About the data

This wiki was seeded from a merged research file of Camp Ritchie class-roster rows and a larger demographics table. Soldier pages are a public starting point, not a finished biography of every man.

Class data

Class roster data (Classes 1–31 only). The class, section, and related roster fields for Classes 1–31 come from U.S. government training-roster records held by the National Archives. Camp Ritchie Museum, Inc. (also known as The Ritchie History Museum) digitized that material and made it available for this project. The underlying records are public-domain government information; the museum does not own the data. Please credit the museum as the digitization source when citing this roster. That dataset is separate from Dan Gross's research files and from material created by this wiki's maintainers. We have tried to catch errors, but mistakes and omissions remain possible; not every person who trained at Camp Ritchie appears in this data. On the original theritchieboys.com site, this material was a separate searchable class roster database. On this wiki it is integrated into soldier profiles, class pages, and related navigation. Attribution to the museum applies to that Classes 1–31 roster data (class/section assignments and related roster fields), not to biographies, photographs, research notes, timelines, or other content on the site. Broader limits on biographies, photographs, and other site content are explained on About the data.

Research notes

Notes copied onto soldier pages (and later additions under Research notes) are a working file, not a verified biography. They may be unverified, incomplete, or incorrect, and should not be treated as established fact. If you have a source, correct the page or explain the change on its talk page.

What was imported

Each soldier page has:

An infobox built from names, Army serial number (ASN), class/section/rank, vitals, nativity, religion, enlistment, IPW teams, and related public fields
Research notes copied from the source file when they existed
A collapsed technical section with NARA and census codes used in the merge (not the raw NARA dump string)

Pages are titled Surname, First (ASN) so men with the same name stay distinct.

Match confidence

Class-roster rows were matched to demographics on name plus ASN (full, partial, or near). A yellow Record status: unconfirmed banner appears when that match is not high confidence. Treat those infobox class fields as a lead to check, not as settled fact.

Each soldier page also carries a short Sources & confidence note: research notes are leads; contested claims need a citation or a Talk discussion. Editors can mark a line with {{Needs source}}.

What was not imported

Social Security numbers and Death Master File internals
The raw NARA enlistment dump string
Internal merge logs and ambiguous-review queues (those stay with the research project)

How to cite this wiki

Cite the soldier page and the date you read it. For the underlying government records, cite NARA WWII Army enlistment files, the 1940 census, and the class roster independently. Wiki text can change. Reproduction of Camp Ritchie Museum material is limited as stated on Disclaimer.