John M. Fuss

The United States Army used the area east of Emmitsburg for basic training during World War II. I lived with parents on the Harney Road in the big brick house on the hill about 100 yards east of the bridge over Middle Creek. As a result, I was witness to the army activity that took place in 1942 and a year or two thereafter. I was 11-13 years old.

Camp Ritchie was a Maryland National Guard post starting in 1926. Later after the Second World War, the designation was changed to Fort Ritchie. In June 1942, the US Army established the Military Intelligence Training Center there. About 15,000 men trained there over the next two years. After their training, they became the foot soldiers of the Office of Strategic Services. After the war, it became the Central Intelligence Agency.

Over 2,000 of these men were selected due to their background. They were Jewish and born in Germany. As boys, their parents who were escaping Nazi persecution brought them to this country. The Army recognized that these drafted young men could be especially useful in Europe. They could speak German fluently. They knew the customs and ways of Germans. They were used to interrogate German prisoners.

As a group these soldiers were known as "The Ritchie Boys. They often operated behind enemy lines. It was said that Ritchie Boys were in Paris before it was liberated. A movie called " The Ritchie Boys " was released a number of years ago. I did not see it. I suppose it would have been about their exploits in Europe.

Before instruction in intelligence work, these soldiers need basic military training. The area east of Emmitsburg was used for some of the training.

On July 20, 1942, an Army vehicle arrived at our house as we were eating dinner (lunchtime). An army officer and a civilian got out. I assume the civilian was a lawyer. They officer told my father that the Army would soon be using his farm for army training. The lawyer handled my Dad a paper.

The officer said this was an agreement authorizing the Army to use our farm for training. He then said, "Mr. Fuss, this agreement says that the government will pay reasonable claims for any damage that occurs to your property. You do not have to sign it, but the Army will use you property anyway. If there is no agreement, you will not be paid for any damages. You could sue the United States government in District Court in Baltimore, but remember there is a war going on. We do not have any more time to discuss this because we have to cover all the other farms between here and Harney."

Dad read the short agreement and signed it. This whole ordeal was over in less than five minutes.

Shortly thereafter, a weekly routine was established. Apparently, a new class of recruits started every week.

On the same evening every week, I believe it was Tuesday, just after dusk we would hear a noise coming on the road from Emmitsburg. It would be a convoy of four trucks lead by a jeep. They made a lot of noise as they crossed the bridge and roared up the hill in front of our house. The convoy would stop up the road about 100 yards beyond our house. We would hear it take off and then stop in a short time. They were dropping off four soldiers every 200-300 yards.

At least 75% of the nights, there would be a knock on the door in about ten minutes. There would be four soldiers asking for help. They had been given a compass and a Geological Survey map and told that they were somewhere east of Emmitsburg. They had to figure out where they were and get to Toms Creek Church by a certain time.

Dad would show them where they were on the Harney Road. They used the compass to determine the direction to walk. My parents would ask where they were from. It was the first time I had heard the Southern drawl from Georgia or men from Brooklyn.

My mother would always serve each a piece of pie or cake. They would eat it hurriedly because they had to be on their way. She often gave them a pack of cookies to take along and eat later.

On one occasion, a vehicle pulled into our driveway. The soldiers grabbed their map, helmets, and equipment and rushed out the back door. They knew they were not supposed to be in a house. It happened that the vehicle was just turning around.

They had to stay off roads. It was through fields of wheat or corn or whatever might be growing. There were many more fences then than today. It was in any kind of weather. It was in rain or snow with or without moonlight. No flashlight or other light could be used.

Other training events took place on what seemed like an irregular basis. One rainy morning, we were aroused before dawn with noise on our back porch. About 20 soldiers were there. They explained that they were supposed to be having this meeting out in an open field, but the officer had brought them there due to the rain.

The upper floor of our barn was used on several occasions by groups of 10 or more. Once I saw one soldier point a gun at several others. It appeared that they were "prisoners." At the same time three or four others on the other side of the building were asking questions. I suppose it was a practice interrogation.

On another occasion, an army truck went up the road. We saw them cut the fence and drive to the other side of the pasture by the woods. The soldiers immediately began to cut branches off trees and put them beside and on the top of the truck to hide it. Not long afterwards, a small Piper Cub airplane flew across the area several times. It was testing how well the truck had been hidden.

There was other activity during the day that I must have missed because I was in school. I know that the nightly trek cross county to Toms Creek Church occurred consistently every week. Then there would be something else occurring either night or day every week or so. Of course, I would miss what would take place during the day when I was in school.

Damage did occur. We would see damage to the crop of wheat or corn trampled down where they had walked. There were a number of times that a fence was cut. This meant that the cows or sheep might get out on the road. My father would repair the damage. As far as I know, he never filed a claim for damages.

More spectacular activity took place south of our place. My uncle’s farm was at Four Points on the east bank of Toms Creek. The army placed a pontoon bridge across the creek. A machine gun was on the hill about 50 yards from the bridge. Once each week, the trainees would charge from the west bank across the bridge and up the hill to "attack" the machine gun position. The machine gun would be firing at them. It was blanks, of course, but made a lot of noise. Some sort of smoke bombs were set off to simulate artillery shell bursts as the trainees were advancing.

The machine gun and the soldiers firing made a lot of noise. It took place not far, maybe 150 yards, from my uncle’s house and farm buildings. I know it affected his flock of laying hens. I am not certain if he just sold them or what.

I never got to witness this activity because I was either in school or working on the farm. My uncle and boys living close by told me about it. However, I rode my bicycle to that location on several Sunday afternoons. The big prize was to find the copper cartridges left behind from the shooting. Boys in the area had dozens or more of them.

David "Casey" Glass now lives on Sixes Bridge Road. When he was 10 years old, he was living with his parents on the Paul Glass Farm just off the Keysville Road and just east of Toms Creek. David was injured by a smoke bomb. Recently he confirmed the story about how he was injured as a result of the Army training.

A family lived on the Keysville Road with a little dog that was very viscous. It would run out onto the road when he rode by on his bicycle. It would try to bite the tires and did a lot of barking.

Dave and a friend found a smoke bomb that had not been detonated and was left behind by the soldiers. It was round about two inches high and two inches in diameter. They knew it would make a lot of noise. So they decided to use the bomb to scare the dog.

They put the bomb in the middle of the stone and gravel road and piled stones around it. The bomb had a fuse about a foot long. It was supposed to allow time for the person lighting the fuse to get away to safety. But this time the bomb exploded immediately, throwing the stones at David. The dog ran away.

David was badly hurt and bleeding. He went immediately home, got into bed and covered himself. His mother came and saw blood all over the place. He was rushed to the hospital and spent two weeks there.

He had been partially blinded, but fortunately his eyes recovered. He still has scars on his leg from the stones that had hit him.

His parents, like everyone else at the time, had no medical insurance. Two weeks in the hospital was expensive even then. David thought that the bill was over $1,000. That was a lot of money at the time, especially for a large farm family.

They contacted the Army to pay the bill. An Army officer came to their house on several occasions They refused to pay any part of the bill. Perhaps it was because the damage was not caused by any of the soldiers but was due to David’s action. A lawyer told David’s father that it was no use to sue the government.

There was at least one death. Toms Creek was flooded due to heavy rains.

A soldier was crossing it. He somehow got into the floodwaters and was swept away and drowned. His body was later recovered near Grimes Road,

I feel certain that training for the Ritchie Boys was taking place at other sites as well. They must have had other training, like firing live ammunition, bayonet drills, marching, etc. taking place at Camp Ritchie or other locations. They would have been on the base or in Franklin or Washington County closer to the camp.

It appears that the routine weekly schedule had one night and one day in the area east of Emmitsburg. Then without any notification, it all suddenly stopped. I think it would have been late 1943 or early 1944. By that time the Ritchie Boys would have been assigned to G-2 Intelligence units in the divisions attacking Europe.

Author's note: Nine years later, I was drafted during the Korean War. I took my basic training at Camp Gordon outside Augusta, Georgia. I was appointed squad leader for nineteen other trainees. One night after dark, we were dropped off for a cross-country movement. I was the only one with the map and compass and had to lead the others. I remembered how our family had helped soldiers doing the same sort of thing years before. I could get no such help because Camp Gordon covered 55,000 acres. So our movement was completely over barren government land with no civilian help.