Carl J. Weeldreyer

Carl J. Weeldreyer
Personal details
Born	19 August 1914 Chancellor, South Dakota
Died	1985
Nativity	United States
Religion	Protestant
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch	United States Army
Arm / service	Cavalry
ASN	0452153
Rank	Captain
Rank at Ritchie	First Lieutenant
Camp Ritchie	Class 9 (21 June – 18 August 1943)
Section	5G
Unit / division	2nd Armored Division
Teams	IPW 19, IPW 23

Teammates

Team — IPW 19

Team — IPW 23

These are other soldiers listed on the same team roster. People moved between teams; overlapping service dates are not always documented.

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.

Carl J. Weeldreyer (19 August 1914 – 1985) was a South Dakota-born U.S. Army captain and Ritchie Boy (Class 9) who led IPW Team 23 with the 2nd Armored Division.

Biography

Carl J. Weeldreyer was born on 19 August 1914 in Chancellor, South Dakota. Before the war he worked as an interior and exterior painter and farmhand and attended grammar school in South Dakota (1920–1928).

Weeldreyer completed Officer Candidate School at Fort Riley, Kansas, in December 1941 and was commissioned a second lieutenant (ASN 0452153). He served with a cavalry replacement training center in early 1942 and with the 83rd Division Reconnaissance Troop from August 1942. In June 1943 he entered the Military Intelligence Training Center at Camp Ritchie (Class 9, Section 5G, German IPW), graduating as a captain (certificate 2751). His personal history card rated German speaking as good and reading and writing as fair.

He commanded IPW Team 23 with the 2nd Armored Division (team members recorded with him include De Forest, Finder, Gramckow, Bender, and Wolf). A January 1945 G-2 memo from the division is among the research notes for his overseas service. He died in 1985.

Research notes

• MITC personal history card (P-26): IPW German; Class 9 Sec. 5G; native born.
• Card service notes: OCS Ft. Riley 12-41; CRTC 1-42; 83rd Div. Recon. Tr. 8-42; MITC 6-43.
• Card classification note dated 25 October 1943 (officer in charge); Pine Camp N.Y. / maneuvers mentioned.
• RB Archive folder note (updated 6 April 2014) links a late-1950s/early-1960s U.S. Army “Aggressor” training newsreel to wartime photos of Capt. Weeldreyer wearing a fictitious-army helmet in 1943; no video URL was present to add to Ritchie Boy Interviews.

Gallery

• 
  Capt. Carl Weeldreyer somewhere in Europe, 1944–45 (RB Archive)
• 
  IPW Team 23 prisoner-of-war interrogation desk scene (RB Archive)
• 
  Indoor training/group scene with Nachrichtenaufklärungs Kompanie sign (RB Archive)
• 
  Camp Ritchie MITC personal history card (Dan Gross research archive)

Technical record

Field	Imported value
Approx Age at Death	71
Class_ASN	452153
Class_Name	WEELDREYER, CarI J.
match_method	asn_exact_name_compatible
row_source	both

Timeline

• 19 August 1914 — Born in Chancellor, South Dakota.
• 1920–1928 — Grammar school in South Dakota; later painter and farmhand.
• December 1941 — Officer Candidate School, Fort Riley, Kansas; commissioned second lieutenant (ASN 0452153).
• January 1942 — Cavalry replacement training center duty.
• August 1942 — 83rd Division Reconnaissance Troop (first lieutenant).
• June 1943 — Student, MITC Camp Ritchie; Class 9 Sec. 5G (IPW German); graduated captain (certificate 2751).
• 16 October 1943 — Unit alerted for overseas shipment.
• IPW Team 23 assigned to 2nd Armored Division (Weeldreyer; De Forest; Finder; Gramckow; Bender; Wolf).
• 28 January 1945 — Memo noted by Lt. Col. E. A. Trahan, G-2, 2nd Armored Division.
• 1985 — Died.

Sources

• Wartime photographs of Capt. Carl J. Weeldreyer from RB Archive folder “Carl Weeldreyer (Captain) IPW Team 23” (Europe 1944–45, IPW Team 23 desk, training group)
• Dan Gross timeline research for Carl J. Weeldreyer (private research files; selected non-private findings)
• RB Archive research note on U.S. Army “Aggressor” training newsreel / Camp Ritchie techniques (folder “Carl Weeldreyer (Captain) IPW Team 23”; private note, not uploaded)
• Camp Ritchie MITC personal history card from Dan Gross research archive (uploaded scan)
• Camp Ritchie MITC personal history card from Dan Gross research archive (miscellaneous timeline-adjacent documents; not uploaded): CARL_J._WEELDREYER (uploaded scan)
• 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 Carl J. Weeldreyer for Camp Ritchie (private research document; 1 source documents reviewed)
• Dan Gross, Timeline of Weeldreyer, Carl J. for Camp Ritchie (private research files; selected non-private narrative findings; 1 source files: CARL J. WEELDREYER.doc)