The Ghost Army of World War II

by Rick Beyer

  Eisenhower, John. The Bitter Woods: The Battle of the Bulge. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1969.

  Foote, Shelby. The Civil War: A Narrative, Volume 1. New York: Random House, 1958.

  Ford, Mark Morgan. America in Still Life: Barnett Greenberg. New York: Cap & Bells Press, 2012.

  Gawne, Jonathan. Ghosts of the ETO: American Tactical Deception Units in the European Theater, 1944–1945. Havertown, PA: Casemate Publishers, 2002.

  Gerard, Philip. Secret Soldiers: The Story of World War II’s Heroic Army of Deception. New York: Dutton, 2002.

  Gilmore, Donald L., ed. U.S. Army Atlas of the European Theater in World War II. New York: Barnes & Noble Publishing, 2004.

  Goossen, E. C. Ellsworth Kelly. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1973.

  Holt, Thaddeus. The Deceivers: Allied Military Deception in the Second World War. New York: Scribner, 2004.

  Hoopes, Roy. Ralph Ingersoll: A Biography. New York: Atheneum, 1985.

  McCullough, David. 1776. Dumfries, NC: Holt, McDougal, 2006.

  Praun, Albert. German Radio Intelligence and the Soldatensender. Washington, DC: Department of the Army, Office of the Chief of Military History, 1950.

  Note on Rank

  Military rank can change both up and down and is bewildering in its arcane detail. We have tried to keep things simple for the telling of the story. In most cases, we have used the highest rank that the person attained during the war, as best as we can determine. In the case of soldiers who served as technicians (ranks T/3 through T/5), we have used the more common appellation of Sergeant or Corporal. We did not distinguish among different levels of Sergeant (such as Staff Sergeant, First Sergeant, and so on). Two of the men central to this tale, Ralph Ingersoll and Fred Fox, were promoted during their time in Europe, and the story reflects that.

  Acknowledgments

  We owe a deep debt of gratitude to all the veterans of the Ghost Army who have generously shared their stories and their art, which made possible the telling of the tale:

  Al Albrecht, Bill Anderson, Walter Arnett, A. G. “Spike” Berry, Bud Bier, Ed Biow, Bill Blass, Edward Boccia, John Borders, Bob Boyajian, Bob Conrad, Belisario Contreras, Mordecai Reese Craig, Harold Dahl, Victor Dowd, Harold Flinn, Fred Fox, Barnett Greenberg, John Hapgood, Ned Harris, Cleo Hovel, John Jarvie, Art Kane, Ellsworth Kelly, John Kennedy, Harold Laynor, Nick Leo, Joseph Mack, George Martin, Jack Masey, Bernie Mason, Irving Mayer, Jack McGlynn, Richard Morton, Stanley Nance, Gazo Nemeth, Seymour Nussbaum, Marion Pastorcich, George Rebh, Tom Roche, William Sayles, Paul Seckel, Gil Seltzer, Alvin Shaw, Arthur Shilstone, Adolphus “Ace” Simpson, Leonard Simms, Arthur Singer, Joe Spence, James Steg, Irving Stempel, Dick Syracuse, Bob Tompkins, George Vander Sluis, John Walker, Keith Shaw Williams, Stanley Wright, Tony Young, and Bruce Zillmer.

  We would like to thank the families of the veterans who searched through their attics and archives to retrieve, scan, and deliver unto us the artwork, photos, and writings of their loved ones:

  Holly Anderson, John Arnett, Beth Barham, Jocelyn Craig Benzaia, Rosa Bland, Alice Boccia, Bob Borders, Gail Boyajian, Kat Butler, Marta Contreras, Dylan Craig, Nate Dahl, Gregory Dowd, Peter Dowd, Roy Eichhorn, Claudia Fenderson, Rev. Donald Fox, Janet Carolyn Freeman, Clifford Harris, Richard Hovel, Jonathan Kane, Lynn Kennedy, Gloria Laynor, Stephen Mack, Rob Mayer, Pamela Pastoric, Linda Phillips, James Saslow, Michael Sayles, Jan Seale, Kim Seale, Al Seckel, Bart Shaw, Alan Singer, Paul Singer, Carol Spence, Mary Spence, Frances Swigart-Steg, Rina Syracuse, Andrea Syracuse-Silverstein, Jeff Vander Sluis, and Erika Vrabel.

  Thanks also to Irene Blais, Peter Harrington, Karl F. Jackson, David Howe, Kevin Koloff, Jessica Kurrle, Jim Levine, Bob Patten, Scott Patti, Eva Walters, and Paul Webber. Special thanks to Roy Eichhorn, former director of research and development at the United States Army Combined Arms Center, for reviewing the manuscript. Any errors that remain are ours, not his.

  We are grateful to Princeton Architectural Press, especially acquisitions editor Sara Bader for championing the book, project editor Sara Stemen for her thorough and judicious use of the comments tool in Word, copy editor Tanya Heinrich for her exacting attention to detail, and designer Benjamin English for making art out of all the raw material. Together they made the book practically perfect.

  This book grew out of the documentary film The Ghost Army, written and directed by Rick Beyer, which premiered on PBS in 2013. We would like to thank everyone involved in the making of that film, especially Martha Gavin, Mark Tomizawa, and Jacqueline Sheridan. From PBS, thanks to Beth Hoppe, Cara Liebenson, Amy Letourneau, Charles Schuerhoff, and Jalyn Henton. And our grateful appreciation goes to the generous donors who supported production of the film and continue to support the creation of a Ghost Army Digital Archive.

  Many original art pieces that appear in this book were collected for several exhibitions of the art of the Ghost Army. We would like to thank Clare Sheridan, Joanne Potanovic, and the Board of the Historical Society of Rockland County, as well as Carole Perry and the Board of the Edward Hopper House Art Center in Nyack, New York.

  Finally we would like to acknowledge our spouses, Marilyn Rea Beyer and Matt Dow, and thank them for their patience, support, enthusiasm, and love.

  — Rick Beyer & Elizabeth Sayles

  Credits

  Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to extensively quote from unpublished material:

  The family of Harold Dahl for his letters.

  Gloria Laynor for Harold Laynor’s letters.

  The Ingersoll Collection, Howard Gotleib Archival Research Center at Boston University, for Ralph Ingersoll’s unpublished manuscript Time Out for War.

  Mark Tompkins for Bob Tompkins’s diaries.

  James Saslow for Stanley Wright’s letter.

  Image credits:

  Al Seckel: 164 right.

  Alan & Paul Singer: Cover top; 29 bottom; 56 bottom; 77; 78; 111; 125 top right; 159 bottom; 175 bottom; 185; 203; 238.

  Alice Boccia: 84 bottom; 212 left.

  Arthur Shilstone: 57; 66 top; 67; 69 top; 85 bottom; 96; 97; 117 bottom; 121 left.

  Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection / Brown University Library: 26; 55 top; 79 right; 92; 107 right; 118 left; 130; 131; 133 left; 164 left; 174 top; 175 top; 183; 204 bottom; 229 second row left.

  Bart Shaw & Elizabeth S. Barham: 115; 202.

  Bernie Mason: 30 top; 38; 62; 136; 165 left; 207 right.

  Bill Blass Group: 30 bottom; 176 bottom; 231 right.

  Bob Boyajian: 12 second row left; 28; 39 right; 149; 172; 229 second row lower right.

  Bob Tompkins 14; 36; 38; 84 top; 93 top; 106 top left; 121 right; 125 bottom; 127 right; 176 top; 194 bottom.

  Carol Spence: 187 right.

  Chermayeff & Geismar: 235 left & top right.

  Comicbook Plus / Fawcett: 232.

  David Howe: 173 top.

  Dick Syracuse: 12 second row right; 117 top.

  Dr. Paul Webber: 200.

  Ed Biow: 102; 155 bottom.

  Ellsworth Kelly: 31 top; 39 left; 55 bottom left; 98; 179; 184; 210; 234.

  Erika Vrabel: 32 top left; 163 left; 193 bottom.

  The family of Harold Dahl: 12 top left, third row middle, bottom left & right; 51; 129; 132 right; 150; 154; 220; 229 top left & third row right; 230.

  Frances Steg: 118 right; 174 middle; 212 right.

  George Rebh: 45.

  Gilbert Seltzer: 237 bottom.

  Gloria Laynor: 180.

  The Ingersoll Collection, Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University: 16.

  Irene Blais: 41 bottom.

  Jack Masey: 35; 231 left; 235 bottom right.

  Jack McGlynn: 12 third row left & right; 47; 236.

  James Saslow: 166–169.

  Jeff Vander Sluis: 40; 120 top; 137; 177 left; 239 top.

  John Arnett: 133 top & bottom right; 134.

  John Jarvie: 32 top right; 43 bottom; 54; 76 right & left; 79 left; 122; 157; 174 bottom; 1
77 right; 207 left.

  Jonathan Kane & Holly Anderson: 233.

  Leo Beranek: 49.

  Leonard Simms: 136 top; 170; 206.

  Library of Congress: 24.

  Linda Philips: 104; 107 left; 156 top right; 161.

  Marta Contreras: 75 bottom; 130; 175 top; 204 bottom.

  Museum of Work and Culture: 42.

  Michael Sayles: 83 top.

  National Archives: Cover bottom; 2–3; 11; 18; 19; 41 top; 46; 48; 58; 63; 64 bottom; 71; 75 top; 80; 86; 87; 88; 93 bottom; 94; 95; 105 top; 112; 116; 119; 151; 153; 191; 192; 194 top left & right; 195; 196; 199; 214; 221; 229 bottom left & middle.

  The National World War II Museum: 228.

  Ned Harris: 65; 66 bottom; 120 bottom; 127 left; 159 top; 178 left; 204 top; 213.

  P. C. Hamerlinck: 27.

  Pamela Pastoric: 219.

  Peter Dowd: 29 top right & left; 52; 55 bottom right; 56 top; 64 top; 90; 106 top right & bottom left; 109; 125 top left; 132 left; 156 bottom left & right; 163 right; 205 left; 209; 211; 217 bottom.

  Rev. Donald Fox: 21; 83 bottom.

  Richard Hovel: 100.

  Rick Beyer: 6; 7; 13; 31 bottom; 43 top; 85 top; 239 bottom; 254.

  Rob Mayer: 70; 155 top; 156 top left; 173 bottom; 181; 188; 190; 198; 229 second row third from left.

  Roy Eichhorn: 22–23; 32 bottom; 105 bottom; 126; 186; 216; 226; 227.

  Spike Berry: 135.

  Stanley Nance: 44; 124; 193 top.

  Steve Mack 13; 33; 50; 72; 146; 162; 165 bottom right.

  William Anderson: 108.

  William Sayles: 12 top right; 59; 60; 69 bottom; 101; 106 bottom right; 110; 128; 139–145; 165 top right; 205 right; 217 top; 218; 229 top right, center & bottom right; 237 top.

  Worcester Telegram & Gazette: 225.

  Index

  Page references for illustrations appear in italics

  101st Airborne Division, 151, 152

  244th Signal Company. See Signal Company Special

  293rd Engineer Combat Battalion, 45

  3132 Signal Service Company Special, 20, 46, 47, 51, 110, 118, 119

  3133 Signal Service Company Special, 46

  406th Engineer Combat Special, 20, 45, 45–46, 58, 64, 68, 85, 86, 101, 117, 149, 152, 178

  603rd Engineer Camouflage Battalion Special, 20, 23, 26–34, 30, 31, 39, 39, 42, 51, 54, 57–59, 62–63, 67, 101, 125, 136, 138, 139–145, 149, 150, 155, 157, 174, 218, 230

  camoufleurs, 20, 125, 193

  980th Artillery, 64

  Ailes, Stephen, 227

  Albrecht, Al, 48, 124, 127, 226, 230

  Aliapoulos, William, 45

  Aline in Luxembourg (Dowd), 132

  All the Creatures (Sayles), 237

  Allies, 70, 73, 92, 105, 148, 151–152, 172, 190, 196, 202, 206, 215

  Alsace-Lorraine, 182

  Americans Are Very Strong!, The (Shilstone), 67

  Anderson, William, 58, 152, 154, 181, 230

  Arc de Triomphe, 107, 108, 110

  Army Experimental Station, 20, 39, 46

  Arnett, Walter, 26, 118, 133, 133, 134, 164, 174, 230

  Col. Reeder Addressing the Troops, 133

  The Letter, 164

  My Sleeping Bag, 174

  New Recruit, 26

  Put the Top Down!, 118

  art boys, 26–34, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 35, 68, 69, 101, 104–111, 127, 136, 138, 139–145, 160, 161–169, 174–178, 182, 183–187, 202, 202–207, 203, 205, 208, 209–213

  camoufleurs, 20, 125, 193. See also

  603rd Engineer Camouflage Battalion Special; Twenty-Third Headquarters Special Troops

  Asia, 26. See also Japan

  Aux Belles Poules, 110

  Bare Blass (Blass, Horyn), 176

  Bastogne, 151, 151, 152, 154

  Battle Is the Pay-Off, The (Ingersoll), 17

  Battle of the Bulge, 11, 86, 149, 150, 227

  BBN Technologies. See Bolt, Beranek and Newman

  Be My Valentine (Mason), 165

  Beach Jumpers, 46

  Beck, Clare, 49

  Belgium, 124, 151, 151, 152, 154

  Bell Laboratories, 47, 49

  Belle of the Ball (Hovel), 156

  Beranek, Leo, 48–49, 49

  Beranek’s Box, 48, 49

  Bernie Mason (Dowd), 62

  Berry, Spike, 44, 83, 84, 101, 134–135, 135, 150, 225, 230

  Bettembourg, 115–121

  Bier, Bill, 239

  Bill Blass (Dowd), 205

  Billings, John Shaw, 17

  Binder, Jack, 27, 28

  Biow, Ed, 26, 27, 150, 154, 155, 155, 172, 178–179, 190, 230

  Blarney Breakdown, 136, 136

  Blarney Theatre, 134–137, 136

  Blass, Bill, 13, 28, 30, 31, 34, 84, 92, 121, 125, 145, 176, 176–177, 205, 231, 231

  Bare Blass, 176

  Boccia, Edward, 76, 84, 197, 212, 231

  A Comrade, ’45, 212

  A Small Cognac, 84

  Bolt, Beranek and Newman, 48

  Bonaparte, Napoleon, 19

  Borders, John, 49

  Boudreau, James, 26, 27, 28

  Boulliane, Charles, 207

  Boyajian, Bob, 27, 27–28, 28, 232

  Bradley, Omar, 23, 70, 152, 154

  Breakout (Jarvie), 207

  Brest, 92–93, 94, 95, 96, 99, 100, 196

  Bridge over the Moselle (Contreras), 204

  Briey, 174, 181, 182, 183–187

  Briey (Singer), 173, 185

  Briey, 1945 (Kelly), 184

  Briey, France ’45 (Spence), 187

  Briey, March ’45 (Tompkins), 183

  Bristol, UK (Sayles), 59

  Brittany, 70–71, 92, 100, 114

  Broadmoor Academy, 28

  Bulletman, 28

  Byrd, Richard E., 46

  Cabbage, 57

  Caesar, Julius, 19

  Café de l’Est (Sayles), 83

  camouflage, 26–34, 30, 31, 39, 39, 64, 64, 95, 125, 193

  camoufleurs, 20, 125, 193. See also 603rd Engineer Camouflage Battalion Special; art boys; camouflage

  Camp Forrest, 20, 34, 39, 45–46, 51

  Camp Hale, 27

  Capra, Frank, 46

  Why We Fight, 46

  Captain Midnight, 28

  Captain Midnight, 232

  cartoons, 27, 28, 133, 134

  Cecil B. DeMille Warriors. See Twenty-Third Headquarters Special Troops

  Champs Élysées, 108, 110

  Cheese, 57

  Chris (Young), 163

  Church Steeple (Tompkins), 79

  Churchill, Winston, 17, 196

  Cipriano, Tony, 230

  City of Luxembourg (Contreras), 130

  Civil War, 19, 59

  Clark, Wesley, 16, 19, 67

  Col. Reeder Addressing the Troops (Arnett), 133

  Cold War, 227, 228

  comics. See cartoons

  Common Loons in the Mist (Singer), 238

  Comrade, A, ’45 (Boccia), 212

  con artists, 16–23. See also Twenty-Third Headquarters Special Troops

  Conrad, Bob, 11, 44, 110, 118, 155, 232

  Contreras, Belisario, 130, 174, 175, 204, 232

  Bridge over the Moselle, 204

  City of Luxembourg, 130

  Convoy (Morton), 55

  Convoy (Singer), 56

  Cooper Union, 28

  Counterfeit Spy, The (Delmer), 17

  Craig, Mordecai R., 141

  Creative Cycling (Dowd), 106

  Cuffari, Thomas, 132

  D-Day, 11, 17, 58, 62, 82

  Dahl, Harold, 34, 51, 70, 101, 104, 107, 137, 149, 157, 174, 176, 178, 198, 217, 232

  Dahl, Lucy, 51

  Daley, George, 45

  Dartmouth College, 17

  David, Max, 35

  deception, 18–19, 20, 23, 38, 39–51, 48, 57–59, 66–68, 70–71, 73, 82–89, 85, 86, 87–88, 93, 93, 95–96, 99, 100, 110, 114–121, 117, 119, 124, 124–137, 148–159, 172, 174, 180–181, 190–199, 192, 224, 22
8

  Delmer, Sefton, 17

  The Counterfeit Spy, 17

  Devers, Jake, 19–20

  Dewey, Thomas E., 135

  Diestel, George, 239

  Dietrich, Marlene, 136, 136, 137

  Discourses on Livy (Machiavelli), 224

  displaced persons, 205–207, 206, 207, 208–221, 209–213, 214, 216

  Doncourt-lès-Longuyon, 155

  Dondelinger, Anny, 132, 166

  Douaumont Ossuary, 155

  Doud, Mamie, 18

  Dowd, Victor, 27, 27–28, 28, 29, 33, 51, 55, 56, 62–64, 64, 106, 108, 109, 110, 117, 125, 132, 156, 157, 163, 180–181, 205, 208, 209, 211, 215, 217, 232, 232

  Aline in Luxembourg, 132

  Bernie Mason, 62

  Bill Blass, 205

  Creative Cycling, 106

  Gunner Onboard, 56

  He Never Smiled, 156

  A Letter from His Fox Hole, 163

  Luxembourg Bivouac, 125

  The Old Man, 209

  Peeling Potatoes with Two Russian Girls, 217

  The Sisters, Polish, 156

  DPs. See displaced persons

  Dr. Seuss. See Geisel, Theodore

  Drying Gear (Singer), 125

  Dudley, Fred W., 42

  dummy weaponry, 18, 19, 20, 38, 39, 40, 41, 41, 42, 42, 43, 57, 57–59, 58, 62, 64, 64, 66–68, 71, 95, 96, 97, 115, 117, 148–149, 152, 180–181, 193, 194, 195, 195, 196

  Earhart, Amelia, 46

  Eichhorn, Roy, 57, 58, 84–85, 89, 197–198, 224, 228

  Eiffel Tower, 107

  Eighty-Third Infantry Division, 118, 121

  Eisenhower, Dwight D., 18, 20, 110, 134, 152, 190, 196, 218, 227

  Eisenhower, Mamie. See Doud, Mamie

  Eldredge, Went, 16, 17, 224

  Electro-Acoustic Laboratory, 48

  Elephant, 65

  Eleventh Armored Division, 44

  England, 17, 20, 49, 51, 54–59, 57, 63, 65, 66, 135, 158

  London, 17, 49, 135

  Ernst Enquirer, 220

  Europe, 26, 38, 39, 49, 62–73, 100, 104, 124, 154, 190, 202, 205, 218. See also France; Germany; Luxembourg

  Expo 67, 231, 235

  Fairbanks, Douglas Jr., 46, 46

  Falaise Pocket, 73

  FDR. See Roosevelt, Franklin D.

  Fitz, Otis, 134, 149

  Flinn, Harold, 47, 95, 232

  Floyd, Peter, 235

  Fort de Vaux, 159