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Men's Club: Field Trip to Fort Ritchie

Sunday, November 7, 2021 • 3 Kislev 5782

11:00 AM - 1:00 PM

The B'nai Israel Men’s Club has arranged a one-hour-45-minute visit to Fort Ritchie in Cascade, Maryland. Fort Ritchie is approximately a 50 minute drive from B'nai Israel Congregation. Through a thoughtfully curated collection of genuine artifacts, memorabilia, and exhibits the once top-secret military operations conducted on the base are brought to life.  The featured discussion will focus on the military intelligence training conducted there, and the soldiers that trained there known as the Ritchie Boys (recently featured on CBS 60 Minutes). Afterwards, there will be a brief tour of the campgrounds. 

The Ritchie Boys were immigrants, refugees, the children of immigrants, and others with language skills and knowledge of the enemy's lands and cultures who were recruited by the US Army to be trained for specialized military intelligence tasks. Many were German and Austrian Jews who were exiled from the countries in which they were born. For decades, the Ritchie Boys kept to their oath of secrecy, and their story is only being told more than 70 years after the end of World War II.

A book on the Ritchie Boys, Ritchie Boy Secrets, written by Professor Beverley Driver Eddy, has just been published, and signed copies will be available for sale.  Advance registration is required below. A detailed map, including driving directions, will be available to the registrants.

RSVP to Stephen Goldberg.  Capacity is limited to 40.

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