I am currently writing a series of short stories about the OSS during WW2. Here are some of my inspirations. -SF
WASHINGTON — Hugh Montgomery never wrote a memoir. That just wasn’t done among his generation of spies.
But his exploits as a World War II combat veteran, CIA cold warrior and Washington power player could have filled a dozen books and made him a revered figure among the insiders who know his story.
Montgomery jumped into Normandy on D-Day with the 82nd Airborne. He went behind enemy lines for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the CIA’s daring and nimble forerunner, where he was among the first Americans to enter the Buchenwald concentration camp. After returning to Harvard to earn his PhD and teach, he joined the newly formed CIA, where he led spying operations against the Soviets in Rome, Paris, Vienna, Athens and Moscow.
“I’d call him one of the founding fathers of the CIA,” said Leon Panetta, who consulted Montgomery occasionally when he was director of the spy agency.
Panetta spoke in a video tribute played earlier this month at a black-tie dinner of the OSS Society, which is raising money to build a museum. Montgomery was the main event, standing to accept the William D. Donovan award, named after the OSS founder.
Read the Remainder at WRAL
Reblogged this on behindertvertriebentessarzblog.