Palmer TNA, HS 9/1139/3; Roderick Bailey, The Wildest Province (London: Jonathan Cape, 2008), 95.
told the… nurses Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 103.
War Department “13 Missing Nurses Are Reported Safe,” Joplin Globe, December 3, 1943.
Smith was being sent “Recommendation for Award,” memo, May 18, 1944, RG 226, entry 224, box 723, Lloyd Smith personnel file, NACP.
In 1943, OSS Douglas Waller, Wild Bill Donovan: The Spymaster Who Created the OSS and Modern American Espionage (New York: Free Press, 2011); John Whiteclay Chambers II, OSS Training in the National Parks and Service Abroad in World War II (Washington, DC: U.S. National Park Service, 2008); John Whiteclay Chambers II, “Office of Strategic Services Training During World War II,” Studies in Intelligence: Journal of the American Intelligence Professional 54, no. 2, June 2010.
[OSS and SOE relations] Untitled document, RG 222, entry 144, box 100, folder 1046; Neville Wylie, ed., The Politics and Strategy of Clandestine War: Special Operations Executive 1940–1946 (New York: Routledge, 2006), 95; David Stafford and Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones, eds., American-British-Canadian Intelligence Relations 1939–2000 (London: Frank Cass, 2000), 22–23; Waller, Wild Bill Donovan, 129–139; Bailey, The Wildest Province, 198.
“They are not under our jurisdiction” Bailey, The Wildest Province, 199.
Smith Lloyd Smith, undated autobiography, Mangerich family papers.
“Unless I did something” Ibid.
Hayden Ibid.; RG 226, entry 224, boxes 308 and 320, Sterling Hayden personnel file, NACP.
“The Most Beautiful Man in the Movies” Turner Classic Movies, http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/83248|142549/Sterling-Hayden.
“We have a priority job.” Ibid.
three-hour briefing “Recommendation for Award.”
German mines Lloyd Smith, undated autobiography.
Dubbed “the second Pearl Harbor” Eric Niderost, “Deadly Luftwaffe Strike in the Adriatic,” World War II Magazine, February 2001, 46; Glen Infield, Disaster at Bari (New York: Bantam Books, 1988), 140.
“I would regard it as a personal affront” Niderost, “Deadly Luftwaffe Strike in the Adriatic,” 44.
[description of attack on Bari] Ibid., 42–48; Infield, Disaster at Bari; Gerald Reminick, Nightmare in Bari: The World War II Liberty Ship Poison Gas Disaster and Cover-up (Palo Alto: Glencannon Press, 2001).
“Axis Sally” Infield, Disaster at Bari, 207–208; “Mildred Gillars,” Britannica Online Encyclopedia.
[807th in Bari during attack] Grace H. Stakeman, “807th (US) Medical Air Evacuation Squadron Unit History,” Roll A0323, AFHRA.
telegrams Telegram to Peter Cruise, December 4, 1943, James P. Cruise personnel file, NPRC; telegram to Jaley Eldridge, December 4, 1943, William Eldridge personnel file, NPRC.
Jens’s parents Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 212.
Watson’s parents Nolan McKenzie to Harry and Leila Watson, letter, December 5, 1943, McKenzie family papers; Nolan McKenzie to Office of the Adjutant General, letter, January 2, 1944.
would not hear anything more Jim Cruise’s brother to Office of the Adjutant General, letter, James P. Cruise personnel file, NPRC; Nolan McKenzie to Office of the Adjutant General, letter, January 2, 1944.
medics in Hayes’s group Hayes, interview.
shoes for the nurses Gavan Duffy, “Report on Evacuation of American Party from Albania,” TNA, HS 5/124. Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 177, and Abbott, Out of Albania, 103, indicated that many pairs of shoes were given away. Hayes did not remember anyone getting shoes, and Duffy indicated that “Palmer gave the party socks, woolen garments and to two of the nurses a pair of boots, size 7.”
“heavy as lead” Lois Watson McKenzie, lecture, Nurses in War symposium, Washburn University School of Nursing, February 7, 1991, McKenzie family papers.
British gave Thrasher gold Hayes, interview; Jon Mangerich, e-mail interview, February 24, 2012.
more than twenty tons of materials Bailey, The Wildest Province, 75.
since World War I “Gold Sovereigns: George V, the Great War, and the End of Gold Coinage in Circulation,” London Mint Office, http://www.londonmintoffice.org/gold-sovereigns-george-v-the-great-war-and-the-end-of-gold-coinage-in-circulation.
over thirty thousand sovereigns David Smiley, Albanian Assignment (London: Sphere Books, 1984), 49–50.
“Some of the bags” Ibid.
Smiley… first supply drop Smiley, Albanian Assignment, 48–49.
Delivering… supplies Ibid.; Bailey, The Wildest Province, 68.
while the Americans were in Krushovë Jon Naar, interview at his home in New Jersey on March 7, 2012.
gauze… menstruating Hayes, interview; Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 174.
Palmer asked the whole party Hayes, interview.
Duffy TNA, HS 9/454/8.
Bell TNA, HS 9/118/7.
no mention Hayes, interview.
team of four men Smiley, Albanian Assignment, 17–20; Bailey, The Wildest Province, 58–60.
Hasluck Smiley, Albanian Assignment, 9–11; Bailey, The Wildest Province, 36–44; Anthony Quayle, A Time to Speak (London: Sphere Books, 1990), 367–368.
“She was an enthusiast” Quayle, A Time to Speak, 367.
“loosen his revolver” Ibid., 409.
Jasper Maskelyne Smiley, Albanian Assignment, 15.
“produce about twenty things” Bailey, The Wildest Province, 52.
desolate camp in Derna Smiley, Albanian Assignment, 15.
plane caught on fire Bailey, The Wildest Province, 105; E. W. (“Trotsky”) Davies, Illyrian Venture (London: Bodley Head, 1952), 70.
day before their departure Smiley, Albanian Assignment, 15.
“trussed chickens” Ibid., 17.
“We sat round the hole” Bailey, The Wildest Province, 58.
“We dropped” Smiley, Albanian Assignment, 18.
tore a leg muscle Ibid.
tried to parachute into Macedonia Bailey, The Wildest Province, 61.
Chapter 10
Palmer explained Hayes, interview.
American captain Lloyd Smith, “Report on Mission of Evacuation, American Rescue Party,” RG 226, entry 144, box 97, folder 1023, NACP; Agnes Jensen Mangerich, Albanian Escape (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1999), 129; Lawrence O. Abbott, Out of Albania, ed. Clinton W. Abbott (Lulu Press, 2010), 105.
all business Hayes, interview.
dubbed “Blondie” Ibid.; Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 110.
leave Albania with the party Hayes, interview.
“a kind of guinea pig” Gavan Duffy, “Report on Evacuation of American Party from Albania,” TNA, HS 5/124.
“Under these conditions” David Smiley, Albanian Assignment (London: Sphere Books, 1984), 61.
“time to rest and refit” E. W. (“Trotsky”) Davies, Illyrian Venture (London: Bodley Head, 1952), 66.
fourteen days Hayes, interview.
destroyed a village Ibid.
young American OSS officer Smith, “Report on Mission of Evacuation.”
Taylor “Outline of Duties with Office of Strategic Services,” memo, October 4, 1945, RG 226, entry 224, box 767, Jack H. Taylor personnel file, NACP.
seven sorties… ten tons Captain G. F. Else, USMCR, to Colonel Paul B. Nelson, memo, September 6, 1945, Jack H. Taylor personnel file, NACP.
rough seas Smith, “Report on Mission of Evacuation.”
establish the camp Roderick Bailey, The Wildest Province (London: Jonathan Cape, 2008), 196.
“so they lay there” H. W. Tilman, When Men and Mountains Meet (1946), collected in The Seven Mountain-Travel Books (1983; repr., London: Bâton Wicks, 2010), 363.
temporary home Bailey, The Wildest Province, 41, 196–197.
Orahood RG 226, entry 224, box 575, Donald Orahood personnel file, NACP; David Brodie, “The Rescue of American Nurses from Albania,” in The OSS CommVets Papers, ed. J. F. Ranney and A. L. Ranney (Covington, KY: James F. Ranney, 2002), 28.
Karapiçi Bailey,
The Wildest Province, 200–201; Peter Lucas, The OSS in World War II Albania: Covert Operations and Collaboration with Communist Partisans (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2007), 13, 18–19.
“landing was duck soup” Bailey, The Wildest Province, 196.
shot in the back Ibid., 208–210; Lucas, The OSS in World War II Albania, 54–56.
Duffy explained Duffy, “Report on Evacuation of American Party”; Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 119–120.
wireless set Herbert Bell, “Signal Report on Colour Operation,” TNA, HS 5/124.
Station IX Terry Crowdy, SOE Agent: Churchill’s Secret Warriors (Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2008), 10.
Brown John Brown, unpublished interview, Imperial War Museum (IWM), 1989, provided to the author by Roderick Bailey with permission from IWM.
forty-two pounds Louis Meulstee and Rudolf F. Staritz, Wireless for the Warrior: Clandestine Radio (Ferndown, UK: Wimborne Publishing, 2004), vol. 4.
could not use it to communicate Bailey, The Wildest Province, 67.
Field operators… coded messages Margaret Pawley, In Obedience to Instructions: FANY with the SOE in the Mediterranean (Barnsley, UK: Leo Cooper, 1999), 58, 65.
“sked” Bailey, The Wildest Province, 68.
two mules Duffy, “Report on Evacuation of American Party.”
“I would prefer” Ibid.
bitter negotiating and price gouging Bailey, The Wildest Province, 71.
“After being in Albania” Duffy, “Report on Evacuation of American Party.”
“propaganda and goodwill tour” Ibid.
“looked back and surveyed” Ibid.
MP40 Ibid. In his report, Duffy referred to his weapon as a tommy gun, but the pictures of the group when they are rescued show an MP40.
“looked us over” Agnes Jensen Mangerich to John Graham, undated letter, John Graham family papers.
clasped on the barrel Hayes, interview.
Sten gun Ibid.; Bailey, e-mail interview, November 8, 2012; Chris Bishop, ed., Encyclopedia of Weapons of World War II (London: Metro Books, 2002), 263.
cost one SOE officer Roderick Bailey, Forgotten Voices of the Secret War (London: Ebury Press, 2008), 282.
sprained his ankle Duffy, “Report on Evacuation of American Party”; Hayes, interview.
[description of Voskopojë] Hayes, interview.
[churches of Voskopojë] “Voskopojë Churches,” World Monuments Fund, http://www.wmf.org/project/voskopojë-churches.
“It’s a hell of a place” Hayes, interview.
vomited Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 122.
others insisted Ibid.; Hayes, interview.
curse Hayes, interview; Abbott, Out of Albania, 111.
“the piano roll” Hayes, interview.
Dividing the group Ibid.
bride Ibid.
young couple in love Davies, Illyrian Venture, 34.
“sworn virgins” Robert Elsie, e-mail interview, November 11, 2012; Mike Lanchin, “Last of Albania’s ‘Sworn Virgins,’ ” BBC News, October 22, 2008, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7682240.stm; Dan Bilefsky, “Sworn to Virginity and Living as Men in Albania,” New York Times, June 23, 2008.
[crossing the river] Hayes, interview; Duffy, “Report on Evacuation of American Party”; Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 124 (quotes from Duffy’s report); Abbott, Out of Albania, 110.
last to cross Hayes, interview.
stolen more than a thousand sheep Duffy, “Report on Evacuation of American Party.”
“without an English speaking Albanian” Ibid.
makeup Hayes, interview; Abbott, Out of Albania, 58.
“managed to create an impression” Duffy, “Report on Evacuation of American Party.”
[Hayes’s shoes] Hayes, interview.
Gina, the partison Ibid. The description and timing of Gina’s return in Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 148, differed from Hayes’s.
“pilots slightly light-headed” Duffy, “Report on Evacuation of American Party.”
“Have heard persistent rumours of invasion” Ibid.
message from Cairo Ibid.
goodbye to Gina Hayes, interview. Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 148, and Abbott, Out of Albania, 119, differed as to the timing and description of when Gina left. Both placed his departure slightly later in the story but are not consistent.
bridge Hayes, interview; Duffy, “Report on Evacuation of American Party”; Abbott, Out of Albania, 117.
truck Duffy, “Report on Evacuation of American Party”; Abbott, Out of Albania, 117.
Chapter 11
cold, barren room Hayes, interview; Lawrence O. Abbott, Out of Albania, ed. Clinton W. Abbott (Lulu Press, 2010), 117–118.
meeting point in town Hayes, interview.
Mount Nemërçkë Ibid.; Gavan Duffy, “Report on Evacuation of American Party from Albania,” TNA, HS 5/124; Abbott, Out of Albania, 118–119.
honey Hayes, interview.
“It took almost seven hours” Duffy, “Report on Evacuation of American Party.”
“But by the grace of God” Roderick Bailey, The Wildest Province (London: Jonathan Cape, 2008), 67.
Sheper H. W. Tilman, When Men and Mountains Meet (1946), collected in The Seven Mountain-Travel Books (1983; repr., London: Bâton Wicks, 2010), 367.
Leake Bailey, The Wildest Province, 244; E. W. (“Trotsky”) Davies, Illyrian Venture (London: Bodley Head, 1952), 98.
Tilman Bailey, The Wildest Province, 75–76; David Smiley, Albanian Assignment (London: Sphere Books, 1984), 65.
“the nurses in good heart and looks” Tilman, When Men and Mountains Meet, 367.
“Once his mission had been established” Smiley, Albanian Assignment, 65.
“dull and placid” Tilman, When Men and Mountains Meet, 360.
“We ate our three good meals” Ibid., 361.
location of the sea evacuation Duffy, “Report on Evacuation of American Party.”
twenty-five-mile hike Hayes, interview.
Smith waited at Seaview Lloyd Smith, “Report on Mission of Evacuation, American Rescue Party,” RG 226, entry 144, box 97, folder 1023, NACP.
“We were desperately keen to go” Smiley, Albanian Assignment, 97.
a local appeared Ibid.
Unwilling to wait Smith, “Report on Mission of Evacuation.”
.45-caliber handgun “Recommendation for Award,” memo, May 18, 1944, RG 226, entry 224, box 723, Lloyd Smith personnel file, NACP.
[description of Smith’s journey] Smith, “Report on Mission of Evacuation.”
Breda 30s Chris Bishop, ed., Encyclopedia of Weapons of World War II (London: Metro Books, 2002), 237.
“getting nervous and jittery” Smith, “Report on Mission of Evacuation.”
A partisan guided Hayes, interview.
set a brisk pace Duffy, “Report on Evacuation of American Party.”
hillside Hayes, interview.
about six in the evening Duffy, “Report on Evacuation of American Party.”
Gjirokastër Gillian Gloyer, Albania (Guilford, UK: Globe Pequot Press, 2007), 104; Gjirokastra Conservation and Development Organization, http://www.gjirokastra.org/sub_links/visiting_sub/visiting_monuments.html.
about twelve thousand “Confidential Report, City and Towns, Albania.” RG 226, entry 165, box 12, folder 114, NACP.
Kokëdhima Gloyer, Albania, 104; Gjirokastra Conservation and Development Organization.
meeting room Hayes, interview.
[description of time with Haki] Ibid.
First Brigade Ibid.; Abbott, Out of Albania, 121.
decoding several messages Duffy, “Report on Evacuation of American Party.”
Mashkullorë Ibid.; Hayes, interview.
member of the Gestapo Abbott, Out of Albania, 121; Cranson, Allen, Owen, and Ebers, statements, Roll A6544, AFHRA.
waited until late morning Hayes, interview.
[town destroyed] Ibid.; Abbott, Out of Albania, 122.
fresh meat Hayes, interview; Abbott, Out of Albania,
122.
Zhulat Hayes, interview; Abbott, Out of Albania, 122.
“take all precaution” Duffy, “Report on Evacuation of American Party.”
finally found them Ibid.
Chapter 12
growing impatient Hayes, interview; Lawrence O. Abbott, Out of Albania, ed. Clinton W. Abbott (Lulu Press, 2010), 129.
two women dressed Hayes, interview; Abbott, Out of Albania, 129.
band of partisans Hayes, interview; Abbott, Out of Albania, 129; Gavan Duffy, “Report on Evacuation of American Party from Albania,” TNA, HS 5/124. Duffy’s report indicated that his intention for the day was Progonat.
Owen, Wolf, and Hayes Hayes, interview.
“We’ll draw straws!” Ibid.
moved to another house Ibid.
Duffy and Bell had left that morning Ibid.; Duffy, “Report on Evacuation of American Party.”
kaval Hayes, interview.
attacked by a dog Ibid.; Abbott, Out of Albania, 127. Abbott’s memoir mentions the incident and that Owen’s hand was “torn.” Hayes believes Owen was not injured and that Abbott was not in the house with them that evening.
Duffy told Thrasher Ibid.
found the village in chaos Duffy, “Report on Evacuation of American Party.”
badly wounded partisans Ibid.; Hayes, interview; Abbott, Out of Albania, 127.
“two days from their goal” Duffy, “Report on Evacuation of American Party.”
“We were washed up” Abbott, Out of Albania, 128.
“As events proved later” Duffy, “Report on Evacuation of American Party.”
[Thrasher’s message] “Copy of Lt. Thrasher’s Message of December 20, 1943 (Transmitted over BLO’s Cairo Link),” Roll A6544, AFHRA.
“Inform most urgently” Ibid.
special operation in Greece William J. Donovan to Franklin D. Roosevelt, memo, October 29, 1943, FDR’s Office Files, 1933–1945, Library of Congress.
Operation Halyard Gregory Freeman, The Forgotten 500: The Untold Story of the Men Who Risked All for the Greatest Rescue Mission of World War II (New York: New American Library, 2007); Torsten Ove, “George Vujnovich Dies at 96: Leader of Daring World War II Rescue,” LA Times, May 1, 2012.
sheep’s head Hayes, interview.
[crossing river] Ibid.
Karjan Ibid.
The Secret Rescue Page 26