Editing Office of Strategic Services (section)

==Personnel==
The names of all 13,000 OSS personnel and documents of their OSS service, previously a closely guarded secret, were released by the US [[National Archives and Records Administration|National Archives]] on August 14, 2008.  Among the 24,000 names were those of [[Sterling Hayden]], [[Milton Wolff#World War II|Milton Wolff]], [[Carl C. Cable]], [[Julia Child]], [[Ralph Bunche]], [[Arthur Goldberg]], [[Saul K. Padover]], [[Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.]], [[Bruce Sundlun]], [[William Colby]], [[René Joyeuse]], and [[John Ford]].<ref name="auto">{{cite web|last=Patrick|first=Jeanette|title=The Recipe for Adventure: Chef Julia Child's World War II Service|publisher=[[National Women's History Museum]]|year=2017|website=www.womenshistory.org|url=https://www.womenshistory.org/articles/recipe-adventure}}</ref><ref name=cnn /><ref>Blackledge, Brett J. and Herschaft, Randy [https://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080814/ap_on_go_ot/spies_revealed, "Documents: Julia Child part of WW II-era spy ring"], [[Associated Press]]</ref> The 750,000 pages in the 35,000 personnel files include applications of people who were not recruited or hired, as well as the service records of those who served.<ref>[https://www.archives.gov/research/military/ww2/oss/personnel-files.html Office of Strategic Services Personnel Files from World War II] – overview page, search links, digital excerpts;
[https://catalog.archives.gov/id/1593270 National Archives Identifier 1593270: Personnel Files, compiled 1942 - 1945, documenting the period 1941 - 1945], from Record Group 226: Records of the Office of Strategic Services, 1919 - 2002; [https://www.archives.gov/iwg/declassified-records/rg-226-oss/personnel-database.pdf Personnel database] – complete list</ref>

OSS soldiers were primarily inducted from the [[United States Armed Forces]]. Other members included foreign nationals including displaced individuals from the former czarist Russia, an example being Prince [[Serge Obolensky]].

Donovan sought independent thinkers, and in order to bring together those many intelligent, quick-witted individuals who could think out-of-the box, he chose them from all walks of life, backgrounds, without distinction to culture or religion. [[William J. Donovan|Donovan]] was quoted as saying, "I'd rather have a young lieutenant with enough guts to disobey a direct order than a colonel too regimented to think for himself." In a matter of a few short months, he formed an organization which equalled and then rivalled Great Britain's [[Secret Intelligence Service]] and its [[Special Operations Executive]]. Donovan, inspired by Britain's SOE, assembled an outstanding group of clinical psychologists to carry out evaluations of potential OSS candidates at a variety of sites, primary among these was Station S in Northern Virginia near where Dulles International Airport now stands.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Office of Strategic Services Assessment Staff |title=Assessment of men: Selection of personnel for the Office of Strategic Services |date=1948 |publisher=Rinehart |location=New York}}</ref> Recent research from remaining records from the OSS Station S program describes how those characteristics (independent thought, effective intelligence, interpersonal skills) were found among OSS candidates <ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lenzenweger |first1=Mark F. |title=Factors Underlying the Psychological and Behavioral Characteristics of Office of Strategic Services Candidates: The Assessment of Men Data Revisited |journal=Journal of Personality Assessment |date=2015 |volume=97 |issue=1 |pages=100–110 |doi=10.1080/00223891.2014.935980|pmid=25036728 |s2cid=9440624 }}</ref>
[[File:MoeBergGoudeycard.jpg|thumb|[[Major league baseball]] player [[Moe Berg]] of the [[Boston Red Sox]] was an OSS agent.]] One such agent was [[Ivy League]] [[Multilingualism|polyglot]] and [[American Jews|Jewish American]] [[American baseball|baseball]] catcher [[Moe Berg]], who played 15 seasons in the major leagues. As a Secret Intelligence agent, he was dispatched to seek information on German physicist [[Werner Heisenberg]] and his knowledge on the [[Nuclear weapon|atomic bomb]].<ref>{{cite AV media
 | people = Lewin, Ben (Director)
 | title = The Catcher Was a Spy
 | medium = Movie
 | location = United States, Japan, Yugoslavia
 | date = 2018 }}</ref> One of the most highly decorated and flamboyant OSS soldiers was US [[United States Marine Corps|Marine]] [[Colonel]] [[Peter J. Ortiz|Peter Ortiz]]. Enlisting early in the war, as a [[French Foreign Legion]]naire, he went on to join the OSS and to be the most highly decorated US Marine in the OSS during [[World War II]].<ref name=TECOM>{{cite web |url=http://www.tecom.usmc.mil/HD/PDF_Files/Pubs/WWII/A%20Different%20War-Marines%20in%20Europe%20&%20North%20Africa%20PCN%2019000312500.pdf |title=A Different War: Marines in Europe and North Africa |author=Lieutenant Colonel Harry W. Edwards |publisher=USMC Training and Education Command |access-date=October 3, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615064333/http://www.tecom.usmc.mil/HD/PDF_Files/Pubs/WWII/A%20Different%20War-Marines%20in%20Europe%20%26%20North%20Africa%20PCN%2019000312500.pdf |archive-date=June 15, 2011 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref> [[File:Peter Ortiz.jpg|thumb|left|Col. Peter Ortiz, [[USMC]]]] [[Julia Child]], who later authored cookbooks, worked directly under Donovan.<ref name="abc">{{cite web|title=Julia Child Dished Out ... Spy Secrets?|url=https://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?id=5579095|publisher=ABC|date=2008-08-14|access-date=2010-02-16}}</ref>
[[René Joyeuse]] [[Doctor of Medicine|M.D.]], [[Master of Science|MS]], [[Fellow of the American College of Surgeons|FACS]] was a Swiss, French and American soldier, physician and researcher, who distinguished himself as an agent of Allied intelligence in German-occupied France during World War II. He received the US Army Distinguished Service Cross for his actions with the OSS, after the war he became a Physician, Researcher and was a co-founder of The American Trauma Society.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.adirondackdailyenterprise.com/news/local-news/2013/03/arlington-burial-for-saranac-lake-wwii-spy-is-march-29/|title=Arlington burial for Saranac Lake WWII spy is March 29 &#124; News, Sports, Jobs - Adirondack Daily Enterprise}}</ref><ref>''Wild Bill Donovan: The Last Hero'' by Anthony Cave Brown</ref>

[[Joe Savoldi|"Jumping Joe" Savoldi]] (code name Sampson) was recruited by the OSS in 1942 because of his hand-to-hand combat and language skills as well as his deep knowledge of the Italian geography and [[Benito Mussolini|Benito Mussolini's]] compound. He was assigned to the [[Special Operations Branch]] and took part in missions in North Africa, Italy, and France during 1943–1945.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:JJ.1943.FacistPartyGiuseppeDeLeo3.tif|title=English: OSS created this false ID for Joe Savoldi - posing as Giuseppe De Leo while infiltrating the black market in Naples|last=Baminvestor|date=January 20, 2004|access-date=February 19, 2017|via=Wikimedia Commons}}</ref><ref>''Cloak and Dagger: The Secret Story of the Office of Strategic Services'' Chapter IX "The Saga of Jumping Joe" page 150</ref><ref>''Wild Bill Donovan: The Last Hero'' by Anthony Cave Brown page 352 and Savoldi's personal notes from July 8–16, 1943 (now in the possession of family members.)</ref>  
[[File:JJ.1943.FacistPartyGiuseppeDeLeo3.tif|thumb|left|OSS created this false ID for Joe Savoldi - posing as Giuseppe De Leo while infiltrating the black market in Naples.]] One of the forefathers of today's commandos was Navy Lieutenant [[Jack Hendrick Taylor|Jack Taylor]]. He was sequestered by the OSS early in the war and had a long career behind enemy lines.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://navysealmuseum.com/about-navy-seals/seal-history-the-naval-special-warfare-story/seal-history-first-airborne-frogmen|title=SEAL History: First Airborne Frogmen - National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum|work=NavySealMuseum.com|access-date=February 19, 2017}}</ref>

[[Taro Yashima|Taro]] and [[Mitsu Yashima]], both Japanese political dissidents who were imprisoned in Japan for protesting its militarist regime, worked for the OSS in psychological warfare against the Japanese Empire.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2011/09/11/commentary/taro-yashima-an-unsung-beacon-for-all-against-evil-on-this-earth/|title=Taro Yashima: an unsung beacon for all against 'evil on this Earth' - The Japan Times|work=The Japan Times|date=September 11, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|date=March 18, 2007|url=http://www.sfgate.com/performance/article/An-unlikely-heroine-of-World-War-II-2569670.php|title=An unlikely heroine of World War II|work=SFGate}}</ref>

'''Nisei linguists'''

In late 1943, a representative from OSS visited the 442nd Infantry Regiment looking to recruit volunteers willing to undertake "extremely hazardous assignment."<ref name="cia.gov">{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/2012-featured-story-archive/japanese-americans-WWII-intel.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120713030615/https://www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/2012-featured-story-archive/japanese-americans-WWII-intel.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 13, 2012|title=Japanese Americans in World War II Intelligence — Central Intelligence Agency|website=www.cia.gov|language=en|access-date=2017-02-22}}</ref>  All selected were [[Nisei]]. The recruits  were assigned to OSS Detachments 101 and 202, in the China-Burma-India Theater. "Once deployed, they were to interrogate prisoners, translate documents, monitor radio communications, and conduct covert operations... Detachment 101 and 102's clandestine operations were extremely successful."<ref name="cia.gov"/>