WAC)|Haruko Hurt]]</div>
<ul>
<li>née Sugi; MISLS → PACMIRS translator at Camp Ritchie (1945–1946)</li>
<li>Featured in ''Nisei women translators in World War II'' (Wikipedia)</li>
</ul>
</div></div>
<div class="notable-slide-card">
<div class="notable-slide-nophoto">No portrait yet</div>
<div class="notable-slide-body">
<div class="notable-slide-name">[[Iseri, Katherine (WAC)|Katherine Iseri]]</div>
<ul>
<li>Nisei WAC linguist roster entry</li>
</ul>
</div></div>
<div class="notable-slide-card">
<div class="notable-slide-nophoto">No portrait yet</div>
<div class="notable-slide-body">
<div class="notable-slide-name">[[Kahapea, Florence Kanashiro (WAC)|Florence Kanashiro Kahapea]]</div>
<ul>
<li>Nisei WAC linguist roster entry</li>
</ul>
</div></div>
<div class="notable-slide-card">
<div class="notable-slide-nophoto">No portrait yet</div>
<div class="notable-slide-body">
<div class="notable-slide-name">[[Kato, Sue (WAC)|Sue Suzuko “Susie” Kato]]</div>
<ul>
<li>née Ogata; among the first Nisei WAC volunteers (Dec 1943); MISLS → Camp Ritchie / PACMIRS</li>
<li>Featured in ''Nisei women translators in World War II'' (Wikipedia)</li>
</ul>
</div></div>
<div class="notable-slide-card">
<div class="notable-slide-nophoto">No portrait yet</div>
<div class="notable-slide-body">
<div class="notable-slide-name">[[Kono, Alice Tetsuko (WAC)|Alice Tetsuko Kono]]</div>
<ul>
<li>Nisei WAC linguist roster entry</li>
</ul>
</div></div>
<div class="notable-slide-card">
<div class="notable-slide-nophoto">No portrait yet</div>
<div class="notable-slide-body">
<div class="notable-slide-name">[[Mikami, Akiko (WAC)|Akiko Mikami]]</div>
<ul>
<li>Nisei WAC linguist roster entry</li>
</ul>
</div></div>
<div class="notable-slide-card">
<div class="notable-slide-nophoto">No portrait yet</div>
<div class="notable-slide-body">
<div class="notable-slide-name">[[Nishimura, Betty (WAC)|Betty Nishimura]]</div>
<ul>
<li>Nisei WAC linguist roster entry</li>
</ul>
</div></div>
<div class="notable-slide-card">
<div class="notable-slide-nophoto">No portrait yet</div>
<div class="notable-slide-body">
<div class="notable-slide-name">[[Oda, Trooda (WAC)|Trooda Oda]]</div>
<ul>
<li>Nisei WAC linguist roster entry</li>
</ul>
</div></div>
<div class="notable-slide-card">
<div class="notable-slide-nophoto">No portrait yet</div>
<div class="notable-slide-body">
<div class="notable-slide-name">[[Tsuchiyama, Tamie (WAC)|Tamie Tsuchiyama]]</div>
<ul>
<li>Nisei WAC linguist roster entry</li>
</ul>
</div></div>
<div class="notable-slide-card">
<div class="notable-slide-nophoto">No portrait yet</div>
<div class="notable-slide-body">
<div class="notable-slide-name">[[Yamashita, Hisako (WAC)|Hisako Yamashita]]</div>
<ul>
<li>Nisei WAC linguist roster entry</li>
</ul>
</div></div>
</div>

== Mobile Intelligence Training Units (MITU), 1945 ==
In mid-1945 the War Department also used Camp Ritchie to form '''Mobile Intelligence Training Units''' for Army Ground Forces '''redeployment''' training (troops being prepared for the Pacific). (Distinct from earlier European-theater Mobile Intelligence Training Units that demonstrated captured '''German''' equipment under Colonel Elyachar—see [[Training materials#Featured: Early ETOUSA G-2 organization (Settle, 1944)|Settle’s 1944 G-2 account]].) July 1945 G-2 memoranda (MID 908) state that '''29''' MITUs were being organized, trained, and equipped at the Military Intelligence Training Center. Each unit was described as two Caucasian officers, two Caucasian enlisted men, and about '''thirteen''' enlisted Americans of Japanese ancestry (an earlier draft of the same memo said fifteen).

MITU demonstrations presented Japanese squad tactics (Nisei in Japanese uniforms with Japanese weapons) and an orientation play (''A Scrap of Paper'') in which Nisei played Japanese roles and an American Nisei interrogator—explicitly framed as showing that Nisei in the U.S. Army were Americans like soldiers of any other ancestry. As of late July 1945, '''six''' units were already in the field and '''ten''' more were expected to finish training by '''15 August 1945'''. Some former members of the '''442nd Combat Team''' were among those training with the teams. Camp Ritchie Section IX policy (Maj. Robert B. Noack, 23 July 1945) stressed that Nisei were not kept on a team against their wishes; of the then-current ten teams, two Nisei enlisted men had been released for refusing to wear a Japanese uniform.

War Relocation Authority director D. S. Myer had forwarded concerns from 442nd circles that using Nisei as “enemy” stand-ins could increase racial antagonism; G-2 replied that the MITU “Japanese squad” was a '''demonstration team''', not the opposing force in maneuvers. Japan’s surrender ended the need to deploy the full MITU program. Site course counts list '''18''' MITU courses (1 September 1944 – 15 August 1945) with '''306''' graduates—see [[By The Numbers/Student Numbers - All Classes]]—a different tally from the “29 units being organized” language in the July memos.

== Sources ==
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nisei_women_translators_in_World_War_II English Wikipedia, ''Nisei women translators in World War II''] (MISLS → PACMIRS at Camp Ritchie; Hurt and Kato biographies)
* [[:File:MID_908_1945-07-24_Bissell_Weckerling_JA_soldiers_in_training.pdf|MID 908 file, 24 July 1945 (Bissell / Weckerling) and related Camp Ritchie / WRA papers]] — MITU organization, Section IX policy, WRA concerns (NARA RG 107; JAVA packet)
* [[:File:MID_908_1945-07-21_Bissell_JA_soldiers_in_training.pdf|MID 908 memorandum, 21 July 1945 (Bissell)]] — earlier draft wording on MITU / Nisei demonstration teams (NARA RG 165; JAVA packet)
* [[By The Numbers/Student Numbers - All Classes]] — MITU course/graduate counts from the Camp Ritchie student-numbers spreadsheet

== See also ==
* [[Themes]]
* [[Camp Ritchie]]
* [[By The Numbers/Student Numbers - All Classes]]
* [[Introduction]]
* [[The Stories]]
* [[Ritchie WACs]]
* [[Photos]]

[[Category:Ritchie Boys Wiki]]

Camp Ritchie

2026-09-17T03:32:35Z

Admin: Cite Settle Early G-2 ETOUSA account (Ritchie graduate staffing)

'''Camp Ritchie''' (the Military Intelligence Training Center, or MITC) was a U.S. Army intelligence school at Cascade in Washington County, Maryland, during World War II. From 1942 it trained interrogators, order-of-battle specialists, photo interpreters, and related personnel. Graduates are commonly called [[:Category:Soldiers|Ritchie Boys]].

== Overview ==
Located in Washington County, Maryland near the Pennsylvania border, the site began as a resort area in the late 1800s before becoming a Maryland National Guard training site in 1926. In 1942, during World War II, it was transformed into the U.S. Army’s Military Intelligence Training Center (MITC), formally activated on '''19 June 1942''' (cadre had begun arriving earlier). Soldiers trained there in interrogation, counterintelligence, investigation, and psychological warfare.

Camp Ritchie is best known as the training ground for the “Ritchie Boys,” a specialized group of intelligence soldiers—many of them European immigrants and refugees—whose language skills and cultural knowledge made them invaluable in gathering intelligence and supporting Allied operations. The camp’s mission, reflected in its motto “Fas es ab hoste doceri” (“It is a duty to study the enemy”), centered on understanding and defeating enemy forces through intelligence.

Today, Camp Ritchie is recognized for its critical role in shaping modern U.S. military intelligence and for preparing the Ritchie Boys, who contributed significantly to the Allied victory in World War II.

== Photographs ==
<gallery mode="packed" heights="180px">
Camp_Ritchie_replica_German_village_training.jpg|For realism, some training took place in a replica of a German village
Camp_Ritchie_panoramic_view_late_1944.jpg|Panoramic view of Camp Ritchie in late 1944
</gallery>
Captions from the source filenames; archival credit not yet verified (see [[Photos#Camp Ritchie]]).

== Who trained there ==
About '''20,000''' men and roughly '''2,000''' Women’s Army Corps (WAC) members trained for Army intelligence work at Camp Ritchie (about '''22,000''' in all). Many were assigned because they spoke German, French, Italian, Polish, or another language the Army needed. Some were German- or Austrian-born Jewish refugees who had fled Nazi persecution; others were U.S.-born soldiers whose language skills were discovered after they enlisted or were drafted and who arrived on secret orders.

Training covered interrogation, counterintelligence, order of battle, psychological warfare, and related skills. Many graduates later served in the U.S. Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC). About '''900''' also received specialized training at '''Camp Sharpe''' near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania (often linked to Mobile Radio Broadcasting / psychological-warfare work — see [[Books]] and [[Ritchie Boy Programs]]). The '''3rd Mobile Radio Broadcasting Company''' was activated at Camp Ritchie on '''29 December 1943'''; specialized MRBC training commonly continued at Camp Sharpe.

== In the field ==
=== Europe ===
After the United States entered the war against Germany, many Ritchie Boys reached Europe beginning around D-Day (6 June 1944) and in the months that followed. Working near the front at corps and army levels, they interrogated prisoners and defectors, tracked German units and plans, and supported psychological-warfare efforts (leaflets, radio, and related means) meant to weaken resistance.

A classified postwar U.S. Army assessment found that nearly '''60%''' of the credible intelligence gathered in the European theater came from the Ritchie Boys. After the war, many served as translators and interrogators at the Nuremberg trials.

General Oscar Koch (Patton’s G-2) is among those who later acknowledged that advance warning of the German Ardennes offensive drew on information from Military Intelligence Service units — a theme developed at length on [[Secret Heroes/Battle of the Bulge]]. A contemporary G-2 ETOUSA organizational account (Lt. Col. Henry C. Settle, October 1944) likewise stresses peacetime neglect of intelligence training and describes plans to place Camp Ritchie graduates into division G-2 slots (including a '''29th Infantry Division''' staffing plan); see [[The Stories/Camp Ritchie Background|Camp Ritchie Background]] and [[Training materials#Featured: Early ETOUSA G-2 organization (Settle, 1944)|Training materials]].

=== Pacific ===
Camp Ritchie also trained more than '''500''' Nisei (second-generation Japanese American) soldiers for document work connected with the Pacific war, including PACMIRS (Pacific Military Intelligence Research Section). '''Nisei women''' in the Military Intelligence Service likewise completed rigorous Japanese military-language training and were often assigned to PACMIRS at Camp Ritchie to work captured Japanese documents. Captured Japanese materials were studied at the camp; one well-known episode involves [[Yamane, Kazuo E. (30101877)|Kazuo E. Yamane]] identifying Japanese armory meeting notes among crates of documents from Saipan, which helped the War Department locate and strike armories. (See also the 2017 film ''Proof of Loyalty: Kazuo Yamane and the Nisei Soldiers of Hawaii''.) English Wikipedia’s account of Nisei women translators records that the top '''twenty-one''' Japanese American women MISLS translator graduates were assigned to PACMIRS document work at Camp Ritchie (see [[Nisei and Pacific]]). In 1945 the camp also formed '''Mobile Intelligence Training Units''' (MITU) for Army Ground Forces redeployment training: small teams in which Nisei demonstrated Japanese squad tactics and took part in orientation plays (some teams included veterans of the 442nd Combat Team). See [[Nisei and Pacific#Mobile Intelligence Training Units (MITU), 1945|Nisei and Pacific]].

== Prisoners of war and the Hill Project ==
During the war years (into 1947) Camp Ritchie also housed prisoner-of-war compounds. Detainees included German and Italian prisoners, among them men taken in the North African campaign.

After Germany’s surrender, the post hosted a classified effort known as the '''Hill Project''', in which selected German prisoners of war—including former Wehrmacht officers—worked with Allied personnel on research meant to improve military security in Europe, study German intelligence methods in detail, and (until Japan’s surrender) support the war against Japan. Only about '''150''' POWs worked directly on the project; by March 1946 more than '''1,500''' POWs were estimated to be at Ritchie, many connected in some way with that work.

== After the war — Fort Ritchie and the museum ==
The post was later known as '''Fort Ritchie''' and closed in '''1998''' under the 1995 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process. Following later redevelopment of the site, a museum and educational center opened on '''9 June 2023''' to commemorate the Ritchie Boys and the history of the post. See also [http://www.ritchiemuseum.org Ritchie History Museum] and [[Congressional Gold Medal]].

== Classes and teams on this wiki ==
The camp’s classes are listed as [[:Category:Class 1|Class 1]] through [[:Category:Class 31|Class 31]]. Individual soldier articles use those class numbers in the infobox. IPW and MII team codes are listed under [[:Category:Teams]].

For founding history, the camp flag and coat-of-arms, and how the MITC was established, see [[The Stories/Camp Ritchie Background|Camp Ritchie Background]]. Trainee voices about everyday camp life are collected on [[The Stories/Life in Camp Ritchie|Life in Camp Ritchie]]. JWB/USO records of the spring 1945 first-night Seder are on [[The Stories/Passover at Camp Ritchie (1945)|Passover at Camp Ritchie (1945)]]. Early staff and faculty from Dan Gross’s working list are on [[Camp Ritchie Faculty]]. Camp-wide training manuals and related PDFs live on [[Training materials]]. A short Personnel Section sheet of ten intelligence directives ([[Training materials#Featured: List of Directives|List of Directives]], Pers. Sec. 214) is transcribed on [[Training materials]]. A Signal Section monograph on a typical Enemy Equipment Intelligence Service detachment (EEIS Det. 9), including its April 1944 Camp Ritchie course, is on [[Training materials#Featured: Enemy Equipment Intelligence Service (EEIS)|Training materials]].

== Sources ==
* [https://www.fold3.com/image/293236119 Fold3 — Settle Early G-2 Branch Organization (ETOUSA), 27 Oct 1944] / [[:File:Settle_Early_G2_Branch_Organization_ETOUSA_27_Oct_1944.pdf|PDF]]
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nisei_women_translators_in_World_War_II English Wikipedia, ''Nisei women translators in World War II''] (MISLS graduates assigned to PACMIRS at Camp Ritchie)
* [[Nisei and Pacific#Mobile Intelligence Training Units (MITU), 1945|Nisei and Pacific — Mobile Intelligence Training Units]]
* [[:File:MID_908_1945-07-24_Bissell_Weckerling_JA_soldiers_in_training.pdf|MID 908 / MITU memos, July 1945 (Bissell–Weckerling; Camp Ritchie Section IX; WRA)]] (NARA via JAVA packet)
* [https://www.fold3.com/image/291737678 Fold3 — A Typical Enemy Equipment Intelligence Service (EEIS Det. 9)] / [[:File:A_Typical_Enemy_Equipment_Intelligence_Service_EEIS_Det_9.pdf|PDF on this wiki]]
* [[The Stories/Passover at Camp Ritchie (1945)|Passover at Camp Ritchie (1945)]] (Fold3 / National Jewish Welfare Board–USO)
* [[:File:Camp_Ritchie_list_of_directives.jpg|Camp Ritchie List of Directives (Pers. Sec. 214)]] (source uncertain)
* [[:File:Camp_Ritchie_panoramic_view_late_1944.jpg|Panoramic view of Camp Ritchie in late 1944]] (source uncertain)
* [[:File:Camp_Ritchie_replica_German_village_training.jpg|For realism, some training took place in a replica of a German village]] (source uncertain)
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Ritchie#Camp_Ritchie English Wikipedia, ''Fort Ritchie'' — Camp Ritchie section] (POW compounds; Nisei women / PACMIRS; 3rd MRBC activation; Hill Project overview)
* [https://www.javadc.org/japanese%20american%20women%20in%20wwii.htm Japanese American Veterans Association — Japanese American Women in World War II] (Nisei women MIS linguists / PACMIRS at Camp Ritchie)
* Derek R. Mallett, “Western Allied Intelligence and the German Military Document Section, 1945–6,” ''Journal of Contemporary History'' 46, no. 2 (2011): 390–391 (Hill Project / German POWs at Camp Ritchie)
* John Whiteclay Chambers II, “OSS Training Areas in the National Park Service” (footnote 121) — MITC formally activated 19 June 1942; cites trainee accounts including Richard Warren Seltzer, Sr., and Lewis Bloom
Overview figures and field roles above draw in part on the English Wikipedia article [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ritchie_Boys Ritchie Boys] and the sources cited there (including Army intelligence histories and secondary works such as Bruce Henderson, ''Sons and Soldiers''). Roster counts and class structure on this wiki follow the Camp Ritchie class data described on [[About the data]] and [[By The Numbers]].

== See also ==
* [[Contents]]
* [[FAQ]]
* [[Introduction]]
* [[The Stories]]
* [[Nisei and Pacific]]
* [[The Stories/Camp Ritchie Background|Camp Ritchie Background]]
* [[The Stories/Life in Camp Ritchie|Life in Camp Ritchie]]
* [[The Stories/Passover at Camp Ritchie (1945)|Passover at Camp Ritchie (1945)]]
* [[Secret Heroes/Battle of the Bulge]]
* [[Camp Ritchie Faculty]]
* [[Training materials]]
* [[By The Numbers]]
* [[Notable Ritchie Boys]]
* [[:Category:Classes]]
* [[:Category:Teams]]

[[Category:Ritchie Boys Wiki]]

The Stories/Camp Ritchie Background

2026-09-17T03:32:33Z

Admin: Add Settle 1944 Early G-2 ETOUSA account (Camp Ritchie graduates / MITUs)

__NOEDITSECTION__
{{DISPLAYTITLE:The Stories/Camp Ritchie Background}}
'''Camp Ritchie Background'''

<div class="story-figure">
[[File:Camp Ritchie Background training room.png|frameless|center|720px|link=|alt=Soldiers at Camp Ritchie wearing headphones and writing at long tables]]
</div>

For founding history of the site (resort years, National Guard, lease, and opening of the MITC), continue below. For who trained at Camp Ritchie, Camp Sharpe, Europe and Pacific roles, and Fort Ritchie after the war, see [[Camp Ritchie]].

The history of [[Camp Ritchie]] dates to the 1890s when the 638-acre site was used as a summer resort by wealthy families from Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. It is located approximately 15 miles SW of Gettysburg, PA, adjacent to the town of Cascade, MD, near the Pennsylvania border. In 1926, the Washington County site became a training center for the Maryland National Guard and was named Camp Albert C. Ritchie in honor of the then Governor of Maryland. It also served as a summer camp for children. In 1942, the Army leased Camp Albert C. Ritchie from Maryland and its official name became the Military Intelligence Training Center (MITC), or simply Camp Ritchie.

This post had an official flag whose two principal colors are golden yellow and purple, the recognized colors for Military Intelligence in the United States Army. Centered on the flag’s field is a green-colored wreath and superimposed on this wreath is a silver five-pointed star. Superimposed on the star is an enlarged section of a German military map, called the Pillkallen Map. Additional details include nine red and two blue rectangles representing American and German units and selected terrain features. The letters “M.I.T.C.” are found on the wreath at the top in gold. The lower half of the wreath contains the motto in Latin “Fas es ab hoste doceri” meaning “it is a duty to study the enemy”.

Camp Ritchie also had a colorful coat-of-arms which was an oblong plaque approximately three feet wide and six feet high. It was mounted on the stone fireplace in the Officers Club. The composition was approximately as follows:

On a dark blue field were two flags, a 48-star American flag angled to the left and a yellow flag with a five-pointed white star at the center angled to the right. Superimposed on these flags was an ornamental crest with four quadrants, two red and two white, in which figures are depicted in selected activities. A green banner at the top of the plaque surrounds a red circle with gold borders and “1942” in gold in the center. The banner contains the words “Camp Ritchie” and “M.I.T.C.”

In the Spring of 1941, General George C. Marshall, U.S. Army Chief of Staff, having recognized the poor state of intelligence training in the Army, arranged to have four groups of officers sent to England to study military intelligence training in the British Army. As a result of their reports, a recommendation was made for the establishment of a system of centralized training for U.S. Army intelligence personnel. Similarly, the Commanding General, Army Ground Forces, on April 10, 1942, recommended to the Chief of Staff that a school be established for training interrogators of prisoners of war, interpreters, and translators.

Some historians have concluded that there was no completely defined mission to govern the activities of G-2. Although the first two officers who were placed in charge of G-2 in the European theater, Colonels Homer Case and R. A. McClure, made serious efforts to draw up a workable organizational structure, the operation was continually evolving in a step-by-step manner. [Box 432, Folder 1].

A 27 October 1944 interview account by Lt. Col. '''Henry C. Settle''' (Chief of Administration, G-2 ETO, May 1942 – October 1943) likewise describes early Theater G-2 growing without a clear War Department mission and notes that most early G-2 officers were '''C and GSS graduates of the 6th Special Class at Camp Ritchie''' (a three-month course Settle dates from March 1942). The same account records European-theater '''Mobile Intelligence Training Units''' organized under Colonel Conrad by Colonel '''J. R. Elyachar''' to demonstrate captured German equipment to troops, the reorganization of field units as '''MIS, ETOUSA''', and a plan—with the Commanding General of the '''29th Infantry Division'''—to replace about half that division’s intelligence personnel with Camp Ritchie graduates. Full text: [[:File:Settle_Early_G2_Branch_Organization_ETOUSA_27_Oct_1944.pdf|Settle Early G-2 Branch Organization (ETOUSA)]] (also on [[Training materials#Featured: Early ETOUSA G-2 organization (Settle, 1944)|Training materials]]); Fold3: [https://www.fold3.com/image/293236119 G-2 History, ETOUSA Monograph].

The first class of instruction at Camp Ritchie was scheduled for July 25, 1942. Col. [[Robbins, Thomas|Thomas Robbins]] from the British School for Interrogators of Prisoners of War at Cambridge University was co-opted to help and was on site from June to October 1942. Prior to the establishment of the MITC at Camp Ritchie, there were several sporadic attempts to provide specialized training at other locations; this included aerial photo interpretation classes at the Engineers School, Fort Belvoir in 1941; and classes for the interrogation of German Prisoners of War at Camp Blanding, FL and at Camp Bullis, TX. The Fort Belvoir photo interpretation course was the first one given since World War I. A student of that first class was Lt. Col. Lester C. Curl (1907–1975) who then became an instructor at Fort Belvoir and later helped start the Air Intelligence School for the Air Corps. In April 1943, he was transferred to the ETO where he served with G-2 Section, HQ ETOUSA. From July to September 1944, he became a photo interpretation instructor at Camp Ritchie and later went on to become head of a new organization, the Photo Intelligence Center (PIC) [Box 374].

The school at Camp Blanding started courses on POW interrogation on January 16, 1942, with Major Charles R. Warndof as senior Instructor and Officer in Charge. Captain G. H. Schwedersky served as Assistant Instructor. Three officers and 32 enlisted men (including M/Sgt Paul Kubala) were in the first class, which graduated 25. This was followed by a course established at the Third Army Training Center, Camp Bullis (near San Antonio, TX) starting on March 30, 1942. Upon the activation of Camp Ritchie on June 19, 1942, under the command of Colonel Charles Y. Banfill, the entire staff headed by (then) Lt. Col. Charles R. Warndof and all available training material from the school at Camp Bullis TX was transferred to Camp Ritchie. One of the servicemen trained by Col. Warndof at Camp Bullis was Lt. [[Frenkel, George L. (0552533)|George Frenkel]] who then served first at Fort Hunt, then as an instructor at Camp Ritchie and later went overseas and served as an interrogator with Mobile Field Interrogation Unit Five.

After considering several suggested approaches, the approved plan, as outlined in a memo dated May 23, 1942, specified that the Assistant Chief of Staff, G-2, would operate a school under the jurisdiction of the Chief of Military Intelligence Services (MIS) and that the Military Intelligence Training Center would be located at Camp Ritchie, where summer encampments of the Maryland National Guard had taken place for a number of years. This was codified when the State of Maryland and the Federal Government signed a lease, the terms of which provided that the camp may be used exclusively for national defense purposes as deemed necessary by the War Department. The lease was for the period of one year commencing on June 1, 1942, with an option for the Government to renew from year to year at a rental of One Dollar per annum, but not to extend beyond six months after termination of the present war emergency. Except for the residence of the Commanding General, the Federal Government was given permission to make repairs and alterations to all of the camp’s facilities considered necessary by the War Department.

For wartime prisoner-of-war compounds at the post and the late-war '''Hill Project''' (German POW research collaboration), see [[Camp Ritchie#Prisoners of war and the Hill Project]].

== Sources ==
* [https://www.fold3.com/image/293236119 Fold3 — Lt. Col. Henry C. Settle account of early G-2 Branch organization (ETOUSA), 27 October 1944] / [[:File:Settle_Early_G2_Branch_Organization_ETOUSA_27_Oct_1944.pdf|PDF on this wiki]]

== See also ==
* [[The Stories]]
* [[Camp Ritchie]]
* [[Training materials]]
* [[Secret Heroes/First Class]]
* [[The Stories/The Patricia Crane Story|The Patricia Crane Story]]
* [[Introduction]]
* [[FAQ]]
* [[Contents]]

[[Category:Ritchie Boys Wiki]]
[[Category:The Stories]]

Training materials

2026-09-17T03:32:32Z

Admin: Feature Settle Early G-2 ETOUSA account (Camp Ritchie links)

{{DISPLAYTITLE:Training materials}}
'''Training materials''' collects Camp Ritchie / MITC documents that apply to the camp as a whole — training manuals, course outlines, circulars, maps, and similar files — not papers about one soldier.

For a scan that should enrich a '''soldier profile''' (certificate, letter, team roster), use [[Contribute documents]] instead.

== Add a file ==
<div class="camp-manual-upload-slot"><p>Loading upload tools… (requires login).</p></div>

You can also use [[Special:Upload]]. Prefer clear filenames such as <code>MITC_interrogation_manual_1943.pdf</code>. State the source and that you have permission to share the file. Individual files can be up to about '''120 MB'''.

Logged-in editors can '''Remove''' an item from the Library list below (unlist only). '''Delete file''' (permanent) is shown to administrators only.

== Featured: List of Directives ==
A short Personnel Section sheet (marked '''Pers. Sec. 214''') summed up what trainees were to remember about information and security:

# Good information wins wars.
# Without information an army bogs down.
# To get information, I must keep my eyes and ears open.
# Once obtained, information must be passed on.
# Information must be received in time to be of value.
# Reports must be clear and complete, telling: What—Where—and When.
# The enemy is always looking for facts.
# Everyone who asks for facts outside of duty is suspicious.
# Enemy prisoners, papers and equipment are valuable.
# I must keep mum about military matters except for name, rank and serial number.

Source scan: [[:File:Camp_Ritchie_list_of_directives.jpg|Camp Ritchie List of Directives]] (archival credit not yet confirmed).

== Featured: Enemy Equipment Intelligence Service (EEIS) ==
Signal Section monograph ''A Typical Enemy Equipment Intelligence Service'', based on '''Enemy Equipment Intelligence Service Detachment Number 9''' (Signal Section, Headquarters 9th U.S. Army, A.P.O. 339).

An Enemy Equipment Identification Team of five officers and six enlisted men formed at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, then took a condensed two-week intelligence course at [[Camp Ritchie]] beginning '''13 April 1944''' (enemy signal equipment and weapons, enemy order of battle, map reading, and familiarization with IPW and photo-interpretation teams). After further Signal Corps preparation in New Jersey and the United Kingdom, the detachment entered the Continent in late August 1944 and operated under Ninth Army / Signal channels recovering and studying German electronic and signal equipment (including radar and crashed-aircraft material).

Full scan (8 pages, combined from Fold3 JPGs): [[Media:A_Typical_Enemy_Equipment_Intelligence_Service_EEIS_Det_9.pdf|A Typical Enemy Equipment Intelligence Service (EEIS Detachment No. 9, Signal Section, 9th U.S. Army)]].

Source: [https://www.fold3.com/image/291737678 Fold3 — Signal Section Monographs / Histories] (U.S. WWII European Theater Army Records).

== Featured: Early ETOUSA G-2 organization (Settle, 1944) ==
Appendix from the G-2 History / ETOUSA monograph recording an interview with '''Lt. Col. Henry C. Settle''' (Chief of Administration, G-2 ETO, May 1942 – October 1943), dated '''27 October 1944'''.

Camp Ritchie–relevant points from the account:
* Settle states that most early Theater G-2 officers were '''C and GSS graduates of the 6th Special Class at Camp Ritchie''' (a three-month course he dates from March 1942)—an early pipeline of MITC-trained officers into Hq ETOUSA intelligence work.
* Under Colonel Conrad (Intelligence Field Units / Training), '''Colonel J. R. Elyachar''' organized '''Mobile Intelligence Training Units''' that toured troop areas demonstrating captured German equipment and techniques (Elyachar later received the Legion of Merit). These European-theater demonstration units are a different program from the mid-1945 Nisei / Pacific redeployment MITUs described on [[Nisei and Pacific]].
* Field intelligence units were reorganized as '''MIS, ETOUSA''' (Colonel D'Alary Fechet named chief in early October 1943).
* After FUSAG stood up (16 October 1943), G-2 reorganized under figures including General Sibert (G-2 FUSAG); Operations Branch functions listed '''IPW''' among Escape & Evasion, PW & X, training, and photo interpretation.
* G-2 sought to overcome peacetime neglect of intelligence training and shortages of trained personnel; one plan, with the CG of the '''29th Infantry Division''', aimed to replace about '''50%''' of that division’s intelligence personnel with '''Camp Ritchie graduates''' (and rotate others through American School Center courses).

Full scan (6 pages): [[Media:Settle_Early_G2_Branch_Organization_ETOUSA_27_Oct_1944.pdf|Lt. Col. Henry C. Settle — Account of Early G-2 Branch Organization (ETOUSA), 27 October 1944]].

Source: [https://www.fold3.com/image/293236119 Fold3 — G-2 History, ETOUSA Monograph, 1941–44] (U.S. WWII European Theater Army Records).

== Library ==
{{:Training materials/Library}}

== Privacy and rights ==
* Upload only material you may publish (public domain, museum permission, or your own cleared scans).
* Do not include Social Security numbers or private contact details for living people.
* See [[Contribute]] and [[About the data]].

== See also ==
* [[Camp Ritchie]]
* [[Contribute documents]] — OCR into soldier profiles
* [[Photos]]
* [[Books]]
* [[Contribute]]

[[Category:Ritchie Boys Wiki]]

Training materials/Library

2026-09-17T03:32:31Z

Admin: Add Settle Early G-2 ETOUSA organization PDF

* [[Media:German_Uniform_Chart_(November_1942).pdf|German Uniform Chart (November 1942)]]
* [[Media:Handbook_on_German_Army_Identification_(1943).pdf|Handbook on German Army Identification (1943)]]
* [[Media:USA_Organization_(1_Sep_1944).pdf|USA Organization (1 Sep 1944)]]
* [[Media:Japanese_Uniform_Insignia_(1_May_1945).pdf|Japanese Uniform Insignia (1 May 1945)]]
* [[Media:Camp_Ritchie_list_of_directives.jpg|Camp Ritchie List of Directives (Pers. Sec. 214)]]
* [[Media:A_Typical_Enemy_Equipment_Intelligence_Service_EEIS_Det_9.pdf|A Typical Enemy Equipment Intelligence Service (EEIS Detachment No. 9, Signal Section, 9th U.S. Army)]]
* [[Media:Settle_Early_G2_Branch_Organization_ETOUSA_27_Oct_1944.pdf|Lt. Col. Henry C. Settle — Account of Early G-2 Branch Organization (ETOUSA), 27 October 1944]]

File:Settle Early G2 Branch Organization ETOUSA 27 Oct 1944.pdf

2026-09-17T03:32:31Z

Admin: Settle Early G-2 ETOUSA account (Fold3 JPGs combined)

=={{int:filedesc}}==
{{Information
|description={{en|1=Lt. Col. Henry C. Settle — Account of Early G-2 Branch Organization (ETOUSA), 27 October 1944. Appendix from G-2 History / ETOUSA monograph; Fold3 set 513. Includes Camp Ritchie graduate pipeline into early Theater G-2, European Mobile Intelligence Training Units (Elyachar), MIS ETOUSA, and a 29th Infantry Division plan to staff intelligence slots with Ritchie graduates.}}
|source=[https://www.fold3.com/image/293236119 Fold3 — 513 G-2 History, ETOUSA Monograph, 1941–44] (U.S. WWII European Theater Army Records, 1941–1946).
|author=Lt. Col. Henry C. Settle (interview account); G-2 History / ETOUSA monograph
|date=27 October 1944
|permission=
|other versions=
}}

Site changelog

2026-09-17T03:26:14Z

Admin: Log Nisei WAC Wikipedia enrichments

This page records '''site-level''' changes: new features, layout and tooling, directory structure, and major content systems. It is '''not''' a log of edits to individual soldier biographies (use [[Special:RecentChanges]] for those).

Newest entries first. When we change how the wiki works, add a dated bullet here.

== How to update this page ==
* Add a new dated heading (or bullets under today’s date) at the '''top''' of the changelog list below.
* Describe the feature or site change in plain language — not a file-by-file diff.
* Skip one-off soldier page corrections and routine data fixes unless they introduce a new site capability.
* Agents and maintainers: after a site feature ships to the live wiki, append it here in the same edit session when practical.

== Changelog ==

=== 16 September 2026 ===
* '''Nisei WAC translators''' — Enriched [[Hurt, Haruko (WAC)|Haruko Hurt]] (née Sugi; merged maiden-name duplicate) and [[Kato, Sue (WAC)|Sue Suzuko Kato]] from Wikipedia / Discover Nikkei; noted MISLS→PACMIRS “top twenty-one” assignment on [[Nisei and Pacific]] and [[Camp Ritchie]].
* '''MITU / Nisei redeployment training''' — [[Nisei and Pacific]] now summarizes July 1945 G-2 / Camp Ritchie records on Mobile Intelligence Training Units (demonstration teams, 442nd veterans, WRA concerns), with NARA PDFs from a JAVA packet; linked from [[Camp Ritchie]].
* '''EEIS monograph''' — Added the Signal Section history ''A Typical Enemy Equipment Intelligence Service'' (Detachment No. 9) as a PDF on [[Training materials]] (Camp Ritchie training + Ninth Army field work; Fold3 source).
* '''Passover at Camp Ritchie (1945)''' — New [[The Stories/Passover at Camp Ritchie (1945)|Stories]] page with Fold3 / JWB–USO documents for the first-night Seder (telegram, reports, program card).
* '''Camp Ritchie List of Directives''' — Personnel Section sheet (Pers. Sec. 214) uploaded to [[Training materials]] with a full transcription; linked from [[Camp Ritchie]].
* '''Camp Ritchie photos''' — Added wartime German-village training and late-1944 panoramic views on [[Photos]] and [[Camp Ritchie]] (filename captions; archival source not yet confirmed).
* '''Zekelman Holocaust Center oral histories''' — Added embeddable Zekelman interviews on [[Ritchie Boy Interviews]] for Fairbrook, Kosse, Lieberman, Michel, Norton, Schwarz, Stern (two parts), and Wachtel, with soldier-page cues and biography enrichments from the Center’s oral-history synopses.
* '''Internet Archive interview embeds''' — [[Ritchie Boy Interviews]] can play Internet Archive oral histories with click-to-play embeds (first: Robert A. Potash / Yiddish Book Center).
* '''Books — Olderman memoir''' — [[Books]] now lists Murray Olderman's ''A Year Apart: Letters from War-Torn Europe''.
* '''Infobox fields trimmed + Other class expanded''' — Soldier infoboxes no longer show Education, Spouse/marital, Occupation, State, Certificate, Arrived/Departed, or Years of service (NARA/roster snapshots stay in the Technical record). Roster '''Other class''' codes expand to readable names (e.g. SC8 → Special Course 8, DC36 → Division Class 36, MITU4 → Mobile Intelligence Training Unit 4).
* '''Aviary interview embeds''' — [[Ritchie Boy Interviews]] can play Milken Archive / Aviary oral histories with click-to-play embeds (first: Hugo D. Weisgall).
* '''Site link preview image''' — Homepage Open Graph / chat previews use the Ritchie Boys Wiki logo (same as the top-left site mark) instead of the MediaWiki “powered by” footer graphic.
* '''About the data — AI wording''' — Clarified that AI-assisted biographies are drafted from curated person-specific sources (profile text, newspapers, obituaries, family packets, research notes), not from open-web search, and still do not certify accuracy.
* '''Multi-person gallery photos''' — When a photo caption names two or more Ritchie Boys, the same file is added to each matched soldier’s Gallery with roster links in the caption (not only on the packet owner’s page).
* '''Ellen Kaufmann Boucher interview''' — Added her 1995 Canandaigua cable testimony to [[Ritchie Boy Interviews]] with a biographical blurb and soldier-page cue.
* '''Interview watchlist bios''' — New or newly found video/audio testimonies go on [[Ritchie Boy Interviews]] with a short biographical blurb before the player (not title-and-embed only).
* '''SoundCloud interview embeds''' — [[Ritchie Boy Interviews]] can play SoundCloud audio (click-to-play) the same way as YouTube videos; first entry is Alfred Goodwin’s 1986 OJMCHE oral history.
* '''Class section casing''' — Soldier infobox section codes use uppercase letters (e.g. 4C, not 4c); existing lowercase values normalized sitewide.
* '''Film synopsis link''' — [[Documentaries/Movies]] links the Bauer film site’s [https://ritchieboys.com/EN/story.html official synopsis] (© TANGRAM 2004).
* '''FOCUS press report''' — [[Documentaries/Movies]] links Christian Bauer’s May 2004 ''FOCUS'' English report ([https://ritchieboys.com/DL/focus-en.pdf At War Against Their Home Country]) and the film-site press reviews page.
* '''Main Page disclaimer''' — Replaced the long Classes 1–31 roster block on the homepage with a short pointer to [[About the data]] (class-roster attribution stays on that page, Contents, and class pages).
* '''Documentary press photos''' — High-resolution portraits and stills from [https://ritchieboys.com/EN/press_photos.html the Bauer film press page] (© TANGRAM) uploaded with source credits; set on documentary soldiers’ profiles/galleries and a gallery on [[Documentaries/Movies]].
* '''Life in Camp Ritchie''' — [[The Stories/Life in Camp Ritchie]] gathers short attributed quotes from Bauer’s film (enemy-alien arrivals, the MITC “Total Confusion” joke, classroom and practice) linked from [[Camp Ritchie]] and [[Documentaries/Movies]].
* '''My Life as a Fish''' — [[The Stories/My Life as a Fish]] posts Camp Ritchie–related excerpts from Alfred G. Meyer’s autobiography (© 2000; shared by Vera Meyer via the Bauer film site), with a Full-story cue on his soldier page and a related link under [[Documentaries/Movies]].
* '''Documentaries related reading''' — [[Documentaries/Movies]] links Henry Schwab’s 2005 ''Israel Philatelist'' Camp Ritchie mail article (PDF on the Bauer film site) under ''The Ritchie Boys''.

=== 15 September 2026 ===
* '''Place format standard''' — Soldier infobox birth/death places use `City, Country` abroad (e.g. Berlin, Germany) and `City, State` in the U.S. with no `US`/`USA`/`U.S.` suffix (e.g. Detroit, Michigan). Sitewide normalize pass applied for known cities, state abbreviations, and country-suffix cleanup.
* '''Documentary boys bios''' — Profiles for the ten soldiers featured on [https://ritchieboys.com/EN/boys.html The Ritchie Boys film site] were enriched from those biographies (vitals, wartime narrative, Sources cites).

=== 14 September 2026 ===
* '''No more “Related media” above the lead''' — Story and interview cues on soldier pages (“Full story”, etc.) no longer get wrapped in a “Related media” heading near the top of the article. Those cues keep their own labels under the lead.
* '''Training materials library''' — New [[Training materials]] page for Camp Ritchie / MITC manuals and other camp-wide PDFs (not soldier OCR). Logged-in editors can upload from the page; files appear in the Library list. Linked from Media and [[Camp Ritchie]]. Upload limit raised to about 120 MB for large manuals. The Library list is stored on [[Training materials/Library]] so hub-page edits do not wipe uploads.
* '''Short URLs''' — Article links use `https://ritchieboys.org/wiki/Page_title` (Wikipedia-style) instead of long `index.php?title=` addresses. Old links still work.
* '''Quiet anti-vandalism (AbuseFilter)''' — Automatic blocks for emptying established articles, anonymous multi-link spam dumps, and tiny new spam pages. Normal logged-in editing and Sources cites stay easy; no email-confirm gate.
* '''Mobile polish''' — Soldier pages show compact Edit / Draft buttons on phones (less help text above the bio). Wide tables scroll sideways; Drive and Contact embeds are shorter; the Main Page find box no longer flashes the “Open search” fallback when JavaScript is available.
* '''Mobile find box + hamburger''' — Main Page “Find a soldier” is a normal-height field on phones (no more tall square input). The Minerva hamburger adds Contents, Start here, Stories, Classes, and other site hubs alongside Home / Recent changes.
* '''Mobile site (Wikipedia-style)''' — Phones automatically get the Minerva mobile skin via MobileFrontend (same approach as Wikipedia). Desktop stays the classic Vector layout.

=== 13 September 2026 ===
* '''OCR handwriting cost guard''' — Checking '''Handwriting / hard scan''' still runs free RapidOCR first; paid LLM vision is used only when that preliminary quality score is weak. Clear print that was checked by mistake no longer bills a vision call.
* '''Site-wide OCR enrichment''' — Document OCR proposes infobox facts and a short woven biography draft (not raw OCR lines), with Sources on Apply. Printed pages stay on RapidOCR; '''Handwriting / hard scan''' uses the site LLM vision model when `RITCHIE_LLM_API_KEY` is set. [[Contribute documents]] and Gallery OCR are framed as profile enrichers; multi-person team rosters remain a preset.
* '''Pre-launch family UX''' — [[Contribute]] leads with a five-step photo path and uses '''Biography''' (not Life); Participate sidebar adds [[Contact Us]] and drops Random page; empty search / Main Page find point to “name not found” help; [[About]] and [[Patrol]] add corrections/privacy guidance; [[Photos]] and [[Contact Us]] lead with open-in-new-window links when embeds fail; mobile CSS for find box and embeds.
* '''Live Teammates lists''' — The Teammates box on soldier pages now loads other members live from each `Category:Team …` (same source as the team page roster). Adding `|ipw_ge=` / team fields on one profile updates that soldier’s box immediately and shows them on teammates’ pages on the next view—no roster-module rebuild.
* '''One Start here hub''' — [[Start here]] now covers both first-time visitors (story path) and families (find name → roster fields → photo/obituary). The short-lived [[For families]] page was removed (not kept as a redirect). Main Page uses a single “Start here” strip; Participate sidebar drops the duplicate family entry. Unused [[Directory]] alias redirect to Contents was deleted too.
* '''Class pages merged into categories''' — Dates, graduation counts, and specialties now sit on [[:Category:Class 1]]–[[:Category:Class 31]] above the roster list. Short [[Class 1]]-style stubs redirect there; soldier infobox class links go straight to the category.
* '''Still needed checklist removed''' — The automatic thin-profile “Still needed” box on soldier pages is gone.
* '''Discovery & theme hubs''' — [[Start here]] path for new readers; Main Page premise strip (later merged into Start here); new Themes galleries ([[Nisei and Pacific]], [[Nuremberg and postwar justice]], [[Military governors]], [[Iwo Jima Marines]]); [[Awards faces]]; [[By specialty]]; Books memoir/history/novel filters; Photos identify workflow; Class 1/10 story blurb on class pages.

=== 12 September 2026 ===
* '''Books page — profile memoirs''' — [[Books]] adds memoirs, letter collections, and related titles found on soldier profiles (Selling, Sigmond, Hargrove, Dolibois, Walters, Lord, Potash, Botsford, Bailey, Edel, Delnore, Cane, Seltzer, Bodlander, Edwards, Rockefeller, Friede, Warfield) plus Jacobs and Lerner novels not previously listed.
* '''Topic pages within one hop of the sidebar''' — Navigation rule: every public topic article is on the sidebar or linked from a sidebar hub (not discovery-only via Contents). Legacy [[The Patricia Crane Story]] now redirects to [[The Stories/The Patricia Crane Story]]; [[Facebook OCR review]] is linked from [[Contribute documents]] and [[Patrol]].
* '''Media in the sidebar''' — New '''Media''' section links [[Books]], [[Documentaries/Movies]], [[Ritchie Boy Interviews]], [[Photos]], and [[Ritchie Boy Programs]] (previously only under [[Contents]] / Site pages).
* '''Camp Ritchie WAC Association (1954 reunion)''' — [[Ritchie WACs]] notes the July 1954 Hagerstown reunion that organized the Camp Ritchie WAC Association ([[Massaro, Frances M. (A701441)|Frances Massaro]] and committee), from the ''Hagerstown Morning Herald'' via Dan Gross’s misc research files.
* '''French awards on the ribbon rack''' — Soldier profiles that document the French Croix de Guerre or French Legion of Honor now show those decorations in the Awards and honors ribbon rack (not only in notes or an incomplete awards line), with matching ribbon images.
* '''Hide merged-duplicate roster titles in search''' — Find-a-soldier suggestions, header search suggestions, and Special:Search no longer surface retired pages titled <code>… (merged duplicate)</code> (Cargo-blocked duplicate ASN stubs).
* '''Camp Ritchie — Wikipedia Camp Ritchie section''' — [[Camp Ritchie]] adds wartime POW compounds, the late-war Hill Project (German POW research), Nisei women / PACMIRS linguists, and activation of the 3rd Mobile Radio Broadcasting Company at Ritchie (29 December 1943), with Sources cites (Wikipedia Camp Ritchie section, Mallett, JAVA).

=== 11 September 2026 ===
* '''Camp Ritchie Faculty hub''' — [[Camp Ritchie Faculty]] lists the Gross “first 13” staff/faculty with face cards, section legend (I–X), and a roster table; linked from the Reading sidebar, [[Camp Ritchie]], and [[Introduction]].
* '''Camp Ritchie faculty (Gross “first 13”)''' — Staff and faculty names from Dan Gross’s private faculty spreadsheet published or enriched on soldier profiles (section roles, ranks, arrival notes; Legion of Merit racks where listed), with descriptive Sources citations; [[About the data]] notes the layer.
* '''Awards labels under ribbons''' — When ribbon images and award labels match cell-for-cell, names render in the same rack as the ribbons so each label stays centered under its image (fixes uneven two-award rows such as Silver Star + Croix de Guerre).
* '''Ritchie WACs spreadsheet import''' — Soldier profiles created or enriched from Dan Gross and Beverley Driver Eddy’s Camp Ritchie WAC roster spreadsheet (card types, ranks, assignments, notes; Sources credit both researchers). [[Ritchie WACs]] roster refreshed.
* '''About the data — WAC roster''' — [[About the data]] now documents the Gross–Eddy WAC spreadsheet as its own research layer (incomplete list, card codes, Sources credit, file not uploaded).
* '''About the data — layer order''' — Compilation subsections on [[About the data]] are listed roughly in the order those layers were added to the wiki (seed roster → Facebook → OCR/AI → timeline enrichment → WAC spreadsheet).

=== 10 September 2026 ===
* '''OCR review queue extras''' — '''Preview Apply''' shows planned soldier-page changes before writing. ASN matching tries padded/stripped ASN forms and title hits. Multi-person enrich results are cached on the job. Old applied/discarded jobs are pruned automatically. Facebook OCR candidates (70–79%) can be seeded into [[Contribute documents]] for human review without re-running the engine (`python scripts/seed_fb_ocr_review_jobs.py`).
* '''OCR soft-launch hardening''' — Document previews load through the wiki (not the loopback OCR port), so reviewers off localhost can see the scan. Dates and ranks are normalized before Apply; long PDFs warn when truncated at 8 pages. The Contribute documents queue shows who uploaded, age, match counts, and “Only mine / Ready / In progress” filters. Apply can optionally write selected notes into Research notes, checkpoints each soldier page so a failed mass roster Apply can resume, and soldier-page uploads can mark “multi-person roster” (or rebuild into roster mode from Advanced).

=== 6 September 2026 ===
* '''Interview and documentary watchlist''' — [[Ritchie Boy Interviews]] is a watchlist: pick a soldier, play the video on the wiki, then follow '''Watch next''' (same person or the next talk). Matching soldier profiles show an '''Interview''' and/or '''On film''' cue. [[Documentaries/Movies]] embeds trailers and lists confirmed Ritchie Boys in Bauer’s film (from the 2004 ''Variety'' review) and Karl Goldsmith in ''About Face''. The soldier index and interview cards sort by the name readers see (not the roster title), so changed names use forms such as '''Karl Goldsmith / Karl Goldschmidt''' and file under G rather than Smith.
* '''OCR roster table''' — On [[Contribute documents]], a multi-person scan is a table: person on the document, matched soldier page, and the change that would be written on that profile. Rank/role/ASN stay labeled as scan identity. A top list names each wiki page Apply would edit (or says nothing will be written).
* '''Multi-person OCR for any roster''' — Special orders (SO 103, 125, 135, and similar) no longer need a matching layout preset. OCR finds people from ASNs plus nearby name/rank lines, including fractured column scans, then uses the same person → wiki page → profile-change review.

=== 4 September 2026 ===
* '''OCR review redesign''' — Document OCR review is person-first: each person on a roster is a card with three clear blocks (who is on the scan → which wiki page → what changes on their profile). For team documents the default write is only Team membership; ASN/rank/role stay as matching cues unless you open “Also update other fields.” A live '''What will change on soldier pages''' list names the page and the update before Apply. Expert controls stay under '''Advanced'''.
* '''Multi-person OCR apply polish''' — Team-roster and transfer-order uploads on [[Contribute documents]] keep gallery attach off by default, cite “team roster mass apply” on each updated Sources section, and the review toolbar uses '''Select all matched''' / '''Deselect unresolved''' with one match picker per person.

=== 3 September 2026 ===
* '''Multi-person OCR (team rosters first)''' — From [[Contribute]] documents, OCR can detect many people on one scan across common layouts: numbered IPW Team special orders (e.g. SO 135 / SO 145), MITC role tables without team numbers (SO 103), and surname-first group lists (SO 125). Review is grouped by person, matches by ASN when possible, can infer a missing team number from teammates already on the wiki, and Apply can add team membership to each matched soldier’s infobox (Team pages update via categories). Other document types can plug into the same multi-person review flow later.
* '''Smarter document OCR review''' — Upload & OCR now extracts more infobox fields (nativity, religion, unit, awards, enlistment cues), groups proposals (infobox / biography / notes), skips fields already on the page by default, OCRs multi-page PDFs with a page picker, shows progress with cancel, resumes from the Contribute documents queue, suggests a document-type preset and gallery caption, and warns when the name or ASN on the scan may not match the profile.

=== 2 September 2026 ===
* '''Find a soldier suggestions''' — The Main Page find box now shows matching soldier titles as you type (name or ASN), like the header search.
* '''By The Numbers showcase''' — [[By The Numbers]] is now a visual summary (headline class, graduate, and award figures) with deep links into the existing student-numbers, eight-week schedule, curriculum, specialties, and awards tables — not only a link list.
* '''By birth country''' — New [[By birth country]] directory: browse soldiers by roster nativity (Germany, Austria, United States, and other cleaned country categories), with a live category tree under [[:Category:Nativity]]. Linked from the Directory sidebar, [[Contents]], [[Themes]], and [[For families]].
* '''Start here for families''' — New [[For families]] path: find a name, understand roster fields (ASN, class, team, research notes, unconfirmed banner), then add a photo or obituary. Linked from the Main Page find box, How to help, and the Participate sidebar.
* '''Site CSS on Preferences / login''' — Wider sidebar and other [[MediaWiki:Common.css]] styles now load on restricted special pages (Preferences, User login, create account, etc.), matching article pages.
* '''Theme face galleries''' — Browseable galleries listed from a single [[Themes]] hub in the sidebar Directory: [[Refugees who enlisted]], [[Postwar intelligence careers]], [[Inventors and artists]], [[Congressional Gold Medal faces]], [[Ritchie WACs]] (face cards + roster), and the Bulge faces section. Portrait cards with short sourced blurbs — not new essays; curated and expandable.
* '''Battle of the Bulge face gallery''' — [[Secret Heroes/Battle of the Bulge]] opens with a browseable portrait gallery of Ritchie Boys with a clear sourced link to the Ardennes offensive (warnings, combat, or contemporaneous intelligence work), above Dan Gross’s essay. Curated and expandable; not a complete roster.
* '''Story hubs and teammates rails''' — Person essays on [[The Stories]] open with a soldier-profile card; matching profiles show a '''Full story''' cue. Soldier pages with a known team assignment show a '''Teammates''' list (other soldiers on the same roster, with a link to the full team page).
* '''Weekly featured portraits''' — Main Page “Featured Ritchie Boys” rotates automatically from a curated [[Featured pool]] (administrator-only edit list). Editors change who can appear by editing that pool page; the Main Page does not need weekly hand-edits.
* '''Pre-launch hardening''' — Production mode now challenges anonymous edits with non-obvious CAPTCHA questions, rate-limits anon edits, and turns off anonymous <code>writeapi</code>. The OCR review service binds to localhost only. Soft-launch sitenotice reminds readers that research notes are leads; FAQ and footer disclaimers point to [[About the data]].
* '''Multiple teams in the soldier infobox''' — The Military service block now shows a single '''Team''' / '''Teams''' row that links every known assignment: roster IPW German/Italian fields, optional <code>|teams=</code> (semicolon-separated, e.g. <code>MII 439-G</code>), and team codes already present in Research notes. Example: IPW 69 and MII 439-G both appear as links instead of only the roster IPW line.
* '''Classes 1–31 roster attribution''' — [[About the data]], [[Template:Class data disclaimer]], and [[Contribute]] now describe the museum’s role as digitizing and making available public-domain National Archives Classes 1–31 roster records (not ownership or a reproduction ban). Cite Camp Ritchie Museum, Inc. / The Ritchie History Museum as the digitization source.

=== 1 September 2026 ===
* '''Ritchie WACs''' — New [[Ritchie WACs]] reading-list page listing soldiers whose roster certificate field is WAC; more background and names to follow.
* '''Soldier duplicate merge and redirect cleanup''' — Confirmed duplicate profiles (e.g. Van Loon, Habe-Bekessy) are merged onto canonical titles with no case-variant redirects; 123 leftover hyphen/apostrophe redirects were removed. Import and title-move scripts now use `noredirect` by default.
* '''Multi-document timeline merge''' — The timeline pipeline now merges facts from multiple Dan Gross research files per soldier (including supplemental filename-matched documents), recovers dated events from conversion excerpts, invalidates truncated legacy Word conversions, and inserts a Biography section when a profile lacked one. Major identity conflicts remain gated; republished profiles retain existing Stories and Facebook biographies.

=== 30 August 2026 ===
* '''Comprehensive timeline enrichment''' — Private Dan Gross timeline files are now processed with narrative extraction for education, careers, legal/government roles, publications, organizations, and major life events; equivalent claims retain provenance, major identity conflicts are gated, unreadable files are reported, and public profile enrichment preserves existing biographies while citing the selected findings.
* '''Timeline spacing repair''' — Timeline disclosures place their first event below the left-aligned expand control instead of letting the text overlap the button.
* '''Timeline and award presentation''' — Timeline research sections are collapsible with a left-aligned expand control, research notes are consolidated at the bottom of profiles, and supported awards can display matching ribbon images with their award names.
* '''Class-data attribution''' — [[About the data]] and the class-data disclaimer now clearly distinguish the Classes 1–31 material supplied by Camp Ritchie Museum, Inc. / The Ritchie History Museum from Dan Gross’s research spreadsheets and notes, and state the museum’s reproduction restriction.
* '''Additive timeline enrichment''' — Timeline imports retain existing profile biographies and data while adding clear new events to the appropriate profile sections.

=== 29 August 2026 ===
* '''Dan Gross timeline research policy''' — [[About the data]] now explains how the private Word-document timelines are reviewed, matched, privacy-screened, and cited descriptively without uploading the original documents.

=== 28 August 2026 ===
* '''Expanded Facebook OCR review queue''' — [[Facebook OCR review]] now preserves the applied ≥80% report while listing all 233 document candidates from 100% down to the lowest available 27%, grouped into confidence bands with soldier links, exact File links, concise document summaries, and OCR evidence. The queue is review-only; lower-confidence findings are not applied to profiles. Re-run: `python scripts/generate_fb_ocr_review_page.py`.

=== 26 August 2026 ===
* '''Soldier contribute box (upload + OCR)''' — Collapsed '''Add photos or OCR a document''' control directly under the Gallery heading on every profile (heading added if missing). Upload + OCR stay in the text column beside the infobox — no more full-width clear that left blank gaps on short pages. Site-wide OCR inbox on [[Contribute documents]] unchanged.
* '''Facebook OCR incorporate (≥80%)''' — High-confidence document OCR findings applied to soldier pages (empty rank fields for enlisted grades only; Research notes for document dates/cues). Review summary: [[Facebook OCR review]]. Full checklist: `import/facebook_posts/enrichments/FB_OCR_REVIEW.md`.
* '''Document OCR + review''' — Logged-in users can upload a document from a soldier page or from [[Contribute documents]]; the site OCRs it and shows proposed facts for human review. Nothing is written to profiles until '''Apply''' (requires the <code>ocr-reviewer</code> group or an admin). Staging files are not published automatically. Docker service: <code>ocr-review</code> on port 8090.
* '''Facebook photo OCR (pilot → full review)''' — OCR pipeline with confidence % for document-like Facebook gallery images; pilot facts applied to Atchley, Hauboldt, and Hauser. Full-run review checklist (numbered): `import/facebook_posts/enrichments/FB_OCR_REVIEW.md` (+ `.json` / `.csv`). Re-run: `python scripts/fb_photo_ocr_pilot.py --all`. Incorporate by telling the agent item numbers or soldier names.
* '''Facebook photo OCR (pilot)''' — Script to OCR document-like Facebook gallery images, extract dates/ranks/ASN/class cues, and write a review report (no auto-edits to soldier pages). Pilot: `python scripts/fb_photo_ocr_pilot.py --pilot`. Reports: `import/facebook_posts/enrichments/FB_OCR_PILOT_REPORT.md`, `FB_OCR_PILOT.json`. Requires `pip install rapidocr-onnxruntime pillow`.
* '''About the data (disclaimer)''' — Expanded how site information is compiled: Dan Gross research files, NARA and census merges, Facebook imports, family and contributor submissions, AI-assisted summaries and cleanup, and open wiki editing—with explicit limits on accuracy. Class roster / museum reproduction language kept in [[Template:Class data disclaimer]].
* '''Facebook biography curation (batch 2)''' — Hand-curated biographies for the remaining ~26 Facebook-enriched soldier pages that still had roster dumps, birthday-post voice, gallery stubs, or cross-post fragments (IPW Team 34 roster, Lewy/Bergman family posts, etc.). Re-run: `python scripts/apply_remaining_bio_fixes.py`. Report: `import/facebook_posts/enrichments/BIO_REMAINING_FIX_REPORT.md`.
* '''Facebook gallery captions''' — Restored truncated photo captions (e.g. identifications cut off at “Lt.”), stripped “Update: Stephen Goodell shared…” / “Thanks to…” Facebook framing, and wiki-linked other Ritchie Boys named in lineup captions. Re-run: `python scripts/fix_facebook_gallery_captions.py`. Report: `import/facebook_posts/enrichments/GALLERY_CAPTION_FIX_REPORT.md`.
* '''Infobox nativity / religion / branch''' — Nativity stays as country of birth (Germany, Austria, …), not adjectives. Religion roster codes expand fully (e.g. Qu → Quaker); blank placeholders like “Not stated” are hidden. Roster arm/service values (Field Artillery, Signal Corps, Cavalry, …) no longer appear as Branch — Branch is the service (usually United States Army) and those values show under '''Arm / service'''.
* '''Facebook-ported bios (final cleanup)''' — One pass across all Facebook-enriched soldier pages: restore biographies that earlier voice-scrubbing had emptied, scrub remaining Facebook voice safely (never wipe a bio when source facts exist), and dedupe identical gallery images. Fixed Biography-section editing so an empty bio can no longer swallow Research notes / Gallery. Re-run: `python scripts/fix_facebook_ported_bios.py`. Report: `import/facebook_posts/enrichments/BIO_FIX_FINAL_REPORT.md`.
* '''Facebook biography voice scrub''' — Swept ported Facebook soldier biographies to plain third-person summaries: removed “I’m saddened…”, holiday/family-forward framing, “Thanks to…”, “Attached is…”, “Wiki profile records list…”, and similar page voice. Gallery captions with Facebook update language were neutralized. Review: `import/facebook_posts/enrichments/BIO_VOICE_SWEEP_REPORT.md`.
* '''Draft opening summary''' — The editor draft tool now reads the '''Biography''' section (not only a heading named Life) and builds a fuller multi-sentence lead from personal details plus bio prose when no AI key is configured.
* '''Opening summaries (full dates)''' — Soldier opening blurbs use full birth/death dates when known (e.g. `(21 June 1924 – 15 April 1945)`), falling back to years only when that is all the roster has — same idea as Wikipedia.

=== 25 August 2026 ===
* '''Facebook profile enrichments''' — Published Facebook-post writeups onto matching soldier profiles (opening summary, biography, infobox fields when known, soldier portrait when suitable, extra images in Gallery, and dated Facebook sources). Skipped posts that were not primarily about the matched soldier. Other Ritchie Boys named in those bios/photo captions are wiki-linked when a clear roster match exists. Biographies framed as family inquiries, holiday posts, or first-person/opinion Facebook voice (“I believe…”, “have you ever heard…”, “more to follow”, “attached is a photo”, “family passed along…”) were rewritten as factual third-person bios. Where a biography named a birth/death city or full date but the infobox only had a country or year, those Born/Died fields were filled from the prose; document images used as profile photos (e.g. Hauboldt) were moved into Gallery. Certificate value '''NG''' (non-graduate marker) is hidden/cleared. Negative research notes (illness, excess absence, failure, etc.) are filtered from display and removed from pages. Review lists: `import/facebook_posts/enrichments/PUBLISHED_REVIEW.md`, `LINKED_MENTIONS_REPORT.md`, `BIO_REWRITE_REPORT.md`, `INFOBOX_FROM_BIO_REPORT.md`, and `BIO_NOTES_SCRUB_REPORT.md`.
* '''Navigation and discovery''' — Sidebar Reading is a shorter start-here list with [[Camp Ritchie]] added; secondary topic pages stay on [[Contents]] / Site pages. [[About]] is labeled “About this project” next to [[About the data]]. Special:Search reorders hits so title matches and site pages rise above research-notes noise. Main Page '''Featured Ritchie Boys''' links three fuller soldier profiles (Guy Stern, Ralph Baer, Eric Waldman) with equal-sized portrait thumbs.
* '''About (tone)''' — Rewrote [[About]] in a calmer wiki voice (dropped the ALL-CAPS work-in-progress banner); clarified how it differs from [[About the data]].
* '''Main Page polish''' — Find-a-soldier moved under the lead (TOC hidden); Secret Heroes tagline links to [[Introduction]]; quick links live inside the Find box (no separate Explore/Gold Medal blocks); Reading shortened to a start-here list.
* '''Camp Ritchie overview''' — Expanded [[Camp Ritchie]] with who trained there (including WACs and language selection), Camp Sharpe, Europe and Pacific/Nisei notes (with a link to [[Yamane, Kazuo E. (30101877)|Kazuo E. Yamane]]), Fort Ritchie closure and museum, plus light cross-links from [[FAQ]], [[Secret Heroes/Battle of the Bulge]], and [[The Stories/Camp Ritchie Background]].
* '''Page consolidation''' — Merged duplicate Camp Ritchie Background into [[The Stories/Camp Ritchie Background]] (both photos kept); folded Disclaimer into [[About the data]]; moved FAQ Camp Ritchie / military-records detail onto [[Camp Ritchie]] and [[Contact Us]] so FAQ points there without dropping wording.
* '''About''' — Added [[About]] (project background, Dan Gross legacy, ownership note, and copyright / museum disclaimer from theritchieboys.com).
* '''FAQ''' — Added [[FAQ]] (who the Ritchie Boys were, what Camp Ritchie was, and how to seek military records, with National Archives and Wikipedia links).
* '''Dan Gross Memorial''' — Added [[Dan Gross Memorial]] (tribute page for Daniel Gross, with portrait and biography from theritchieboys.com).
* '''Contact Us''' — Added [[Contact Us]] with the military-records note (National Archives link) and the embedded Google contact form from theritchieboys.com.
* '''Contributors''' — Added [[Contributors]] (Dan Gross’s project team bios and portraits, with soldier links for Guy Stern, Walter Lubran, and Kurt Kugelmann).
* '''Attribution notes''' — Removed redundant “adapted from theritchieboys.com” style wording from topic-page leads; kept real source cites (spreadsheets, Google Slides, authors).
* '''Photos''' — Added [[Photos]] with the National Archives / Signal Corps disclaimer, an embedded Google Drive grid album (Stephen Goodell collection), and the featured four-photo gallery with captions.
* '''Documentaries/Movies''' and '''Books''' — Added [[Documentaries/Movies]] (Bauer and Karras films with free-watch links) and [[Books]] (notable titles with Amazon links and covers).

=== 24 August 2026 ===
* '''Ritchie Boy Programs''' — Added [[Ritchie Boy Programs]] (talks and museum programs, with soldier links where matched).
* '''Ritchie Boy Interviews/Testimonies''' — Added [[Ritchie Boy Interviews]] (video interview list, with soldier links where matched).
* '''Symposium Presentation''' — Added [[Symposium Presentation]] from Dan Gross’s 2012 Camp Ritchie Symposium deck (documentary stars, select notables, WAC note, closing slides; 2012 class-count slide kept as historical presentation figures only).
* '''Reading order''' — Main Page Reading list and sidebar Reading links follow a consistent reading order (existing wiki pages plus coming-soon / external links for pages not imported yet). [[Notable Ritchie Boys]] sits under Directory with the roster.
* '''By The Numbers''' — Hub ([[By The Numbers]]) with [[By The Numbers/Student Numbers - All Classes]], [[By The Numbers/Eight Week Classes - Dates & Graduation Numbers]], [[By The Numbers/Eight Week Class Content]], [[By The Numbers/Eight Week Courses by Specialties]], and [[By The Numbers/Awards]] (Eddy tables/notes with copyright notices). Class 1–31 pages and soldier Camp Ritchie rows show eight-week class date ranges; matched award recipients get ribbon + awards-grid sections.
* '''Sidebar sections''' — Split the left nav into Navigation, Reading, Directory, and Participate portals (was one long list). Sidebar slightly widened so [[Congressional Gold Medal]] shows its full title.
* '''Notable Ritchie Boys gallery''' — Added [[Notable Ritchie Boys]], a single page of portrait+blurb cards from both Notable Ritchie Boys Google Slides decks (linked to soldier pages when matched).
* '''Site changelog''' — Added this page so feature work on the wiki has a chronological home ([[Site changelog]]); linked from the sidebar and related help pages.
* '''Awards and honors (Wikipedia-style)''' — Soldier pages can show a ribbon rack plus a labeled awards grid (multi-line cells, content-sized columns, short rows spanning full width, tiny gaps between ribbons), with extra award notes as bullets.
* '''Wikipedia notables import''' — Pipeline to enrich existing soldier profiles from English Wikipedia (infobox fields, biography sections, Commons portraits, ribbon uploads) without inventing new soldier pages.
* '''Contents directory layout''' — Classes, Teams, and Site pages lists on [[Contents]] use a compact three-column layout (same idea as category pages). Any page that embeds a category tree gets that layout from site CSS.
* '''Soldier page chrome''' — Awards block sits in the main column after Biography (not crushed in the infobox); table of contents stays near the top after the lead.

=== 21 August 2026 ===
* '''The Stories''' — Hub and essay pages for Camp Ritchie narratives and individual biographies.
* '''Congressional Gold Medal''' — [[Congressional Gold Medal]] page for the Ritchie Boys Gold Medal Act.
* '''Secret Heroes / Battle of the Bulge''' — [[Secret Heroes/Battle of the Bulge]] essay and navigation.

=== 20 August 2026 ===
* '''Introduction''' — [[Introduction]] (Dan Gross).
* '''Secret Heroes / First Class''' — [[Secret Heroes/First Class]] page with photo and roster links.
* '''Find a soldier''' — Main Page search by name or ASN.
* '''Patrol''' — [[Patrol]] guide for watching [[Special:RecentChanges]].
* '''Contribute / Patrol links''' — Sidebar links for editors.
* '''Draft opening summary''' — Optional tool to draft a short lead from personal details and the Life biography for review before saving.

=== 19 August 2026 ===
* '''Edit soldier facts''' — Form on soldier pages to edit structured infobox fields (including specialty) without raw wikitext.

=== 18 August 2026 ===
* '''Initial roster import''' — ~21,000 soldier pages titled <code>Surname, First (ASN)</code>, with infobox, research notes, sources, and categories by class, letter, and teams.
* '''Site shell''' — [[Main Page]], [[Contents]], [[Camp Ritchie]], [[Contribute]], [[About the data]], soldier template/module, and base CSS/JS/sidebar.
* '''Directory foundations''' — [[:Category:Classes]], [[:Category:Teams]], and [[:Category:Soldiers by letter]].

[[Category:Ritchie Boys Wiki]]

Ritchie WACs

2026-09-17T03:26:13Z

Admin: Clarify Hurt née Sugi and Kato née Ogata; retire Sugi list row

'''Ritchie WACs''' lists Women's Army Corps (WAC) members identified when a soldier's '''certificate''' field is marked '''WAC'''.

About '''2,000''' WACs trained at [[Camp Ritchie]] during World War II alongside roughly 20,000 men. This page is a working roster; portraits are scarce so far. Background material and additional names will be added as research continues.

Roster names and service clues include research compiled by '''Dan Gross''' and expanded by '''Beverley Driver Eddy''' (''WACs at Camp Ritchie'', 2021 spreadsheet).

See also [[Camp Ritchie#Who trained there|Camp Ritchie — who trained there]], [[Ritchie Boy Programs#Dr. Beverley Driver Eddy — Ritchie Girls and WACs|Ritchie Girls and WACs]], [[The Stories/The Patricia Crane Story|The Patricia Crane Story]], and [[Themes]].

In July 1954, about thirty-five former Camp Ritchie WACs gathered in Hagerstown, Maryland, for what the ''Morning Herald'' described as the first reunion of a WAC contingent and the formal organization of the Camp Ritchie WAC Association, chaired by [[Massaro, Frances M. (A701441)|Frances Massaro]] until officers were elected. The paper estimated that about 150 WACs had been stationed at Ritchie during the war.

== Faces ==

<div class="notable-slides">
<div class="notable-slide-card">
<div class="notable-slide-photo">[[File:The Patricia Crane Story 1.png|200px|link=Crane, Patricia (A206798)|alt=Patricia Crane]]</div>
<div class="notable-slide-body">
<div class="notable-slide-name">[[Crane, Patricia (A206798)|Patricia Crane]]</div>
<div class="notable-slide-meta">WAC · Camp Ritchie</div>
<ul>
<li>Featured in the 2011 “Secret Heroes” exhibition</li>
<li>[[The Stories/The Patricia Crane Story|Full story]]</li>
</ul>
</div></div>
<div class="notable-slide-card">
<div class="notable-slide-nophoto">No portrait yet</div>
<div class="notable-slide-body">
<div class="notable-slide-name">[[Davis, Sally J. (L705001)|Sally J. Davis]]</div>
<div class="notable-slide-meta">Captain</div>
<ul>
<li>Roster certificate marked WAC</li>
</ul>
</div></div>
<div class="notable-slide-card">
<div class="notable-slide-nophoto">No portrait yet</div>
<div class="notable-slide-body">
<div class="notable-slide-name">[[Fischer, Dorothy (L504431)|Dorothy Fischer]]</div>
<div class="notable-slide-meta">[[Class 13|13]] · Capt</div>
<ul>
<li>Roster certificate marked WAC</li>
</ul>
</div></div>
<div class="notable-slide-card">
<div class="notable-slide-nophoto">No portrait yet</div>
<div class="notable-slide-body">
<div class="notable-slide-name">[[Gates, Alice Ann (L801221)|Alice Ann Gates]]</div>
<div class="notable-slide-meta">Second Lieutenant</div>
<ul>
<li>Roster certificate marked WAC</li>
</ul>
</div></div>
<div class="notable-slide-card">
<div class="notable-slide-nophoto">No portrait yet</div>
<div class="notable-slide-body">
<div class="notable-slide-name">[[Homan, Elaine Claira (L703016)|Elaine Claira Homan]]</div>
<div class="notable-slide-meta">First Lieutenant</div>
<ul>
<li>Roster certificate marked WAC</li>
</ul>
</div></div>
<div class="notable-slide-card">
<div class="notable-slide-nophoto">No portrait yet</div>
<div class="notable-slide-body">
<div class="notable-slide-name">[[Hunt, Georgia Fay (L803158)|Georgia Fay Hunt]]</div>
<div class="notable-slide-meta">Second Lieutenant</div>
<ul>
<li>Roster certificate marked WAC</li>
</ul>
</div></div>
<div class="notable-slide-card">
<div class="notable-slide-nophoto">No portrait yet</div>
<div class="notable-slide-body">
<div class="notable-slide-name">[[Rode, Barbara (L602377)|Barbara Rode]]</div>
<div class="notable-slide-meta">Second Lieutenant</div>
<ul>
<li>Roster certificate marked WAC</li>
</ul>
</div></div>
<div class="notable-slide-card">
<div class="notable-slide-nophoto">No portrait yet</div>
<div class="notable-slide-body">
<div class="notable-slide-name">[[Thiemann, Agnes D. (L704048)|Agnes D. Thiemann]]</div>
<div class="notable-slide-meta">First Lieutenant</div>
<ul>
<li>Roster certificate marked WAC</li>
</ul>
</div></div>
<div class="notable-slide-card">
<div class="notable-slide-nophoto">No portrait yet</div>
<div class="notable-slide-body">
<div class="notable-slide-name">[[Weil, Florence Sybil (L200552)|Florence Sybil Weil]]</div>
<div class="notable-slide-meta">Captain</div>
<ul>
<li>Roster certificate marked WAC</li>
</ul>
</div></div>
<div class="notable-slide-card">
<div class="notable-slide-nophoto">No portrait yet</div>
<div class="notable-slide-body">
<div class="notable-slide-name">[[Wolf, Susan E. (L909025)|Susan E. Wolf]]</div>
<div class="notable-slide-meta">First Lieutenant</div>
<ul>
<li>Roster certificate marked WAC</li>
</ul>
</div></div>
</div>

== Roster list (199 identified) ==

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Name !! Class !! Rank
|-
| [[Adams, Carolyn (A410164)|Carolyn Adams]] || || Private
|-
| [[Alexander, Madeleine R. (A203656)|Madeleine R. Alexander]] || || Sergeant
|-
| [[Altagrazia, Rizk A. (A310271)|Rizk A. Altagrazia]] || || Private First Class
|-
| [[Armstrong, Gregor (A1000993)|Gregor Armstrong]] || || Technician Fifth Grade
|-
| [[Arnold, Gretchen I. (A514899)|Gretchen I. Arnold]] || || Private
|-
| [[Baldinucci, Pauline M. (A206454)|Pauline M. Baldinucci]] || || Private
|-
| [[Barker, Ann L. (A317390)|Ann L. Barker]] || || Private
|-
| [[Beard, Mary E. (WAC)|Mary E. Beard]] || || Private
|-
| [[Beard, Mildred L. (A412093)|Mildred L. Beard]] || || Technician Fifth Grade
|-
| [[Bell, Esther F. (A119277)|Esther F. Bell]] || || Private
|-
| [[Bell, V. N. (WAC)|V. N. Bell]] || || Private
|-
| [[Bendees, Annette M. (A206986)|Annette M. Bendees]] || || Technician Fifth Grade
|-
| [[Bennett, Mary M. (A902786)|Mary M. Bennett]] || || Private First Class
|-
| [[Berger, Rose (A205351)|Rose Berger]] || || Technician Fourth Grade
|-
| [[Berkley, Emilie (A117420)|Emilie Berkley]] || || Captain
|-
| [[Bey, E. B. (WAC)|E. B. Bey]] || || Private First Class
|-
| [[Bonniwell, Eunice L.P. (A610513)|Eunice L.P. Bonniwell]] || || Private First Class
|-
| [[Boucher, Ellen K. (WAC)|Ellen K. Boucher]] || ||
|-
| [[Bradley, Ruth Mills (A125046)|Ruth Mills Bradley]] || || Captain
|-
| [[Bray, Mary K. (A706674)|Mary K. Bray]] || || Private First Class
|-
| [[Breault, Rita H. (A407803)|Rita H. Breault]] || || Corporal
|-
| [[Bresnahan, Mary T. (A708225)|Mary T. Bresnahan]] || || Technician Fourth Grade
|-
| [[Brewer, Alma O. (A216482)|Alma O. Brewer]] || || Private
|-
| [[Brown, Helen M. (A206226)|Helen M. Brown]] || || Private First Class
|-
| [[Bukowski, Anna M. (L305385)|Anna M. Bukowski]] || || First Lieutenant
|-
| [[Buswell, Sally B. (A1100669)|Sally B. Buswell]] || || Private
|-
| [[Butler, Grace Isabel (L115046)|Grace Isabel Butler]] || || First Lieutenant
|-
| [[Callanan, Helen G. (A115754)|Helen G. Callanan]] || || Private
|-
| [[Candrick, Margery L. (A306981)|Margery L. Candrick]] || || Technician Fifth Grade
|-
| [[Cantwell, Elizabeth C. (A235829)|Elizabeth C. Cantwell]] || || Private
|-
| [[Carriera, Alvira (WAC)|Alvira Carriera]] || ||
|-
| [[Clark, Gladys Ruth (L501142)|Gladys Ruth Clark]] || || Captain
|-
| [[Cohn, Florence (A195312)|Florence Cohn]] || || Private
|-
| [[Corl, G. E. (WAC)|G. E. Corl]] || || Private First Class
|-
| [[Crane, Patricia (A206798)|Patricia Crane]] || || Technician Fifth Grade
|-
| [[Dantin, Melba F. (A813222)|Melba F. Dantin]] || || Technician Fifth Grade
|-
| [[Davis, Sally J. (L705001)|Sally J. Davis]] || || Captain
|-
| [[DeGraw, Doris E. (L601934)|Doris E. DeGraw]] || || First Lieutenant
|-
| [[Detterding, Hulda C. (L803186)|Hulda C. Detterding]] || || Second Lieutenant
|-
| [[Dimsey, Jennie (A206357)|Jennie Dimsey]] || || Private First Class
|-
| [[Dino, Lillian H. (A120504)|Lillian H. Dino]] || || Private First Class
|-
| [[Doyle, Elizabeth A. (L215866)|Elizabeth A. Doyle]] || || Second Lieutenant
|-
| [[Driggs, Carol A. (A410202)|Carol A. Driggs]] || || Private First Class
|-
| [[Emmerson, Harryette H. (A607353)|Harryette H. Emmerson]] || || Lieutenant
|-
| [[Erickson, Esther D. (A902544)|Esther D. Erickson]] || || Technician Fourth Grade
|-
| [[Erwin, Ella (A810620)|Ella Erwin]] || || Private First Class
|-
| [[Faber, Murieljettie (A904394)|Murieljettie Faber]] || || Technician Fifth Grade
|-
| [[Fischer, Dorothy (L504431)|Dorothy Fischer]] || [[Class 13|13]] || Capt
|-
| [[Fiser, Helen Garner (L800640)|Helen Garner Fiser]] || || First Lieutenant
|-
| [[Fleming, Marjorie E. (L802511)|Marjorie E. Fleming]] || ||
|-
| [[Floding, Elizabeth P. (A406412)|Elizabeth P. Floding]] || || Technician Fifth Grade
|-
| [[France, Lillie M. (A410211)|Lillie M. France]] || || Technician Fifth Grade
|-
| [[Frankos, Calliope (A507130)|Calliope Frankos]] || || Private First Class
|-
| [[Fredericks, Rosalie (L304338)|Rosalie Fredericks]] || || Second Lieutenant
|-
| [[Garneau, A. M. (WAC)|A. M. Garneau]] || || Private First Class
|-
| [[Gates, Alice Ann (L801221)|Alice Ann Gates]] || || Second Lieutenant
|-
| [[Gerard, Jane B. (A705800)|Jane B. Gerard]] || || Technician Fifth Grade
|-
| [[Gillespie, Ruth (A412637)|Ruth Gillespie]] || || Private
|-
| [[Gillis, Antoinette Martina (L909124)|Antoinette Martina Gillis]] || || Second Lieutenant
|-
| [[Green, Bernice B. (A703538)|Bernice B. Green]] || || Staff Sergeant
|-
| [[Green, S. J. (WAC)|S. J. Green]] || || Sergeant
|-
| [[Griffin, Marcella M. (A206536)|Marcella M. Griffin]] || || Private First Class
|-
| [[Haggerty, Mary M. (A103191)|Mary M. Haggerty]] || || Private First Class
|-
| [[Hail, Eunice (A314158)|Eunice Hail]] || || Private First Class
|-
| [[Harbaugh, Gertrude D. (A135087)|Gertrude D. Harbaugh]] || || Private First Class
|-
| [[Hardie, Jeanne Elizabeth (L702014)|Jeanne Elizabeth Hardie]] || || First Lieutenant
|-
| [[Haskell, Anna J. (A135085)|Anna J. Haskell]] || || Private
|-
| [[Haygood, Mary Elizabeth (L402016)|Mary Elizabeth Haygood]] || || First Lieutenant
|-
| [[Heyl, Clare B. (A813223)|Clare B. Heyl]] || || Private First Class
|-
| [[Higgins, Edna M. (WAC)|Edna M. Higgins]] || || Sergeant
|-
| [[Hoffman, Gladys E. (A609560)|Gladys E. Hoffman]] || || Private First Class
|-
| [[Hogan, Helene I. (A602013)|Helene I. Hogan]] || || Private First Class
|-
| [[Homan, Elaine Claira (L703016)|Elaine Claira Homan]] || || First Lieutenant
|-
| [[Hudgins, Minnie (A308154)|Minnie Hudgins]] || || Captain
|-
| [[Hughes, Mary E. (A906893)|Mary E. Hughes]] || || Technician Fourth Grade
|-
| [[Hunt, Georgia Fay (L803158)|Georgia Fay Hunt]] || || Second Lieutenant
|-
| [[Hunt, Zelpha A. (A805936)|Zelpha A. Hunt]] || || Private
|-
| [[Hurt, Haruko (WAC)|Haruko Hurt]] (née Sugi) || ||
|-
| [[Hutchcraft, Patricia (A615801)|Patricia Hutchcraft]] || || Private
|-
| [[Iseri, Katherine (WAC)|Katherine Iseri]] || || Private
|-
| [[James, Ethel M. (A917157)|Ethel M. James]] || || Technician Fifth Grade
|-
| [[Jamieson, D. R. (WAC)|D. R. Jamieson]] || || First Lieutenant
|-
| [[Janne, Margrette (A904588)|Margrette Janne]] || || Private First Class
|-
| [[Jones, Frances M. (A902222)|Frances M. Jones]] || || Technician Fifth Grade
|-
| [[Kabata, Jessie (A611437)|Jessie Kabata]] || || Technician Fifth Grade
|-
| [[Kahapea, Florence Kanashiro (WAC)|Florence Kanashiro Kahapea]] || ||
|-
| [[Kane, Emily J. (A307379)|Emily J. Kane]] || || Private First Class
|-
| [[Kashmann, Doris H. (A125848)|Doris H. Kashmann]] || || Technician Fifth Grade
|-
| [[Kato, Sue (WAC)|Sue Suzuko “Susie” Kato]] (née Ogata) || ||
|-
| [[Kaufmann, Ellen J. (A206769)|Ellen J. Kaufmann]] || || Technician Fourth Grade
|-
| [[Kaul, Erika (A500626)|Erika Kaul]] || || Technician Third Grade
|-
| [[Kearns, Elizabeth J. (N760420)|Elizabeth J. Kearns]] || || Second Lieutenant
|-
| [[Kent, Mary (A206269)|Mary Kent]] || || Technician Fifth Grade
|-
| [[Klotz, Freida L. (A1001846)|Freida L. Klotz]] || || Private
|-
| [[Knight, Jere (11000842)|Jere Knight]] || || Lieutenant
|-
| [[Knox, Carmen Bergeron (L303839)|Carmen Bergeron Knox]] || || Second Lieutenant
|-
| [[Kono, Alice Tetsuko (WAC)|Alice Tetsuko Kono]] || || Technician Fourth Grade
|-
| [[Kruse, Marcella (A708354)|Marcella Kruse]] || || Private First Class
|-
| [[Kulikowska, Helen (L115078)|Helen Kulikowska]] || || Second Lieutenant
|-
| [[LaMarsh, J. V. (WAC)|J. V. LaMarsh]] || || Sergeant
|-
| [[Lavin, Marlen R. (WAC)|Marlen R. Lavin]] || ||
|-
| [[Levy, Rosamond Henrietta (L900314)|Rosamond Henrietta Levy]] || || First Lieutenant
|-
| [[Lewis, Ruth V. (WAC)|Ruth V. Lewis]] || || Private
|-
| [[Lichtenberger, Mildred R. (A601180)|Mildred R. Lichtenberger]] || || Corporal
|-
| [[Lohr, Jeannette B. (L1000153)|Jeannette B. Lohr]] || || First Lieutenant
|-
| [[Lowden, Jean (A807983)|Jean Lowden]] || || Private First Class
|-
| [[Lowry, Ruth Elias (L402686)|Ruth Elias Lowry]] || || Second Lieutenant
|-
| [[MacLennan, Phyllis E. (A206775)|Phyllis E. MacLennan]] || || Technician Fifth Grade
|-
| [[Malloy, Grace M. (A206777)|Grace M. Malloy]] || || Private
|-
| [[Mallue, Betty E. (L215209)|Betty E. Mallue]] || || First Lieutenant
|-
| [[Manley, Margaret B. (A302997)|Margaret B. Manley]] || || Sergeant
|-
| [[Massaro, Frances M. (A701441)|Frances M. Massaro]] || || First Sergeant
|-
| [[McCormick, Dorothy M. (A705715)|Dorothy M. McCormick]] || || Private First Class
|-
| [[McKnight, Sarah L. (A806044)|Sarah L. McKnight]] || || Technician Fifth Grade
|-
| [[Medsker, Evelyn M. (A514467)|Evelyn M. Medsker]] || || Technician Fifth Grade
|-
| [[Melanson, Ilah A. (A117515)|Ilah A. Melanson]] || || Technician Fourth Grade
|-
| [[Miegarrden, Elvira L. (A409805)|Elvira L. Miegarrden]] || || Private First Class
|-
| [[Mikami, Akiko (WAC)|Akiko Mikami]] || || Technician Fourth Grade
|-
| [[Miller, Jane Audrey (L600681)|Jane Audrey Miller]] || || Captain
|-
| [[Miller, Jeanne J. (A611508)|Jeanne J. Miller]] || || Technician Fifth Grade
|-
| [[Moffett, Eleanor T. (L400388)|Eleanor T. Moffett]] || || First Lieutenant
|-
| [[Montgomery, Eudora E. (A618498)|Eudora E. Montgomery]] || || Private
|-
| [[Mueller, Bertha K. (A223013)|Bertha K. Mueller]] || || Private
|-
| [[Muir, Beryl (WAC)|Beryl Muir]] || ||
|-
| [[Murphy, Frances J. (L500564)|Frances J. Murphy]] || || First Lieutenant
|-
| [[Myers, Janet A. (A215980)|Janet A. Myers]] || || Technician Fifth Grade
|-
| [[Nicholl, Virginia B. (A400749)|Virginia B. Nicholl]] || || Staff Sergeant
|-
| [[Nichols, Frances S. (A701819)|Frances S. Nichols]] || || Technician Fifth Grade
|-
| [[Nishimura, Betty (WAC)|Betty Nishimura]] || ||
|-
| [[Novak, Helene V. (L305700)|Helene V. Novak]] || || Second Lieutenant
|-
| [[Oda, Trooda (WAC)|Trooda Oda]] || || Technician Fifth Grade
|-
| [[Orloff, Marcia (A206643)|Marcia Orloff]] || || Technician Fifth Grade
|-
| [[Palmer, Ruth Ann (L225010)|Ruth Ann Palmer]] || || First Lieutenant
|-
| [[Parrish, Alice A. (L303722)|Alice A. Parrish]] || || First Lieutenant
|-
| [[Patrekeyeva, Larissa (A926258)|Larissa Patrekeyeva]] || || Private First Class
|-
| [[Patriarchi, Laura T. (A206730)|Laura T. Patriarchi]] || || Private First Class
|-
| [[Pickup, Myrtle M. (A210726)|Myrtle M. Pickup]] || || Private First Class
|-
| [[Podzunas, Stephanie (WAC)|Stephanie Podzunas]] || ||
|-
| [[Ponicall, Mary E. (A312380)|Mary E. Ponicall]] || || Private First Class
|-
| [[Potter, Lucile A. (A706524)|Lucile A. Potter]] || || Technician Fifth Grade
|-
| [[Potter, Marion J. (A235822)|Marion J. Potter]] || || Private
|-
| [[Presser, Sarah (L200931)|Sarah Presser]] || || First Lieutenant
|-
| [[Radley, Anna M. (A814553)|Anna M. Radley]] || || Private
|-
| [[Reck, Nona B. (L700093)|Nona B. Reck]] || || First Lieutenant
|-
| [[Reynolds, Sophie E. (A412626)|Sophie E. Reynolds]] || || Private First Class
|-
| [[Rice, Dorothy (A221625)|Dorothy Rice]] || || Technician Fifth Grade
|-
| [[Richard, Elcy J. (A906897)|Elcy J. Richard]] || || Private First Class
|-
| [[Richards, Gladys S. (A120582)|Gladys S. Richards]] || || Technician Fifth Grade
|-
| [[Riopel, Stephanie (L115626)|Stephanie Riopel]] || || Captain
|-
| [[Roach, Pauline A. (A216320)|Pauline A. Roach]] || || Private First Class
|-
| [[Robinson, Frances (WAC)|Frances Robinson]] || || Lieutenant
|-
| [[Rockwell, Priscilla (A609319)|Priscilla Rockwell]] || || Technician Fifth Grade
|-
| [[Rode, Barbara (L602377)|Barbara Rode]] || || Second Lieutenant
|-
| [[Rogers, Alberta I. (A507570)|Alberta I. Rogers]] || || Private First Class
|-
| [[Schneider, Rosemarie (WAC)|Rosemarie Schneider]] || || Private
|-
| [[Schoening, June L. (A515387)|June L. Schoening]] || || Private
|-
| [[Schoonover, Irma L. (A411162)|Irma L. Schoonover]] || || Private
|-
| [[Showalter, Elizabeth H. (A308849)|Elizabeth H. Showalter]] || || Technician Fifth Grade
|-
| [[Simmons, Mary A. (A117700)|Mary A. Simmons]] || || Technician Fourth Grade
|-
| [[Simpson, Elsie J. (A609693)|Elsie J. Simpson]] || || Private First Class
|-
| [[Singer, Nelly S. (A202393)|Nelly S. Singer]] || || Corporal
|-
| [[Skjei, Evelyn J. (A902775)|Evelyn J. Skjei]] || || Technician Fifth Grade
|-
| [[Slevin, Christine (WAC)|Christine Slevin]] || ||
|-
| [[Smith, Charlotte L. (A509063)|Charlotte L. Smith]] || || Private
|-
| [[Smith, E. (WAC)|E. Smith]] || || Private First Class
|-
| [[Spencer, Helen L. (L906035)|Helen L. Spencer]] || || Captain
|-
| [[Stables, Jennie (WAC)|Jennie Stables]] || ||
|-
| [[Stapleton, Helen M. (A705708)|Helen M. Stapleton]] || || Technician Fifth Grade
|-
| [[Stewart, Elizabeth (16930254)|Elizabeth Stewart]] || || Lieutenant
|-
| [[Stoumen, Helene R. (L304113)|Helene R. Stoumen]] || || Captain
|-
|-
| [[Sullivan, Della L. (A800187)|Della L. Sullivan]] || || Sergeant
|-
| [[Swanson, Gloria A. (A506687)|Gloria A. Swanson]] || || Technician Fifth Grade
|-
| [[Tajima, Yuri (A615658)|Yuri Tajima]] || || Private
|-
| [[Tape, R. K. (WAC)|R. K. Tape]] || || Technician Fifth Grade
|-
| [[Thayer, Eleanor H. (A303012)|Eleanor H. Thayer]] || || Technician Fourth Grade
|-
| [[Thiemann, Agnes D. (L704048)|Agnes D. Thiemann]] || || First Lieutenant
|-
| [[Thomas, Ruth (A611011)|Ruth Thomas]] || || Master Sergeant
|-
| [[Tombacher, Lillian R. (L203359)|Lillian R. Tombacher]] || || First Lieutenant
|-
| [[Toomey, Elsie M. (A610674)|Elsie M. Toomey]] || || Technician Fifth Grade
|-
| [[Tovolson, Faith (WAC)|Faith Tovolson]] || ||
|-
| [[Tsuchiyama, Tamie (WAC)|Tamie Tsuchiyama]] || ||
|-
| [[Tufts, Natalie H. (L202440)|Natalie H. Tufts]] || || First Lieutenant
|-
| [[Valelly, Anna L. (A706658)|Anna L. Valelly]] || || Technician Fifth Grade
|-
| [[Van Someren, J. C. (WAC)|J. C. Van Someren]] || || Sergeant
|-
| [[Voynich, Blossom D. (A209661)|Blossom D. Voynich]] || || Private
|-
| [[Walker, Pauline S. (L906135)|Pauline S. Walker]] || || Captain
|-
| [[Wall, Bonnie June (A915638)|Bonnie June Wall]] || || Private First Class
|-
| [[Walsh, Irma S. (A206744)|Irma S. Walsh]] || || Private First Class
|-
| [[Watson, Freda (A600979)|Freda Watson]] || || Master Sergeant
|-
| [[Weaver, Doris F. (A521976)|Doris F. Weaver]] || || Private First Class
|-
| [[Webb, Winifred (WAC)|Winifred Webb]] || ||
|-
| [[Webster, Rita M. (A217709)|Rita M. Webster]] || || Private First Class
|-
| [[Weil, Florence Sybil (L200552)|Florence Sybil Weil]] || || Captain
|-
| [[Weinstein, Ester (WAC)|Ester Weinstein]] || ||
|-
| [[West, Lillian K. (A400454)|Lillian K. West]] || || Corporal
|-
| [[Wilson, Barbara G. (A135064)|Barbara G. Wilson]] || || Private
|-
| [[Wolf, Susan E. (L909025)|Susan E. Wolf]] || || First Lieutenant
|-
| [[Yamashita, Hisako (WAC)|Hisako Yamashita]] || ||
|}

[[Category:Ritchie Boys Wiki]]

== Sources ==
* [https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/28285598/ “Bernice Green of Former WACs Here For First Reunion,” ''Hagerstown Morning Herald'', 30 July 1954] (via Dan Gross research archive (miscellaneous timeline-adjacent documents; not uploaded): ''WAC Contingent.doc'')

Camp Ritchie

2026-09-17T03:26:12Z

Admin: Note top-21 MISLS women graduates assigned to PACMIRS (Wikipedia)

'''Camp Ritchie''' (the Military Intelligence Training Center, or MITC) was a U.S. Army intelligence school at Cascade in Washington County, Maryland, during World War II. From 1942 it trained interrogators, order-of-battle specialists, photo interpreters, and related personnel. Graduates are commonly called [[:Category:Soldiers|Ritchie Boys]].

== Overview ==
Located in Washington County, Maryland near the Pennsylvania border, the site began as a resort area in the late 1800s before becoming a Maryland National Guard training site in 1926. In 1942, during World War II, it was transformed into the U.S. Army’s Military Intelligence Training Center (MITC), formally activated on '''19 June 1942''' (cadre had begun arriving earlier). Soldiers trained there in interrogation, counterintelligence, investigation, and psychological warfare.

Camp Ritchie is best known as the training ground for the “Ritchie Boys,” a specialized group of intelligence soldiers—many of them European immigrants and refugees—whose language skills and cultural knowledge made them invaluable in gathering intelligence and supporting Allied operations. The camp’s mission, reflected in its motto “Fas es ab hoste doceri” (“It is a duty to study the enemy”), centered on understanding and defeating enemy forces through intelligence.

Today, Camp Ritchie is recognized for its critical role in shaping modern U.S. military intelligence and for preparing the Ritchie Boys, who contributed significantly to the Allied victory in World War II.

== Photographs ==
<gallery mode="packed" heights="180px">
Camp_Ritchie_replica_German_village_training.jpg|For realism, some training took place in a replica of a German village
Camp_Ritchie_panoramic_view_late_1944.jpg|Panoramic view of Camp Ritchie in late 1944
</gallery>
Captions from the source filenames; archival credit not yet verified (see [[Photos#Camp Ritchie]]).

== Who trained there ==
About '''20,000''' men and roughly '''2,000''' Women’s Army Corps (WAC) members trained for Army intelligence work at Camp Ritchie (about '''22,000''' in all). Many were assigned because they spoke German, French, Italian, Polish, or another language the Army needed. Some were German- or Austrian-born Jewish refugees who had fled Nazi persecution; others were U.S.-born soldiers whose language skills were discovered after they enlisted or were drafted and who arrived on secret orders.

Training covered interrogation, counterintelligence, order of battle, psychological warfare, and related skills. Many graduates later served in the U.S. Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC). About '''900''' also received specialized training at '''Camp Sharpe''' near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania (often linked to Mobile Radio Broadcasting / psychological-warfare work — see [[Books]] and [[Ritchie Boy Programs]]). The '''3rd Mobile Radio Broadcasting Company''' was activated at Camp Ritchie on '''29 December 1943'''; specialized MRBC training commonly continued at Camp Sharpe.

== In the field ==
=== Europe ===
After the United States entered the war against Germany, many Ritchie Boys reached Europe beginning around D-Day (6 June 1944) and in the months that followed. Working near the front at corps and army levels, they interrogated prisoners and defectors, tracked German units and plans, and supported psychological-warfare efforts (leaflets, radio, and related means) meant to weaken resistance.

A classified postwar U.S. Army assessment found that nearly '''60%''' of the credible intelligence gathered in the European theater came from the Ritchie Boys. After the war, many served as translators and interrogators at the Nuremberg trials.

General Oscar Koch (Patton’s G-2) is among those who later acknowledged that advance warning of the German Ardennes offensive drew on information from Military Intelligence Service units — a theme developed at length on [[Secret Heroes/Battle of the Bulge]].

=== Pacific ===
Camp Ritchie also trained more than '''500''' Nisei (second-generation Japanese American) soldiers for document work connected with the Pacific war, including PACMIRS (Pacific Military Intelligence Research Section). '''Nisei women''' in the Military Intelligence Service likewise completed rigorous Japanese military-language training and were often assigned to PACMIRS at Camp Ritchie to work captured Japanese documents. Captured Japanese materials were studied at the camp; one well-known episode involves [[Yamane, Kazuo E. (30101877)|Kazuo E. Yamane]] identifying Japanese armory meeting notes among crates of documents from Saipan, which helped the War Department locate and strike armories. (See also the 2017 film ''Proof of Loyalty: Kazuo Yamane and the Nisei Soldiers of Hawaii''.) English Wikipedia’s account of Nisei women translators records that the top '''twenty-one''' Japanese American women MISLS translator graduates were assigned to PACMIRS document work at Camp Ritchie (see [[Nisei and Pacific]]). In 1945 the camp also formed '''Mobile Intelligence Training Units''' (MITU) for Army Ground Forces redeployment training: small teams in which Nisei demonstrated Japanese squad tactics and took part in orientation plays (some teams included veterans of the 442nd Combat Team). See [[Nisei and Pacific#Mobile Intelligence Training Units (MITU), 1945|Nisei and Pacific]].

== Prisoners of war and the Hill Project ==
During the war years (into 1947) Camp Ritchie also housed prisoner-of-war compounds. Detainees included German and Italian prisoners, among them men taken in the North African campaign.

After Germany’s surrender, the post hosted a classified effort known as the '''Hill Project''', in which selected German prisoners of war—including former Wehrmacht officers—worked with Allied personnel on research meant to improve military security in Europe, study German intelligence methods in detail, and (until Japan’s surrender) support the war against Japan. Only about '''150''' POWs worked directly on the project; by March 1946 more than '''1,500''' POWs were estimated to be at Ritchie, many connected in some way with that work.

== After the war — Fort Ritchie and the museum ==
The post was later known as '''Fort Ritchie''' and closed in '''1998''' under the 1995 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process. Following later redevelopment of the site, a museum and educational center opened on '''9 June 2023''' to commemorate the Ritchie Boys and the history of the post. See also [http://www.ritchiemuseum.org Ritchie History Museum] and [[Congressional Gold Medal]].

== Classes and teams on this wiki ==
The camp’s classes are listed as [[:Category:Class 1|Class 1]] through [[:Category:Class 31|Class 31]]. Individual soldier articles use those class numbers in the infobox. IPW and MII team codes are listed under [[:Category:Teams]].

For founding history, the camp flag and coat-of-arms, and how the MITC was established, see [[The Stories/Camp Ritchie Background|Camp Ritchie Background]]. Trainee voices about everyday camp life are collected on [[The Stories/Life in Camp Ritchie|Life in Camp Ritchie]]. JWB/USO records of the spring 1945 first-night Seder are on [[The Stories/Passover at Camp Ritchie (1945)|Passover at Camp Ritchie (1945)]]. Early staff and faculty from Dan Gross’s working list are on [[Camp Ritchie Faculty]]. Camp-wide training manuals and related PDFs live on [[Training materials]]. A short Personnel Section sheet of ten intelligence directives ([[Training materials#Featured: List of Directives|List of Directives]], Pers. Sec. 214) is transcribed on [[Training materials]]. A Signal Section monograph on a typical Enemy Equipment Intelligence Service detachment (EEIS Det. 9), including its April 1944 Camp Ritchie course, is on [[Training materials#Featured: Enemy Equipment Intelligence Service (EEIS)|Training materials]].

== Sources ==
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nisei_women_translators_in_World_War_II English Wikipedia, ''Nisei women translators in World War II''] (MISLS graduates assigned to PACMIRS at Camp Ritchie)
* [[Nisei and Pacific#Mobile Intelligence Training Units (MITU), 1945|Nisei and Pacific — Mobile Intelligence Training Units]]
* [[:File:MID_908_1945-07-24_Bissell_Weckerling_JA_soldiers_in_training.pdf|MID 908 / MITU memos, July 1945 (Bissell–Weckerling; Camp Ritchie Section IX; WRA)]] (NARA via JAVA packet)
* [https://www.fold3.com/image/291737678 Fold3 — A Typical Enemy Equipment Intelligence Service (EEIS Det. 9)] / [[:File:A_Typical_Enemy_Equipment_Intelligence_Service_EEIS_Det_9.pdf|PDF on this wiki]]
* [[The Stories/Passover at Camp Ritchie (1945)|Passover at Camp Ritchie (1945)]] (Fold3 / National Jewish Welfare Board–USO)
* [[:File:Camp_Ritchie_list_of_directives.jpg|Camp Ritchie List of Directives (Pers. Sec. 214)]] (source uncertain)
* [[:File:Camp_Ritchie_panoramic_view_late_1944.jpg|Panoramic view of Camp Ritchie in late 1944]] (source uncertain)
* [[:File:Camp_Ritchie_replica_German_village_training.jpg|For realism, some training took place in a replica of a German village]] (source uncertain)
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Ritchie#Camp_Ritchie English Wikipedia, ''Fort Ritchie'' — Camp Ritchie section] (POW compounds; Nisei women / PACMIRS; 3rd MRBC activation; Hill Project overview)
* [https://www.javadc.org/japanese%20american%20women%20in%20wwii.htm Japanese American Veterans Association — Japanese American Women in World War II] (Nisei women MIS linguists / PACMIRS at Camp Ritchie)
* Derek R. Mallett, “Western Allied Intelligence and the German Military Document Section, 1945–6,” ''Journal of Contemporary History'' 46, no. 2 (2011): 390–391 (Hill Project / German POWs at Camp Ritchie)
* John Whiteclay Chambers II, “OSS Training Areas in the National Park Service” (footnote 121) — MITC formally activated 19 June 1942; cites trainee accounts including Richard Warren Seltzer, Sr., and Lewis Bloom
Overview figures and field roles above draw in part on the English Wikipedia article [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ritchie_Boys Ritchie Boys] and the sources cited there (including Army intelligence histories and secondary works such as Bruce Henderson, ''Sons and Soldiers''). Roster counts and class structure on this wiki follow the Camp Ritchie class data described on [[About the data]] and [[By The Numbers]].

== See also ==
* [[Contents]]
* [[FAQ]]
* [[Introduction]]
* [[The Stories]]
* [[Nisei and Pacific]]
* [[The Stories/Camp Ritchie Background|Camp Ritchie Background]]
* [[The Stories/Life in Camp Ritchie|Life in Camp Ritchie]]
* [[The Stories/Passover at Camp Ritchie (1945)|Passover at Camp Ritchie (1945)]]
* [[Secret Heroes/Battle of the Bulge]]
* [[Camp Ritchie Faculty]]
* [[Training materials]]
* [[By The Numbers]]
* [[Notable Ritchie Boys]]
* [[:Category:Classes]]
* [[:Category:Teams]]

[[Category:Ritchie Boys Wiki]]

Nisei and Pacific

2026-09-17T03:26:11Z

Admin: Incorporate Wikipedia Nisei women translators; merge Sugi into Hurt card

{{DISPLAYTITLE:Nisei and Pacific}}
'''Nisei and Pacific''' gathers Japanese American (Nisei) soldiers and WACs tied on this wiki to Pacific document work, PACMIRS, or related Military Intelligence Service language training at [[Camp Ritchie]] — a story often missing from the popular “European interrogator” picture of the Ritchie Boys. English Wikipedia’s overview of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nisei_women_translators_in_World_War_II Nisei women translators in World War II] notes that the top twenty-one Japanese American women translator graduates from the Military Intelligence Service Language School (MISLS) were assigned to translate captured documents in the Pacific Military Intelligence Research Section (PACMIRS) at Camp Ritchie.

This is '''not''' a complete roster. Names appear when soldier pages on this wiki document the connection; more will be added as sources grow.

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<div class="notable-slide-name">[[Yamane, Kazuo E. (30101877)|Kazuo E. Yamane]]</div>
<ul>
<li>Nisei document work / PACMIRS; identified Japanese armory notes from Saipan</li>
<li>Featured on [[Camp Ritchie]]</li>
</ul>
</div></div>
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<div class="notable-slide-name">[[Abe, Davis (36918429)|Davis Abe]]</div>
<div class="notable-slide-meta">[[Class 2|Class 2]]</div>
<ul>
<li>Nisei / Pacific intelligence connection on profile</li>
</ul>
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<div class="notable-slide-name">[[Moriyama, Charles H. (30107766)|Charles H. Moriyama]]</div>
<div class="notable-slide-meta">[[Class 29|Class 29]]</div>
<ul>
<li>Nisei soldier; Pacific / MIS connection on profile</li>
</ul>
</div></div>
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<div class="notable-slide-name">[[Wakai, Theodore Y. (30107713)|Theodore Y. Wakai]]</div>
<div class="notable-slide-meta">[[Class 29|Class 29]]</div>
<ul>
<li>Nisei soldier; Pacific / MIS connection on profile</li>
</ul>
</div></div>
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<div class="notable-slide-name">[[Hurt, Haruko (WAC)|Haruko Hurt]]</div>
<ul>
<li>née Sugi; MISLS → PACMIRS translator at Camp Ritchie (1945–1946)</li>
<li>Featured in ''Nisei women translators in World War II'' (Wikipedia)</li>
</ul>
</div></div>
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<div class="notable-slide-name">[[Iseri, Katherine (WAC)|Katherine Iseri]]</div>
<ul>
<li>Nisei WAC linguist roster entry</li>
</ul>
</div></div>
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<div class="notable-slide-name">[[Kahapea, Florence Kanashiro (WAC)|Florence Kanashiro Kahapea]]</div>
<ul>
<li>Nisei WAC linguist roster entry</li>
</ul>
</div></div>
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<div class="notable-slide-name">[[Kato, Sue (WAC)|Sue Suzuko “Susie” Kato]]</div>
<ul>
<li>née Ogata; among the first Nisei WAC volunteers (Dec 1943); MISLS → Camp Ritchie / PACMIRS</li>
<li>Featured in ''Nisei women translators in World War II'' (Wikipedia)</li>
</ul>
</div></div>
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<div class="notable-slide-name">[[Kono, Alice Tetsuko (WAC)|Alice Tetsuko Kono]]</div>
<ul>
<li>Nisei WAC linguist roster entry</li>
</ul>
</div></div>
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<div class="notable-slide-name">[[Mikami, Akiko (WAC)|Akiko Mikami]]</div>
<ul>
<li>Nisei WAC linguist roster entry</li>
</ul>
</div></div>
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<div class="notable-slide-name">[[Nishimura, Betty (WAC)|Betty Nishimura]]</div>
<ul>
<li>Nisei WAC linguist roster entry</li>
</ul>
</div></div>
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<div class="notable-slide-name">[[Oda, Trooda (WAC)|Trooda Oda]]</div>
<ul>
<li>Nisei WAC linguist roster entry</li>
</ul>
</div></div>
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<div class="notable-slide-name">[[Tsuchiyama, Tamie (WAC)|Tamie Tsuchiyama]]</div>
<ul>
<li>Nisei WAC linguist roster entry</li>
</ul>
</div></div>
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<div class="notable-slide-name">[[Yamashita, Hisako (WAC)|Hisako Yamashita]]</div>
<ul>
<li>Nisei WAC linguist roster entry</li>
</ul>
</div></div>
</div>

== Mobile Intelligence Training Units (MITU), 1945 ==
In mid-1945 the War Department also used Camp Ritchie to form '''Mobile Intelligence Training Units''' for Army Ground Forces '''redeployment''' training (troops being prepared for the Pacific). July 1945 G-2 memoranda (MID 908) state that '''29''' MITUs were being organized, trained, and equipped at the Military Intelligence Training Center. Each unit was described as two Caucasian officers, two Caucasian enlisted men, and about '''thirteen''' enlisted Americans of Japanese ancestry (an earlier draft of the same memo said fifteen).

MITU demonstrations presented Japanese squad tactics (Nisei in Japanese uniforms with Japanese weapons) and an orientation play (''A Scrap of Paper'') in which Nisei played Japanese roles and an American Nisei interrogator—explicitly framed as showing that Nisei in the U.S. Army were Americans like soldiers of any other ancestry. As of late July 1945, '''six''' units were already in the field and '''ten''' more were expected to finish training by '''15 August 1945'''. Some former members of the '''442nd Combat Team''' were among those training with the teams. Camp Ritchie Section IX policy (Maj. Robert B. Noack, 23 July 1945) stressed that Nisei were not kept on a team against their wishes; of the then-current ten teams, two Nisei enlisted men had been released for refusing to wear a Japanese uniform.

War Relocation Authority director D. S. Myer had forwarded concerns from 442nd circles that using Nisei as “enemy” stand-ins could increase racial antagonism; G-2 replied that the MITU “Japanese squad” was a '''demonstration team''', not the opposing force in maneuvers. Japan’s surrender ended the need to deploy the full MITU program. Site course counts list '''18''' MITU courses (1 September 1944 – 15 August 1945) with '''306''' graduates—see [[By The Numbers/Student Numbers - All Classes]]—a different tally from the “29 units being organized” language in the July memos.

== Sources ==
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nisei_women_translators_in_World_War_II English Wikipedia, ''Nisei women translators in World War II''] (MISLS → PACMIRS at Camp Ritchie; Hurt and Kato biographies)
* [[:File:MID_908_1945-07-24_Bissell_Weckerling_JA_soldiers_in_training.pdf|MID 908 file, 24 July 1945 (Bissell / Weckerling) and related Camp Ritchie / WRA papers]] — MITU organization, Section IX policy, WRA concerns (NARA RG 107; JAVA packet)
* [[:File:MID_908_1945-07-21_Bissell_JA_soldiers_in_training.pdf|MID 908 memorandum, 21 July 1945 (Bissell)]] — earlier draft wording on MITU / Nisei demonstration teams (NARA RG 165; JAVA packet)
* [[By The Numbers/Student Numbers - All Classes]] — MITU course/graduate counts from the Camp Ritchie student-numbers spreadsheet

== See also ==
* [[Themes]]
* [[Camp Ritchie]]
* [[By The Numbers/Student Numbers - All Classes]]
* [[Introduction]]
* [[The Stories]]
* [[Ritchie WACs]]
* [[Photos]]

[[Category:Ritchie Boys Wiki]]

Sugi, Haruko (WAC)

2026-09-17T03:26:11Z

Admin: Redirect maiden-name duplicate to Hurt, Haruko (WAC)

#REDIRECT [[Hurt, Haruko (WAC)]]

'''Haruko Sugi''' is the maiden name of [[Hurt, Haruko (WAC)|Haruko Hurt]]. This title is kept as a redirect so maiden-name searches reach the canonical WAC profile.

Kato, Sue (WAC)

2026-09-17T03:26:05Z

Admin: Enrich from Wikipedia / Discover Nikkei (née Ogata; MISLS → Camp Ritchie)

{{Soldier
|lede_on_page=1
|surname=Kato
|first=Sue Suzuko
|certificate=WAC
|branch=Women's Army Corps
|birth_date=7 September 1921
|birth_year=1921
|birth_place=North Platte, Nebraska
|nativity=United States
|awards=Good Conduct Medal
|awards_grid=Good Conduct Medal
|awards_ribbons=Ribbon_Army_Good_Conduct_Medal_ribbon.png
|awards_ribbon_rows=Ribbon_Army_Good_Conduct_Medal_ribbon.png;;;;
}}
<div class="soldier-lead">
'''Sue Suzuko “Susie” Kato''' (née '''Ogata'''; born 7 September 1921) was a Women's Army Corps (WAC) Japanese-language translator associated with [[Camp Ritchie]], Maryland, and PACMIRS document work.
</div>

== Biography ==
Sue Suzuko “Susie” Kato (née Ogata) was born on 7 September 1921 in North Platte, Nebraska, and grew up among a small Japanese American farming community before the family moved to a farm near Greeley, Colorado. After high school (1938) she lived in Colorado, where Japanese immigrants could own land.

She volunteered for the Women's Army Corps on 13 December 1943 in Denver—one of the first six Nisei women to enter the WAC—saying she joined “to prove my Americanism.” After basic training at Fort Des Moines, Iowa, she did personnel clerical work at Fort Devens, Massachusetts, with two other Nisei WACs she had met at the Denver recruiting office. In 1945 she was ordered to the Military Intelligence Service Language School at Fort Snelling, Minnesota, for an intense Japanese-language and military-terminology course (about eight months; classes roughly 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. plus evening study). She graduated in May 1945.

In December 1945 Kato was sent to Camp Ritchie for PACMIRS translation of captured Japanese documents; the translating section later moved to the Central / Washington Document Center in Washington, D.C. One of her brothers later served with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team in Europe. She received the Good Conduct Medal. After discharge in 1946 she later worked as a legal secretary in Long Beach, California.

Kato later said the WAC years were enriching and that Nisei women took desk jobs “so the fellows could go to the front,” adding, “We did it for all Japanese Americans. I was proud to be an American.”

== Research notes ==
* Translator, Pacific Military Intelligence Research Section (PACMIRS)
* Maiden name: Ogata
* Maiden name: Ogata; also known as Sue Suzuko “Susie” Kato
* One of the first six Nisei WAC volunteers (13 December 1943, Denver)
* MISLS Fort Snelling graduate (May 1945); PACMIRS / Camp Ritchie translator (from December 1945); Washington Document Center
* Oral history (Go For Broke / NDAJAMS, 17 June 2006): https://ndajams.omeka.net/items/show/1056174

== Gallery ==
Use the '''Upload for this soldier''' box below (log in required), or [[Special:Upload]]. Profile photos: check '''Use as profile photo'''.

== Technical record ==
{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
|-
! Field !! Imported value
|-
| row_source || wac_eddy_gross_2021
|-
| spreadsheet_row || 93
|}

== Sources ==
* [https://ndajams.omeka.net/items/show/1056174 Sue Kato oral history interview (Go For Broke / NDAJAMS, 17 June 2006)]
* [https://www.javadc.org/japanese%20american%20women%20in%20wwii.htm Japanese American Veterans Association — Japanese American Women in World War II]
* [https://discovernikkei.org/en/resources/military/191/ Discover Nikkei — Japanese American Military Experience Database: Sue Suzuko “Susie” Ogata]
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nisei_women_translators_in_World_War_II English Wikipedia, ''Nisei women translators in World War II''] (Sue Suzuko Kato section)
* Dan Gross and Beverley Driver Eddy, ''WACs at Camp Ritchie'' roster research spreadsheet (Gross base list; Eddy additions, 2021)

Hurt, Haruko (WAC)

2026-09-17T03:26:03Z

Admin: Enrich from Wikipedia / Discover Nikkei (née Sugi; PACMIRS at Camp Ritchie)

{{Soldier
|lede_on_page=1
|surname=Hurt
|first=Haruko
|certificate=WAC
|branch=Women's Army Corps
|birth_date=3 January 1915
|birth_year=1915
|death_date=19 January 2012
|death_year=2012
|birth_place=Parlier, California
|nativity=United States
|awards=American Campaign Medal; Good Conduct Medal; World War II Victory Medal
|awards_grid=American Campaign Medal;;Good Conduct Medal;;World War II Victory Medal
|awards_ribbons=Ribbon_American_Campaign_Medal_ribbon.png;Ribbon_Army_Good_Conduct_Medal_ribbon.png;Ribbon_World_War_II_Victory_Medal_ribbon.png
|awards_ribbon_rows=Ribbon_American_Campaign_Medal_ribbon.png;;Ribbon_Army_Good_Conduct_Medal_ribbon.png;;Ribbon_World_War_II_Victory_Medal_ribbon.png
}}
<div class="soldier-lead">
'''Haruko Hurt''' (née '''Sugi'''; 3 January 1915 – 19 January 2012) was a Women's Army Corps (WAC) Japanese-language translator associated with [[Camp Ritchie]], Maryland, and the Pacific Military Intelligence Research Section (PACMIRS).
</div>

== Biography ==
Haruko Hurt (née Sugi) was born on 3 January 1915 in Parlier, California. Before the war she worked as a saleswoman and dressmaker in Los Angeles. After Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor—an act she later described as something “that country, over there, Japan, did”—she and her family were forced from the West Coast and held at the Rohwer relocation center in Arkansas.

She volunteered for the Women's Army Corps in 1944 (inducted 1 November 1944 at Fort Sheridan, Illinois) and trained at the Military Intelligence Service Language School at Fort Snelling, Minnesota, beginning in early 1945. After graduation she was sent to Camp Ritchie for PACMIRS document translation (1945–1946), working on teams that translated captured Japanese materials into English alongside American, Canadian, British, and Australian linguists. She later continued similar work at the Washington Document Center in Washington, D.C.

Hurt received the American Campaign Medal (American Theater Ribbon), the World War II Victory Medal, and the Good Conduct Medal. Using the G.I. Bill after discharge, she earned a master's degree in social work and married a former Navy man she met in college. She died on 19 January 2012.

== Research notes ==
* Pacific Military Intelligence Research Section (PACMIRS)
* Maiden name: Sugi (roster also had a duplicate page under Sugi, Haruko (WAC))
* Translator, Pacific Military Intelligence Research Section (PACMIRS), Camp Ritchie (1945–1946); Washington Document Center thereafter
* MISLS, Fort Snelling, Minnesota
* Oral history (Go For Broke / NDAJAMS, 25 February 2006): https://ndajams.omeka.net/collections/show/593

== Gallery ==
Use the '''Upload for this soldier''' box below (log in required), or [[Special:Upload]]. Profile photos: check '''Use as profile photo'''.

== Technical record ==
{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
|-
! Field !! Imported value
|-
| row_source || wac_eddy_gross_2021
|-
| spreadsheet_row || 82
|}

== Sources ==
* [https://ndajams.omeka.net/collections/show/593 Haruko Hurt oral history interview (Go For Broke / NDAJAMS, 25 February 2006)]
* [https://www.javadc.org/japanese%20american%20women%20in%20wwii.htm Japanese American Veterans Association — Japanese American Women in World War II]
* [https://discovernikkei.org/en/resources/military/113/ Discover Nikkei — Japanese American Military Experience Database: Haruko Sugi Hurt]
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haruko_Sugi_Hurt English Wikipedia, ''Haruko Sugi Hurt'']
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nisei_women_translators_in_World_War_II English Wikipedia, ''Nisei women translators in World War II''] (Haruko Sugi Hurt section)
* Dan Gross and Beverley Driver Eddy, ''WACs at Camp Ritchie'' roster research spreadsheet (Gross base list; Eddy additions, 2021)

File:Handbook on German Army Identification (1943).pdf

2026-09-17T03:17:52Z

Admin: Remove nonexistent Category:Training materials

Camp Ritchie / MITC training material.

File:German Uniform Chart (November 1942).pdf

2026-09-17T03:17:51Z

Admin: Remove nonexistent Category:Training materials

Camp Ritchie / MITC training material.

File:Camp Ritchie list of directives.jpg

2026-09-17T03:17:49Z

Admin: Remove nonexistent Category:Training materials

=={{int:filedesc}}==
{{Information
|description={{en|1=Camp Ritchie / Military Intelligence Training Center personnel sheet: “As a member of the Military Intelligence Training Center, I will always remember that…” — ten intelligence directives (Pers. Sec. 214).}}
|source=Uncertain; received via research packet (filename: Camp Ritchie List of Directives). Possibly U.S. Army / MITC personnel section material (not verified).
|author=Unknown (Military Intelligence Training Center, Personnel Section)
|date=
|permission=
|other versions=
}}

File:A Typical Enemy Equipment Intelligence Service EEIS Det 9.pdf

2026-09-17T03:17:48Z

Admin: Remove nonexistent Category:Training materials

=={{int:filedesc}}==
{{Information
|description={{en|1=A Typical Enemy Equipment Intelligence Service (EEIS Detachment No. 9, Signal Section, 9th U.S. Army). Signal Section monograph describing EEIS Detachment No. 9 training at Camp Ritchie (from 13 April 1944) and later field recovery of German signal/electronic equipment with Ninth U.S. Army. Combined from eight Fold3 JPG page scans into one PDF.}}
|source=[https://www.fold3.com/image/291737678 Fold3 — 572b Signal Section Monographs / Histories] (U.S. WWII European Theater Army Records, 1941–1946). Folder label: Type Enemy Equipment Intelligence Service (EEIS Detach No 9.); Adm 572 B.
|author=U.S. Army Signal Section / Enemy Equipment Intelligence Service (Detachment Number 9, Headquarters 9th U.S. Army)
|date=c. 1944–1945
|permission=
|other versions=
}}

File:MID 908 1945-07-24 Bissell Weckerling JA soldiers in training.pdf

2026-09-17T03:17:44Z

Admin: Remove nonexistent Category:Nisei and Pacific

=={{int:filedesc}}==
{{Information
|description={{en|1=MID 908 file, 24 July 1945 and related papers: Bissell/Weckerling memo on Japanese-American soldiers in MITU training at Camp Ritchie; Camp Ritchie Section IX policy memo (Maj. Robert B. Noack); War Relocation Authority correspondence. NARA RG 107 (via Japanese American Veterans Association packet).}}
|source=Japanese American Veterans Association research packet (NARA declassified War Department / War Relocation Authority copies).
|author=U.S. War Department / War Relocation Authority
|date=July 1945
|permission=
|other versions=
}}

File:MID 908 1945-07-21 Bissell JA soldiers in training.pdf

2026-09-17T03:17:44Z

Admin: Remove nonexistent Category:Nisei and Pacific

=={{int:filedesc}}==
{{Information
|description={{en|1=MID 908 memorandum, 21 July 1945, Maj. Gen. Clayton Bissell (A.C. of S., G-2) to the Assistant Secretary of War on use of Japanese-American soldiers in Mobile Intelligence Training Units (MITU) at Camp Ritchie. NARA RG 165 (via Japanese American Veterans Association packet).}}
|source=Japanese American Veterans Association research packet (NARA declassified War Department / War Relocation Authority copies).
|author=U.S. War Department / War Relocation Authority
|date=July 1945
|permission=
|other versions=
}}

File:MID 908 1945-07-24 Bissell Weckerling JA soldiers in training.pdf

2026-09-17T03:17:00Z