Martin Wardmasky

Record status: unconfirmed. Class-roster match confidence is medium-high. Correct the infobox if you have a source, and note it on talk.

Martin Wardmasky
Personal details
Birth name	Martin Wardamasky
Born	1919 Rockaway, New Jersey
Died	2008
Nativity	United States
Religion	Catholic
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch	United States Army
ASN	32187433
Rank	Sergeant
Camp Ritchie	Class 19 (16 May – 13 July 1944)
Section	6H
Enlisted	Ft Dix, New Jersey

Research notes on this page are compiled from the source file and later edits. They may be unverified, incomplete, or incorrect, and should not be treated as established fact. Please correct the article or add sources on the talk page. For class-roster terms, see About the data.

Sources & confidence: Treat Research notes as leads, not settled fact. Prefer NARA, the class roster, newspapers, Find a Grave, or published histories for contested claims. Mark unsourced claims with {{Needs source}}, or explain disagreements on talk. Baseline import notes: About the data.

Martin Wardmasky (1919–2008), also known as Martin Wardamasky, was a New Jersey–born Ritchie Boy (Class 19) who spent much of his youth in the Soviet Union before returning to the United States on the eve of World War II.

Biography

Martin Wardmasky (also spelled Wardamasky) was born in Rockaway, New Jersey, to Russian-born parents. In December 1931, when he was twelve, the family left New York Harbor for the Soviet Union, drawn by promises of work during the Great Depression. He grew up in the USSR under Stalin and later returned to the United States alone only months before America entered World War II.

In September 1941 he worked as a laborer at Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey. He trained at Camp Ritchie with Class 19; roster notes also record a non-graduate status dated 14 July 1944. After the war his unusual path—an American childhood interrupted by years in the Soviet Union—remained only partly told until his daughter, Karen Wardamasky Bobrow, reconstructed it in Do Svidanya Dad: Tracing the Story of an American Family Trapped in the USSR (2016), drawing on a family diary and National Archives correspondence.

Research notes

• See also Martin Wardamasky (RB)
• Parents born in Russia; family emigrated to USSR Dec 1931; returned alone before U.S. entry into WWII
• Daughter Karen Wardamasky Bobrow, Do Svidanya Dad (2016)

Gallery

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Technical record

Field	Imported value
Approx Age at Death	89
Nara ASN	32187433
Nara Name	WARDAMASPY MARTIN
Nara State	22
Nara County	27
Nara POE	2229
Nara DOE	71141
Nara Grade Alpha	PVT
Nara Grade Code	8
Nara Branch Alpha	BI
Nara Branch Code	0
Branch	Branch Immaterial - Warrant Officers, USA
Nara Term or Enlistment	0
Term of enlistment	Unknown
Defer. Date	0
Nara Source	0
Nara Nativity	22
Nativity.1	NEW JERSEY
Nara Year of Birth	19
Nara Race	1
Nara Race Description	White citizen
Nara Education	5
Nara Civilian Occupation	999
Nara Marital Status	6
Nara Height (inches)	70
Nara Weight (lbs)	143
Class_ASN	52187433
Class_Name	WARDMASKY, Martin
match_method	asn_near_name_exact
row_source	both

Timeline

• Born 10 April 1919 in Rockaway, NJ. Parents born in Russia.
• September 1942 — Promoted to Cpl.
• 5 February 1943 — Promoted to Sgt.
• January 1943 — Medical Detachment (MDTS?), Lawson General Hospital, Atlanta.
• January 1943 — Served as Surgical Technician at Fort Oglethorpe, GA.
• 14 July 1944 — Non-graduate. To be re-assigned.
• 18 November 1944 — Served as medical NCO on hospital ship Jarrett M.
• Tuscaloosa, AL (4447 SCU Medical Detachment).

Sources

• Karen Wardamasky Bobrow, Do Svidanya Dad: Tracing the Story of an American Family Trapped in the USSR (2016)
• Dan Gross research archive (miscellaneous timeline-adjacent documents; not uploaded): MARTIN WARDAMASKY - Biography.doc
• Camp Ritchie Museum, Inc. (The Ritchie History Museum), Classes 1–31 roster data
• Dan Gross research spreadsheets, including original Excel timeline/roster work, combined with other research and records
• NARA World War II Army enlistment records (where a NARA ASN is present)
• 1940 U.S. Census (where a census match is present)
• Dan Gross, Timeline of Martin Wardmasky for Camp Ritchie (private research document; 1 source documents reviewed)
• Dan Gross, Timeline of Wardmasky, Martin for Camp Ritchie (private research files; selected non-private narrative findings; 1 source files: MARTIN WARDMASKY.doc)