It was an ordinary day. Reading the newspaper headline "'Ghost Army' fooled WWII foes." I had never heard about the 'Ghost Army' before reading the story in my local newspaper. Story began....with inflatable tanks, radio trickery, costume uniforms and acting, the American military units that became know as the 'Ghost Army' outwitted the enemy during World War II. Their mission was kept secret for decades, but recently the group stepped out of the shadows as they were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal at a ceremony in Washington D.C. "The actions of the 'Ghost Army' helped change the course of the war for thousands of American and Allied troops and contributed to the liberation of a continent from a terrible evil," Sec. of the Army Christine Wormuth said during the ceremony at the US Capitol. She said that many of the techniques that the 'Ghost Army' pioneered are still used on the battlefield. Three of the seven known surviving members attended the ceremony. They were Bernard Bluestein (age 100), John Christmas (age 99) and Seymour Nussenbaum (age 100), Their work during the war was like putting on a big production! Mr. Nussenbaum said that "We had in some cases people impersonating Generals, putting on a General's uniform and walking around the streets." Mr. Nussenbaum grew up in New York City and studied art at the Pratt Institute before joining the Army. Eventually he joined a unit specializing in camouflage that was part of the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops. Their mission was to fool the enemy, to put on a big act! U.S. Sen. Edward Market of Massachusetts said during the ceremony that the Ghost Army members were "creative, original thinkers, who used engineering, art, architecture and advertising to wage battle with the enemy." The legislation to honor the military units with the Congressional Gold Medal was signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022. That came after almost a decade of work by family members of the soldiers and Rick Beyer, a filmmaker and author who has helped bring their story to light after their mission was declassified in 1996. Beyer, president of the Ghost Army Legacy Project, produced and directed the 2013 documentary "The Ghost Army" and co-authored the 2015 book "the Ghost Army of WWII." "This is the day that has been a long time coming, but it has been well worth the wait," Beyer said. The Ghost Army included about 1,100 soldiers in the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops, which carried out about 20 battlefield deceptions in France, Luxembourg, Belgium and Germany, and around 200 soldiers in the Signal Co. Special, which carried out two deceptions in Italy. One of the biggest missions, called Operation Viersen, came in March 1945 when the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops' deception drew German units away from the point on the Rhine River where the 9th Army was actually crossing. "They had hundreds of inflatables set up," Beyer said in an interview before the ceremony. "They had their sound trucks operating for multiple nights. They had other units attached to them. They had set up multiple phony headquarters and staffed them with officers who were pretending to be colonels." This was an all-hands-on-deck affair, and it was completely successful," Beyer said. "It fooled the Germans. They moved their troops to the river opposite where the deception was." Boy did the "Ghost Army" work brilliantly! It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
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| Ghost Army members Bernard Bluestein - In wheelchair on right John Christman - 2nd from left standing Seymour Nussenbaum - In wheelchair on left |
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