The Stories/Memoirs of Sidney Dombroff: Difference between revisions
Remove self-cites to theritchieboys.com; this wiki is the home for that content |
Re-import story: interleaved images, captions, compact galleries |
||
| Line 2: | Line 2: | ||
'''Memoirs of Sidney Dombroff''' | '''Memoirs of Sidney Dombroff''' | ||
Copyright © [[Dombroff, Sidney (32863592)|Sidney Dombroff]]. All Rights Reserved | |||
Chapter X - Camp Ritchie, Maryland | |||
You’re in The Army, Wise Guy | |||
Having finished my coffee, I paid for our breakfast in the dining car of the train taking us from Texas to Maryland, with a government meal ticket which had been issued to me as non-com in charge. It indicated the number of men in my group, and after I signed it the railroad would be reimbursed by the government. | Having finished my coffee, I paid for our breakfast in the dining car of the train taking us from Texas to Maryland, with a government meal ticket which had been issued to me as non-com in charge. It indicated the number of men in my group, and after I signed it the railroad would be reimbursed by the government. | ||
| Line 20: | Line 20: | ||
This was more bluster than fact. We were soldiers who've all had experience with his type. He got his frustrations off his chest and we kept our cool; but his demeanor and attitude reinforced our awareness that sometimes a real enemy was in our very midst. Incidentally, only a few of the men in our group were college graduates. | This was more bluster than fact. We were soldiers who've all had experience with his type. He got his frustrations off his chest and we kept our cool; but his demeanor and attitude reinforced our awareness that sometimes a real enemy was in our very midst. Incidentally, only a few of the men in our group were college graduates. | ||
Classes included German, Japanese and Russian sections. They each learned basically the same things, but with emphases pertaining to their language specialties. | Classes included German, Japanese and Russian sections. They each learned basically the same things, but with emphases pertaining to their language specialties. I was in the Russian group, most of whom had learned the language at home in the United States, or who were of Slavic origin, such as Czechs, Poles and Lithuanians and who were relatively recent arrivals to our shores. I was in a minority group which had learned the language in school. | ||
Several of the foreign-born tried to give the impression that they knew all the "angles," and were constantly looking for new "angles," some real and some imagined. It had to do with a certain paranoia from their European heritage of bureaucracy and corruption. They were always trying to get the latest information, or to be first in all things. They played their cards "close to the vest," but I was not aware that their secretiveness ever gave them any real advantage in the American army. | Several of the foreign-born tried to give the impression that they knew all the "angles," and were constantly looking for new "angles," some real and some imagined. It had to do with a certain paranoia from their European heritage of bureaucracy and corruption. They were always trying to get the latest information, or to be first in all things. They played their cards "close to the vest," but I was not aware that their secretiveness ever gave them any real advantage in the American army. | ||
| Line 48: | Line 48: | ||
In true military intelligence fashion, our Russian group was given very short notice to pack up for temporary detached service from Camp Ritchie, for further schooling someplace in the Midwest. The war was not over; the other enemy had yet to be defeated. | In true military intelligence fashion, our Russian group was given very short notice to pack up for temporary detached service from Camp Ritchie, for further schooling someplace in the Midwest. The war was not over; the other enemy had yet to be defeated. | ||
Copyright © [[Dombroff, Sidney (32863592)|Sidney Dombroff]]. All Rights Reserved | |||
Copyright © | Copyright © 2018-2026 www.theritchieboys.com | ||
== See also == | == See also == | ||