![]() My older sister, Edith, who had studied chemistry, joined the Navy and I applied to do the same - only to find that they weren’t so interested in liberal arts majors. But the world was at war, as were most young American men I knew. I dreamed of joining him as a mate on one of his 18-month voyages around the world. I grew up sailing in Rhode Island and reading about the famous adventurer Capt. Before I entered “Q” Building - an unremarkable structure along the Potomac River, where the Kennedy Center stands today - all I knew about the Office of Strategic Services was that it was doing classified war work and it had a job for me. In November 1943, armed with a bachelor’s degree from Skidmore College, I joined a group of women sworn to secrecy. These are their stories from 75 years ago, being shared publicly for the first time. Secret Intelligence branch in Washington, Italy, Egypt and China. Virginia Stuart, also 97, worked for the O.S.S. Frieswyk, now 97, was the C.I.A.’s first female intelligence cartographer and is the last surviving member of the original O.S.S. Thousands of others broke barriers and demolished stereotypes without ever seeking recognition. Jane Wallis Burrell went on to become one of the first C.I.A. Julia McWilliams, later known by her married name, Julia Child, cooked up shark repellent. Their ranks included Marlene Dietrich, the actress, and Margaret Mead, a pioneering anthropologist. They broke code, planted false information to mislead the Germans and parachuted into enemy territory to blow up bridges and rail lines. They came in as academics, military personnel, scientists, athletes, filmmakers, farmers and even some convicts they served as spies, cartographers, forgers and propagandists. ![]() who can win a bar fight,” the staff were diverse in their backgrounds. recruit was famously described as “a Ph.D. ![]() ![]() Before the Central Intelligence Agency, there was the Office of Strategic Services - a clandestine espionage organization of almost 13,000 Americans who, from 1942 to 1945, gathered intelligence for President Roosevelt and wreaked havoc against the Axis powers in every World War II theater. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |