Wolber, now 89, said in an interview Friday that the bus couldn't make it up a hill near the base, so he and other passengers had to get out and push it along.
What he saw when he reached the base puzzled him.
"Everybody was talking German and Japanese - everything but English," Wolber said. "I didn't know what I got into."
Before long, Wolber's job became clear. He trained in counterintelligence programs and soon was instructing others in what he had learned. His students included the "Ritchie Boys," the subject of a German-made documentary that's eligible to be nominated for an Oscar.
Camp Ritchie, now known as the former Fort Ritchie U.S. Army base, trained soldiers in counterintelligence, interrogation and psychological warfare to prepare them for their missions in World War II.
The 2004 "The Ritchie Boys" documentary, written and directed by German native Christian Bauer, tells the story of a group of Jewish men who fled the Nazis, trained at the camp and went back to Europe as U.S. soldiers to fight the Germans.
The mission of the men was to find and "break the enemy's morale," according to the film's Web site, www.ritchieboys.com.
The documentary will be shown Sunday at 2 p.m. and 4:15 p.m. at the gym at the former base. The screenings are on a first-come, first-serve basis, and each showing will seat 150 to 200 people.
Wolber, who over the years worked his way up to the colonel ranking, said he remembers seeing some of the young Jewish men from Germany and other U.S. soldiers from other countries, including Japan, Russia and Germany, at the base.
Wolber said the interrogation soldiers learned was firm, but their training never included torturing prisoners of war.
"I remember if you couldn't get them to talk, you might try deprivation of sleep and maybe solitary confinement," Wolber said. "I don't recall any torture methods (being taught)."
Wolber, a Pittsburgh native, said the servicemen also engaged in "war games" at and around Camp Ritchie during which they would hold mock searches for prisoners of war and then try to interrogate them.
They also learned how to install and disarm booby traps, pick locks and other necessary preparations, Wolber said.
Wolber was stationed at Camp Ritchie through the end of 1944, when he was sent to Pearl Harbor to work with an intelligence unit. He lives in Hagerstown with his wife, Anna Jane, who he met while stationed at Camp Ritchie.
After leaving the Army in 1946, Wolber eventually ended up going to medical school at Ohio State University and became a doctor. He made his way back to Washington County in 1960 and worked in the medical publishing business for W.F. Pryor Co. In 1977, he became the chief medical officer at Fort Ritchie, retiring in 1982.
Wolber said he still holds fond memories of his days at the fort and was sad to see the Army close the base in 1998.
"I think it's a dirty shame," he said. "They should have kept this post forever. This post has a lot of history, and I think it should be kept - if nothing else - for some sort of historic monument."
