New York Times Bestseller
The definitive story of the Ritchie Boys, as featured on CBS's 60
Minutes
"An irresistible history of the WWII Jewish refugees who returned to
Europe to fight the Nazis." --Newsday
They were young Jewish boys who escaped from Nazi-occupied Europe and
resettled in America. After the United States entered the war, they
returned to fight for their adopted homeland and for the families they
had left behind. Their stories tell the tale of one of the U.S. Army's
greatest secret weapons.
Sons and Soldiers begins during the menacing rise of Hitler's Nazi
party, as Jewish families were trying desperately to get out of Europe.
Bestselling author Bruce Henderson captures the heartbreaking stories of
parents choosing to send their young sons away to uncertain futures in
America, perhaps never to see them again. As these boys became young
men, they were determined to join the fight in Europe. Henderson
describes how they were recruited into the U.S. Army and how their
unique mastery of the German language and psychology was put to use to
interrogate German prisoners of war.
These young men--known as the Ritchie Boys, after the Maryland camp
where they trained--knew what the Nazis would do to them if they were
captured. Yet they leapt at the opportunity to be sent in small, elite
teams to join every major combat unit in Europe, where they collected
key tactical intelligence on enemy strength, troop and armored
movements, and defensive positions that saved American lives and helped
win the war. A postwar army report found that nearly 60 percent of the
credible intelligence gathered in Europe came from the Ritchie Boys.
Sons and Soldiers draws on original interviews and extensive archival
research to vividly re-create the stories of six of these men, tracing
their journeys from childhood through their escapes from Europe, their
feats and sacrifices during the war, and finally their desperate
attempts to find their missing loved ones. Sons and Soldiers is an
epic story of heroism, courage, and patriotism that will not soon be
forgotten.
