oss

LTC Peter Dewey, OSS, Is the 1st US Soldier Killed in Vietnam, Sept.26, 1945

The United States involvement in Vietnam began long before the 1960s as most U.S. citizens tend to believe. Most don’t know that at the end of World War II, the United States sent several Office Of Strategic Services (OSS) operatives into then French Indochina, to facilitate the release of American pilots. LTC Peter Dewey was […]

OSS Captain Martin Gelb Awarded Congressional Gold Medal in NH

Because of security classifications that didn’t expire until 10 years ago, many members of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) never were fully recognized for the work they did behind enemy lines during World War II. But for a Derry, NH man, that oversight has been fixed as he was finally recognized for serving in […]

The OSS (Office of Strategic Services) Was Formed on This Day 1942

On June 13, 1942, the OSS (Office of Strategic Services) was formed. The OSS was a wartime intelligence agency of the United States during World War II and a predecessor of the modern Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The OSS was formed as an agency of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) to coordinate espionage activities […]

Robin Sage Begins June 9th, Time For the SF Students to Step Up

The Special Forces rite of passage is about to begin for the next class of SF candidates. The final training in Special Forces Qualification Course (SFQC) for prospective SF soldiers is the Unconventional Warfare (UW) exercise “Robin Sage”, which we went over in detail in an earlier post, that you can read here: The prospective […]

Ian Fleming, Creator of James Bond Was Born Today in 1908

You only live twice: Once when you are born And once when you look death in the face I’ve always been a James Bond fan since as far back as my memory goes. I remember being enthralled by the derring-do of Bond since I sat quiet (for once) and was mesmerized by Goldfinger. After that, […]

Irving Isaacson, OSS Agent Who Spied on the Soviets Dies at 102

Irving Isaacson was one of America’s OSS operatives during World War II serving with the Dutch, but after the war, he traveled across Europe and spied on the Soviets. He passed away last week in Maine at the age of 102. Like his wife, who died three years ago, Irving Isaacson did what he knew […]

OSS Operation Greenup, The Most Daring, Successful Mission of WWII

Last week we posted a story on the OSS (Office of Strategic Services) and how after 73 years they were finally recognized as a group and were honored with a Congressional Gold Medal. OSS was the forerunner to both the Special Operations Command of the military, OSS Jedburgh and Operation Groups were the units that […]

OSS Finally Recognized More Than 70 Years Later By Congress

The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was finally recognized by the U.S. Congress when the Congressional Gold Medal Act (S. 2234) was passed by the House of Representatives back in December and the Medal was officially presented on Wednesday. OSS was the World War II predecessor to CIA, the US Special Operations Command and the […]

Operation Halyard, One of the Great Rescue Stories of WWII

Operation Halyard was the greatest rescue mission of American airmen in our history. And it was conducted by a three-man OSS (Office of Strategic Services) team dropped into Serbia that was occupied by the Germans. The OSS operatives linked up with Serbian “Chetniks” led by General Draža Mihailović in August of 1944. This three-man Halyard […]

OSS weapons ingenuity: The secret gear of America’s WWII spies

General Donovan motivated the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) research and development branch to fabricate weapons in-house for officers in the field. These weapons ranged from the amazingly complex to the remarkably fundamental. OSS guns and blades were intended for simple but effective use. American servicemen going into harm’s way had a variety of ingenious places to hide small, even miniature, compasses for […]

Research & Development Branch of OSS, and America’s “Q”

During World War II, the OSS (Office of Strategic Services) was the United States first foray into the intelligence business. Prior to the war, the intelligence services for the US didn’t exist, much to the chagrin of their British allies just as the war began. It had no overall direction, planning or control and was […]

The history of US Psychological Operations: Psychological warfare abroad

As we discussed in Part 3, the domestic home front became a battle for ideas and slogans as the Roosevelt administration pushed the nation to get ready for war. FDR established the Office of Coordinator of Information (COI), based on the directions of Colonel William Donovan. Col Donovan spent considerable time with British officials, and […]