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October 04, 2005
Ghost Army
I spent last weekend in Washington with an amazing group of guys. They are veterans of World War II unit nicknamed the “Ghost Army,” and their mission was to impersonate other units in order to deceive the Germans. The official name of the unit was the 23rd Headquarters Troops, and it was involved in more battles than any other unit in the ETO. The men of the Ghost Army staged more than 20 battlefield deceptions from Normandy to the Rhine using sound trucks, inflatable tanks, and all sorts of trickery.
It’s a really wild story, and one that has remained largely under the radar. I found out about it from a woman named Martha Gavin, who is a friend of my former business partner and good friend Mark Tomizawa. Martha’s uncle, John Jarvie, was one of the members of the unit. Mark and I interviewed a bunch of the guys, ranging in age from the low 80’s to the mid 90’s at a reunion they had last weekend in Washington. (Someone asked me today if the Ghost Army story is in my new book, and the answer is that it is briefly mentioned, but I found out about it too late in the process to do a whole story on it).
Another extraordinary aspect of this unit is that many of the men who worked in the camouflage battalion (wrangling the inflatable tanks, etc) were artists who sketched and painted their way across Europe. I’ve had a chance to go through some of their sketchbooks, and hear the stories behind the paintings, and its truly remarkable.
We are developing this as an independent documentary, and have set up a website that I will update as things progress. There isn’t much there now, but you can get a little more info on the unit and also see some of the artwork. Eventually I will be adding video clips and more info, so check back from time to time.
Posted by rickbeyer at October 4, 2005 10:18 PM
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