The Ritchie Boys

After reviewing The Wave, my dear spouse and I happened upon another WWII-related movie, The Ritchie Boys.  The title did not particularly tempt me.  The description was also not too appealing, something about some soldiers who were trained in intelligence during the war.

Was I wrong!  This amazing documentary is powerful, jolting, and very, very uplifting.

Normally the non-spoiler, who hates to give details that might ruin a film for the audience, I will for once do otherwise, thus this rare David-caution:  SPOILER ALERT!

Why?  Because the story, which is gripping, requires an adequate description to convince my dear readers that this film is worth seeing.

Back in the late 30's, as Europe was watching Hitler and the Nazis gain in strength, and we stayed cautiously neutral, Jews who could see the handwriting on the wall and who had a spirit of adventure, left Europe for America.  Among the brave immigrants were young men who, wanting to fight the Nazis, joined American military forces.

The services, realizing the value of American boys who were fluent in German and who knew Germany well, recruited the brightest of the men for special intelligence work.  The military sent the chosen few to Camp Ritchie, an isolated rural area, for training.

What was the major task of the Ritchie Boys?  Simple.  They were to return to Europe, with their American units, to interrogate the Germans who were captured and to engage in anti-Nazi propaganda. The "boys" were just that: Generally between 18 and 24, anxious to serve their new country, and also to fight against the Germans who were slaughtering their people.

In order to be where the action was, the Ritchie intelligence units were actually present at almost every major WWII event:  The invasion of Normandy, the Battle of the Bulge, and the uncovering of the Nazi death camps.

So what is the film?  It's a series of interviews with the Ritchie boys as they are today, much older, somewhat wiser, and able and willing to share what they actually did.  The interviews, and the flashbacks to WWII, are captivating and often mind-boggling.

I had a connection of sorts with one of the Ritchie Boys.  He's shown in the picture above.  Who is he?  Victor Brombert.  As a graduate student many years ago studying 19th Century French Literature, I constantly came across the writings of the most famous literary scholar of French literature in America, and probably the world....none other than Professor Victor Brombert, of Yale University.

I recently wrote the great professor to thank him for what he did for both Americans and Jews.

I am touched by what the brave young soldiers did for all of us.