Start here is the short path into this wiki — whether you are learning the Ritchie Boys story for the first time, looking for a relative, or ready to help improve a page.
Learn the story
At Camp Ritchie, Maryland, the Army’s Military Intelligence Training Center trained soldiers — many of them immigrants and refugees who spoke the enemy’s languages — for interrogation, document work, photo interpretation, and related intelligence duties in World War II.
- Secret Heroes: Camp Ritchie and the Making of The Ritchie Boys — the overview
- Camp Ritchie — the camp, curriculum, and who trained there
- By The Numbers — class sizes, specialties, and awards at a glance
- The Stories — curated biographies (try Guy Stern, Karl Goldsmith, or Patricia Crane)
- Ritchie Boy Interviews · Documentaries/Movies — hear and see the history
Looking for a relative
Three steps: find the page, understand what you are seeing, then add a photo or obituary if you have one.
You do not need an account to search or to edit biography text. An account is only required to upload a photograph.
Find the name
- On the Main Page, use Find a soldier — type a surname or Army serial number (ASN), for example
Lubranor33668332. - Or open Special:Search and search the same way.
- Article titles look like
Surname, First (ASN)so people with the same name stay distinct. - You can also browse by class or letter on Contents, or by birth country.
Open the soldier page when you find a match.
If the name is not found
Try these before assuming the person is absent from Camp Ritchie:
- Alternate spellings, anglicized names, or maiden vs married surnames
- ASN with or without leading zeros (for example
306244and0306244) - Browse Contents, Soldiers A–Z, or By birth country
The person may still be missing from the Classes 1–31 roster import, listed under a different spelling, or not yet matched. Use Contact Us to ask, or add what you know via Contribute.
Understand the roster fields
The right-hand infobox holds structured facts. The left column holds the opening summary and Biography. Treat the biography as a draft until you check sources.
| What you see | What it usually means |
|---|---|
| ASN | Army serial number — the ID in the page title |
| Class | Camp Ritchie training class (Classes 1–31 from the museum-digitized roster) |
| Team / IPW | Interrogation or related team assignment when known (for example IPW 141) |
| Nativity / religion / occupation | Roster or enlistment fields; may be incomplete or coded oddly |
| Research notes | Working leads — not a verified biography. May be wrong or out of date |
| Yellow Record status: unconfirmed | The class-roster match is not high confidence — check before treating class fields as settled |
Two different source streams feed many pages: the Classes 1–31 roster (digitized by Camp Ritchie Museum, Inc. / The Ritchie History Museum from NARA records) and research compiled by Dan Gross and others. Full explanation: About the data.
Add a photo or obituary
Photograph: Create an account or log in, open the soldier’s page → Gallery → Contribute files (or Special:Upload). More detail: Contribute#Photographs_and_documents.
Obituary, clipping, or family recollection: you can edit without an account — open the soldier page → Edit (or Edit biography). Add a short third-person paragraph under Biography, with the source under Sources. Prefer facts about the soldier over event announcements or first-person Facebook framing.
Full editor guide: Contribute. Questions: Contact Us · FAQ.
Help the record
- Contribute — edit text without an account; upload photos when logged in
- Contribute documents — OCR a roster scan for review
- About the data — what is verified vs still a lead
- Themes · By specialty · Classes — other ways into the roster