III 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 349 

Honoring the contributions of the Ritchie Boys. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 9, 2021 

Mr. CARDIN (for himself, Mr. CRAPO, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. RISCH, and Mr. 

WYDEN) submitted the following resolution; which was considered and 

agreed to 

RESOLUTION 

Honoring the contributions of the Ritchie Boys. 

Whereas, in 1942, the Federal Government ordered that a 

Maryland National Guard Training Ground be turned 

into a War Department Military Intelligence Training 

Center, which was named Camp Ritchie after the late 

Governor, Albert C. Ritchie; 

Whereas, starting in 1942, more than 19,000 men trained at 

Camp Ritchie in Maryland and became known as the 

Ritchie Boys; 

Whereas, while the approximately 2,800 refugees who had 

fled Nazi persecution in Germany and Austria and had 

come to the United States as ‘‘enemy aliens’’ prior to the 

entry of the United States into World War II only constituted approximately 14 percent of the total number of 


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Ritchie Boys, they had the strongest motivation to return 

to Europe and fight for their newly adopted country; 

Whereas the Ritchie Boys included— 

(1) soldiers of many faiths (including Protestant, 

Jewish, and Catholic soldiers); 

(2) both soldiers born in the United States and foreign-born soldiers from more than 70 countries; 

(3) soldiers with German, Japanese (Nisei), and 

other language skills; and 

(4) more importantly, soldiers with general intelligence skills suitable for being trained as order-of-battle 

specialists, counterintelligence operatives, photo interpreters, psychological warfare experts, and other specialists; 

Whereas, during World War II, Ritchie Boys were assigned 

to every unit of the Army and the Marines as well as to 

the Office of Strategic Services and the Counter Intelligence Corps; 

Whereas, starting in 1942, the Ritchie Boys were sent as individual specialists to the Supreme Headquarters Allied 

Expeditionary Force (‘‘SHAEF’’) in small elite teams to 

join combat units in the North African, Mediterranean, 

European, and Pacific theaters and to military camps, 

prisoner-of-war camps, and interrogation centers (such as 

Fort Hunt, VA) in the United States; 

Whereas the Ritchie Boys accompanied the Army on D-Day 

in Europe as foot soldiers with all Army divisions and as 

paratroopers with all airborne divisions and were often 

selected to be the second soldier to land after the commander in order to provide needed immediate interpretation in languages such as French, German, and Italian; 


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Whereas the Ritchie Boys served as personal interpreters for 

General George Patton and other military leaders; 

Whereas the Ritchie Boys served honorably in the Pacific in 

the assaults on Guadalcanal, Okinawa, Iwo Jima, and the 

Philippines, including 2 Marine Corps Ritchie Boys who 

died in the initial landing on Iwo Jima and a Ritchie Boy 

who was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously for 

bravery; 

Whereas about 140 Ritchie Boys lost their lives during World 

War II; 

Whereas the Ritchie Boys garnered more than 65 Silver Star 

Medals and numerous Bronze Star Medals as well as at 

least 5 Legion of Honor and many Croix de Guerre Medals; 

Whereas, among the 150-man Second Mobile Radio Broadcast Company of the Ritchie Boys, 6 members received 

the Croix de Guerre Medal and at least 15 received 

Bronze Star Medals for service and bravery; 

Whereas the Ritchie Boys made significant contributions to 

the success of the Allied Forces on the Western Front 

through their knowledge and their skills, as demonstrated 

by a classified postwar report by the Army finding that 

the Ritchie Boys were the source of nearly 60 percent of 

the credible intelligence gathered in Europe during World 

War II; 

Whereas many of the Ritchie Boys continued to serve their 

country following the conclusion of World War II, including through service as translators or interrogators prosecuting war criminals with the Judge Advocate General’s 

Office during trials at Dachau and Nuremberg; 


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Whereas the Ritchie Boys include such notable figures as 

David Rockefeller, Archibald Roosevelt Jr, William 

Sloane Coffin, Philip Johnson, J.D. Salinger, and William Warfield, as well as Senators John Chafee of Rhode 

Island and Frank Church of Idaho, and the father of the 

current senior Senator from Oregon, Ron Wyden; 

Whereas the Ritchie Boys also contributed outside of the 

military through careers as writers, artists, architects, 

academics, diplomats, economists, financiers, philanthropists, and psychologists; 

Whereas, because the roles of the Ritchie Boys remained classified for decades, the public generally lacks awareness of 

their contributions; 

Whereas Camp Ritchie closed in 1998, and a museum and 

educational center is now being planned for the location; 

and 

Whereas, approximately 200 Ritchie Boys are still living, 

ranging in age between 95 and 107: Now, therefore, be 

it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) honors the bravery and dedication of the 

3 Ritchie Boys; 

4 (2) recognizes the importance of their contribu5 tions to the success of the Allied Forces during 

6 World War II; and 

7 (3) respectfully requests that the Secretary of 

8 the Senate transmit an enrolled copy of this resoluVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:52 Aug 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\SR349.ATS SR349

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1 tion to Mr. Landon Grove of the Ritchie History 

2 Museum. 

Æ 


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