Robert R. Rodenberg

Robert R. Rodenberg
Personal details
Nativity	United States
Religion	Protestant
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch	United States Army
Arm / service	NMB
ASN	01994687
Rank	Second Lieutenant
Camp Ritchie	Class 5 (8 February – 9 April 1943)
Section	5

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Robert R. Rodenberg (ASN 01994687) was a Ritchie Boy (from United States; Protestant) who trained at Camp Ritchie in class 5.

Biography

Robert Ridgway Rodenberg was a Ritchie Boy. Robert was a real estate developer and investor who also was a founder of the Baltimore Colts football team. Robert was born in East St. Louis, Illinois, on November 8, 1909, and went on the move almost immediately. The son of the late William A. Rodenberg, Congressman from Illinois, Bob found himself moved from his birthplace to Washington, D. C., at the tender age of six weeks. But that was only a sort of pre-basic training for globe-trotting. After that first short hop, the youthful Rodenberg was somewhat stabilized in Washington for schooling. His education took him through John Eaton primary school; Devitt Prep; Stuyvesant School, Warrenton, Virginia; Tabor Academy, Marion, Massachusetts; Harvard University, and Babson Institute, Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts. He graduated from the last in 1932 and away he went. Spain was the first stop, until Bob decided the newspaper profession was for him. He joined the Washington Herald in 1933, put in a year as a reporter and was off to Mexico. Five months later he was back with the Herald, to stay until 1937, when he got a job covering Congress for the now defunct Capitol Daily. In almost no time at all the wandering reporter had bobbed up in San Juan, Puerto Rico, as English editor and columnist with the "Imparcial.' Shortly after the Washington Herald got him back, but not for keeps. R.R.R and several friends banded together to form the public relations firm of Sartwell, Snure, Rodenberg ard Barrett. Bob was then shortly thereafter trying something new with the Reynolds Metals Company of Richmond, Virginia. Rodenberg was next in New Mexico studying the possibilities of buying a newspaper in that territory. He almost wound up with Sante Fe's leading daily but by some quirk arrived back East instead producing movie shorts. The series, which appeared in 1904-41 was called ‘International Forum! and featured such figures as Dorothy Thompson, Fanny Hurst, William L, Shirer, Ralph Ingersoll, Admiral Harry S. Yarnall, Wythe Williams, Linton Wells and Senator Claude Pepper. In March of 1942, the Colt prexy enlisted in the Army. His Uncle Sam then handled his itinerary and did so well that R.R.R in service covered 40,000 miles on a round-the-world tour of duty. Assigned to the Quartermaster Corps, as an enlisted man Rodenberg got back to journalism as a columnist on the Camp Lec Traveler. It didn't last. In seven months he was in Officers' Training School, learning about brass at the Army Administrative School at the University of Florida. Next stop was the Military Intelligence Training Center at Camp Ritchie, Maryland. In March 19, he sailed to the Pacific as First Lieutenant on a secret mission. From India he was sent on an intelligence operation behind the Japanese lines in Burma. Landing on a makeshift airfield atop a mountain, he spent four months behind the lines with guerrilla fighters. Day, Rodenberg was transferred to China with the O.S.S. He was sent to Hsian, northernmost outpost in China. Later, after V.J. Day, Bob was one of the first Americans to arrive in Peking, still patrolled by armed Japanese. Following his discharge as a captain, Rodenberg was admitted to Walter Reed Hospital to undergo lengthy treatment for recurring malaria and black fever, contracted in the jungles. Rodenberg headed a syndicate that purchased what then was a defunct Miami franchise in the All America Football Conference and moved it to Baltimore. He was president of the team for one year, during which the investors lost about $250,000. In 1948, the franchise was taken over by the league. The Baltimore Colts of the National Football League moved to Indianapolis in 1984. Rodenberg also was a minority stockholder in the original Washington Senators baseball team. His family had held stock in the team since 1912. After ending his relationship with the Baltimore Colts, Mr. Rodenberg founded RRR&G Real Estate. He invested in real estate and land developments on Maryland's Eastern Shore and in Southern Maryland, including Wicomico Shores Yacht and Country Club in St. He retired in 1972. Robert passed away on October 7, 1994 at the age of 84.

Research notes

• OSS CBI
• OB 34
• 1909-1994?

Technical record

Field	Imported value
Class_ASN	994687
Class_Name	RODENBERG, Robert R.
match_method	asn_partial_name_exact
row_source	both

Sources

• Camp Ritchie class roster (classes 1–31), merged research file
• NARA World War II Army enlistment records (where a NARA ASN is present)
• 1940 U.S. Census (where a census match is present)
• Ritchie Boys of WWII Facebook page, post dated 2023-01-02 (1 post)