This is a story of one of the last assignments executed by agents of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in WWII. Forty-eight days after the successful completion of this assignment, on September 20, 1945, President Truman signed Executive Order 9621 that dis- banded the OSS. Fifteen months later, on January 1, 1947, the National Security Act of 1947 established the United States first peacetime intelligence agency, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which then assumed all the activities of the OSS. In the days following December 7, 1941, millions of young men and women volunteered or were drafted into the Armed Forces of the United States. All loved their country and were willing to risk their lives to defend it from the threat of domination that would result from defeat. It is difficult for those of you born after the early 1930’s to understand the lack of worldly knowledge of the men and women that made up the Armed Forces during World War II. The majority was 18 to 21 years old and had never traveled more than a few miles from where they were born. Most, on December 7, 1941, had never heard of Pearl Harbor, had only a vague idea where Hawaii was, and only a few had ever seen a Japanese person. Many of the personnel of the OSS, even though chosen with great care and thoroughly investigated, were made up of these inexperienced young men and women. Their inherent trust in authority and respect for honesty inspired in them the ability to follow orders from superior officers and to not reveal any of the information given under an oath of secrecy. Proof of this is evident in the fact that so few of the activities of the OSS have become public knowledge in the sixty-eight years since it was disbanded. Many became heroes but none were publicly honored for their heroism. When assignments were completed agents were instructed - “This never happened.”
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