American Valor Quarterly Issue 5 - Winter 2008/09 | Page 23

So I was pulled out of the infantry and was sent to an ASTP
program (Army Specialized Training Program) at Ohio State in
Columbus, Ohio where I was supposed to learn German in a
couple of months, which was all right because I had been speaking
it for twelve years. At that point, we started to get involved in
German history and German philosophy. I was then transferred
to a place called Camp Ritchie, which was a military intelligence
school in northern Maryland.

by the American military in Germany and sent to this country to
try to get information that might be useful in the war effort.
All this was around the beginning of 1945. As you remember the
war ended later in ’45, though nobody was at all sure exactly
when that would be due to the Battle of the Bulge which was a
big surprise to the American military. The war had suddenly taken
a dangerous turn. It was not until the early part of ’45 that it was
clear that the Allies were going to win the war.

Brandon Bies: I want to contrast a little bit about your two
trainings. Mr. Frenkel went through this training a couple years Brandon Bies: Mr. Frenkel, can you give the audience some
earlier at the beginning of the war. Mr. Frenkel, if you could tell details about what your specific role was and what you remember
us a little bit about your initial military intelligence training?
about some of the German prisoners who were at P.O. Box
1142 early on?
George Frenkel: I stayed in the horse cavalry but eventually
hoped to utilize my proficiency in German. I made efforts to get George Frenkel: Well, the secrecy was very strict. I didn’t know
into military intelligence training. I was frustrated in that endeavor where I was until I entered Ft. Hunt. I was assigned, as I mentioned
until such time that I became a citizen in 1943. Then I was sent to before, to supervise the record that was established by the people
Ft. Bullis in San Antonio, Texas where I received Interrogation of working with me who transcribed the monitored interrogations
Prisoner of War (IPW) training. I did very well, but I returned to and checked them out with the officers who performed these
the 1st Cavalry until such time that we went on maneuvers in interrogations.
Louisiana. It was there that I was grabbed without any previous
knowledge on my part and was transferred to P.O. Box 1142. I never saw anything but my immediate daily work. I never saw
any prisoners. I never watched an interrogation. I just received
There I was placed in charge of a contingent of enlisted men the recordings that were gained from interrogating these German
who transcribed monitored interrogations of naval personnel. naval prisoners. They were then processed and sent on. That was
At that time, interrogations were only conducted by commissioned the extent of it really. It was only after I went to Ft. Ritchie when
officers. I stayed at P.O. Box 1142 for about half a year. Then for my military career really blossomed.
reasons unknown to me I was transferred to Camp Ritchie. So I
went in the other direction. George Mandel went to Camp Ritchie Brandon Bies: It is important to note that the microphones of
first and then to P.O. Box 1142. I started at P.O. Box 1142 and the interrogations that you were listening in on were hidden.
eventually went to Camp Ritchie. At Camp Ritchie I was asked
to join the faculty and lecture on German military subjects until I George Frenkel: Yes, but even that I did not observe. I simply
was confined to the space where the transcription took place.
was transferred to Europe.
Brandon Bies: Dr. Mandel, if you could tell us a little bit about Brandon Bies: So it is safe to say your job at P.O. Box 1142 was
your experience in training at Camp Ritchie and how that led you literally and figuratively compartmentalized. You didn’t really know
to P.O. Box 1142?
what else was going on with other people’s responsibilities.
George Mandel: Camp Ritchie at that point was a major
interrogations center and dealt largely with trying to extract as
much information as possible from captured German soldiers.
The emphasis at Camp Ritchie was to find out information of
military significance. For instance, the questions that we learned to
ask were: “Who is your commanding officer?” “Where is the
local machinegun?” To get very specific with war related activities.
To our great surprise, while everybody else was shipped overseas,
I was told that I would be going to a place near Washington
where I had never been. That turned out to be P.O. Box 1142.

George Frenkel: Exactly.
Brandon Bies: Now, Dr. Mandel, if we could talk a little bit
about your experiences. Whereas Mr. Frenkel’s job was to work
with these monitored conversations and interrogations, you were
actually dealing with some of the prisoners yourself, correct?

George Mandel: Yes, that’s right. It was actually an amazing
experience! I was put in a room to deal with some of the captured
Germans who made some major contributions. My job was to
find out exactly what they had done and to report to the War
At P.O. Box 1142, because I had scientific training (though a Department the information that was acquired.
bachelor’s in chemistry doesn’t make you a super scientist!) the
idea was that I should be able to interrogate those technically It was amazing because I interrogated somebody who had been
proficient and expert engineers and scientists who were captured working on purifying uranium. I didn’t know why anybody would
want to purify uranium. You have to remember that this was at a

AMERICAN VALOR QUARTERLY - Winter 2008/09 - 23