OSS 75th Anniversary - Awarded Congressional Gold Medal

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Office of Strategic Services, an espionage unit that was crucial in winning World War II. And in time with the occasion, the agency is being awarded one of the nation’s highest civilian honors — Congressional Gold Medal. 

Before there was the CIA there was the OSS. The Office of Strategic Services was the predecessor to CIA and U.S. Special Operations Command that includes the Navy SEALs and the Green Berets.

The agency was created after the attack on Pearl Harbor and when it became apparent that Hitler was a threat to the world.

“The actual date is June 13th, 1942 when President Roosevelt signed the executive order 69 that created the OSS and named then Col. Donovan as its director. [Donovan] eventually became a two-star general,” said Charles Pinck, president of the OSS Society. Pinck’s father was part of the OSS who went behind enemy lines in China, which was occupied by the Japanese...

“They were out of the box thinkers. They were daring, they were extraordinary,” said Patrick O’Donnell, author of four books on the OSS and an expert on special operations history. more

Extra Credit - Spy Gadgets of World War II

Today Only - "Q" Gadgets from WWII up for Auction

James Bond's gadgets may seem far-fetched, but they do have a basis in fact as an auction in Kent, UK shows.

C & T Auctioneers is running an online auction through February 14 that includes a collection of authentic "Q" gadgets from the Second World War and beyond that were used by spies behind enemy lines and to help Allied POWs escape and evade capture.

During the Second World War, Britain's Special Operations Executive (SOE) was tasked by Prime Minister Winston Churchill to "set Europe ablaze" by dropping agents behind Axis lines to carry out espionage and sabotage as well as coordinating resistance movements. But they didn't go unarmed.

Thanks to Charles Fraser-Smith (Ian Fleming's inspiration for the character Q), SOE agents were equipped with gadgets to help them in their clandestine work. At the C&T auction, five of the eight items on sale were made for the SOE. more

O.S.S. Heros Honored ...except by Congress

In February 1945, a small group of personnel assigned to the Office of Strategic Services, the wartime spy agency, scrambled to prepare for a particularly risky mission: inserting a team of agents deep behind Nazi lines with the goal of gleaning crucial enemy information.

For a host of reasons, the proposed operation seemed like a suicide mission. The area targeted for dropping the three-man team into Nazi territory was high in the Austrian Alps, surrounded by towering peaks and flanked by antiaircraft weaponry. Even if the drop went as planned, some of the spies tapped to infiltrate enemy ranks were European-born Jews, increasing the dangers they faced.

After the Royal Air Force refused the dangerous mission, code-named Operation GREENUP, John Billings, then a lieutenant in the U.S. Army Air Corps, was given the job.

Billings and other veterans who made possible some of World War II’s most daring spy missions were among those honored this weekend by the OSS Society, a group that includes former OSS members and members of the U.S. intelligence, military and Special Operations communities.

In addition to Billings, Gaetano Rossi and Caesar Daraio, two then-sergeants who were part of operational groups made up of Italian American volunteers, were honored with OSS Society awards for their work advancing the Allied cause during World War II. Also honored at this year’s “spy ball” was David Cohen, who served as director of operations at the CIA and as a senior intelligence official with the New York City Police Department, and retired Gen. Norton A. Schwartz, former Air Force chief of staff.


After retiring from the military as a captain, Billings became a commercial pilot. At age 93, he still pilots a Cessna Cutlass. Most of the time he flies “angel flights,” transporting people in need of medical attention.

The OSS Society is advocating passage of a proposed measure that would honor the wartime spies, which so far has not gained required congressional support. The proposal, which would award living OSS veterans the Medal of Honor, has stalled in the House.*  more

*You can help get this bill passed. It's easy. Click here, see top right corner.

The OSS Society is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. All donations are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law. Membership in The OSS Society is available to OSS veterans, their descendants, current and former members of the U.S. intelligence community and U.S. Special Operations Forces, and people who are interested in General Donovan's "unusual experiment" - the Office of Strategic Services.

The OSS Society^®
7700 Leesburg Pike, Ste. 324
Falls Church, VA 22043
Phone: 703-356-6667
Email: oss@osssociety.org

Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and other Cold War Spy Toys

via one of our Blue Blazer irregulars... (thanks!)
From Russian photoblog PhotoShtab.ru comes these great pictures of Cold War-era miniature gadgets that KGB spies and others used to monitor, smuggle, and kill (via RussiaEnglish).

Seeing as we have just seen the new adaptation of John Le Carre's Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, these photos are a another great reminder of how paranoid and insane that whole 'Cold War' period was. (many more gadgets)

P.S. If you like seeing Cold War spy tools, your really need The Ultimate Spy Book, by historian H. Keith Melton. It is loaded with large glossy photos of the CIA's Greatest Hits, and the fascinating history of spies and their gadgets.

OSS Memorabilia - Warning & Request

If you have been saving OSS memorabilia and would like to see it properly preserved, or you have inherited OSS items and don't know what to do with them, please consider the following message from The OSS Society in Washington, DC.

"OSS Artifacts — It has come to our attention that private collectors of OSS artifacts may have been identifying themselves as 'official' historians. The OSS Society does not have an official historian. If anyone identifies themselves as such to you or has done so previously, please contact us immediately.

The same collectors may be inducing OSS veterans and others to part with their OSS memorabilia by promising not to sell items donated to them or promising to return them and not doing so. It is also our understanding that collectors have not been properly documenting these gifts. Without such documentation, anyone to whom you donate OSS items is free to do with them as they choose, including selling them.

If you have OSS artifacts in your possession, The OSS Society would be honored to receive them. We respectfully ask that you consider donating them to The OSS Society and not to private collectors so that your donations can be properly documented and preserved. You can also rest assured that your donated items will never be sold or donated to a third party by The OSS Society."

If you have items that you wish to donate, please contact:

The OSS Society, Inc.

6723 Whittier Ave. 200

McLean, VA 22101
703-356-6667

oss ( at ) osssociety.org