OSS Influence on Early US Special Forces

In 2018, The USASOC History Office published an article stating that a ‘grossly disproportionate share of the pioneering influence’ was incorrectly attributed to veterans of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) who joined early Special Forces. After comparing personnel lists, USASOC History Office concluded that only 14 members of the OSS actually served in Special Forces and that their contribution was not as great as has been described over the years. David Maxwell, who criticized this study, also noted that the list failed to include Robert McDowell, who served with the OSS in Yugoslavia. In 2019, Jelle Hooiveld published an article in Small Wars Journal about the legendary OSS, Special Forces and CIA Officer Lucien Conein, whose contribution to the build-up of early Special Forces wasn’t mentioned either. Now, yet another name has come up: Jack Sands Jr., who served as a lieutenant colonel in the OSS and became a senior adviser to the staff of the 10th Special Forces Group in the mid-fifties.

Oliver Jackson Sands Jr. was born on 9 October, 1905. He was educated at Princeton University and Harvard University and initially served with the Field Artillery (U.S. Army Reserve). Sands later became Assistant Deputy Director of the OSS and attained the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. After the abolishment of the OSS, Sands joined the Central Intelligence Group (CIG) but also remained active as a reserve officer. During the early 1950s, Sands served as Chief, Operations Coordination Branch and Executive Officer of the Psychological Staff Division of the CIA. In the mid-fifties, Sands was transferred to the Western European theatre. By now, Sands was also a full Army Reserve colonel.

Between 1956 and 1959, while working for the CIA, he served as a so called ‘Military Staff Agent’ and was appointed Director, J-2 Division of the Headquarters of Support Operations Task Force Europe (SOTFE). HQ SOTFE was organized under the direction of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as a joint task force. It was composed of Army and CIA personnel for the conduct of Unconventional Warfare throughout the area of responsibility of the Commander in Chief in Europe.

During this period, Sands also acted as a senior adviser to the Commanding Officer, 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) on all CIA matters pertaining to Operations, Intelligence and Support. According to his owns statements, Sands also held ‘numerous formal and informal conferences’ with officers of the 10th SFG on subjects of tradecraft and tactics and techniques developed or practiced by the CIA that were of interest to Special Forces. In addition, Sands reviewed and advised the 10th SFG in regard to the training programs of its personnel. Furthermore, Sands acted as a liaison between the CIA and 10th SFG regarding mutual areas of interest on the development of new techniques and new equipment. In acknowledgement of his contributions, Colonel Sands was made an honorary member of the 10th SFG.

Throughout his life, Sands remained proud of his OSS roots. During an eighties reunion, Sands referred to his former OSS colleagues as the ‘greatest collection of people […] in the history of the world’. Summing up: this article has shown that at least three OSS veterans who significantly impacted and influenced early Special Forces, weren’t included in USASOC History Office’s study. Who else is missing?

Article from the Small Wars Journal

Marie-Madeleine Fourcade and the Secret War in France

The below article was written by Rick Ledgett and posted on the Cipher Brief. Ledgett served as the Deputy Director of the National Security Agency from January 2014 until his retirement in April 2017, culminating a nearly 40-year career in cryptology at NSA and in the U.S. Army. He previously led the Media Leaks Task Force, the Agency’s response to the Snowden leaks and was the first National Intelligence Manager for Cyber at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and he directed NSA’s 24/7 cyber threat operations center.



The most effective leader of the French Underground, who ran the largest and most productive spy ring working against the Nazis, was not a man. It was Marie-Madeleine Fourcade, who at 31 years old, left her life of privilege in Paris to fight against the German invaders in 1941. Her story is told by Lynne Olson in her New York Times bestseller, Madame Fourcade’s Secret War, published in 2019. It is an enthralling read, filled with tension, drama, and stories of humanity during the most difficult of times. Ms. Olson is an experienced storyteller who has written and co-written a number of World War II histories, and in her prologue says that she ran across Madame Fourcade’s story while writing another book and felt compelled to tell it on its own.

In reading the book, one wonders how Madame Fourcade and her network, called the Alliance, survived. Anyone with a smidgeon of knowledge about intelligence tradecraft will wince when they read of their large group meetings, writing and storage of incriminating documents, and repetitive moves in what we now call “pattern of life” activities. But, despite losses in personnel that sometimes rendered entire sections of France dark to the Alliance, they kept coming back. In large part, that was because of the fierce loyalty and respect in which the resistance agents held Madame Fourcade. Although a woman in what was very much a man’s game, and additionally encumbered by her beauty and youth, she had a fierce will and great charisma. She did not hesitate to put her life on the line, particularly in support of those she recruited; on several occasions she skirted capture by the Gestapo in order to warn her agents. She earned the respect of all those in her network, as well as of British Intelligence, who funded them and provided requirements and other support.

The Alliance became a major thorn in the side of the Gestapo, who exerted great efforts to capture them. The Germans recruited informants, used direction-finding gear to locate Alliance clandestine transmitters, terrorized towns in which Alliance members were believed to be located, and tortured many of those arrested, before shipping them off to death camps.

Because the Alliance used animals as code names for their personnel, the Germans referred to the group as Noah’s Ark. Madame Fourcade chose Hedgehog as her nom de guerre.

The Alliance made contributions to British knowledge throughout France, but nowhere was it more important than along the coast. In the early part of the war it was intelligence on the disposition and defenses of the U-boat fleet that was based on the French coast that was key to Allied efforts to slow their depredations on American ships carrying military material to England. Later in the war, the Alliance was a – if not the – principal source of detailed intelligence on the coastal terrain and German defenses along the coast of Normandy, critically important in the run-up to D-Day. One of the Alliance products was a 55-foot-long, extraordinarily comprehensive map of the beaches used by the Allies for the invasion.

After 74 years, Army veteran recognized for wreaking WWII chaos with OSS

The first director of the Office of Strategic Services at the start of World War II was looking for a unique combination of character traits to outfit a new team of combatants during World War II. “We need Ph.D.s that can win a bar fight.” Gen. William “Wild Bill” Donovan’s description was apt as he began assembling a force that could outwit and outmuscle the enemy.

In Marietta, Frank A. Gleason fit the bill. Fresh out of Penn State University with a degree in chemical engineering, Gleason was young, fit and ready to serve his country fighting the Empire of Japan. On his 24th birthday — Sept. 24, 1944 — he found himself in the plains of southern China as commander of a small band of troops whose mission was to create havoc and hamper the Japanese troops stationed in that country during WWII.

Gleason said that today his unit would be regarded as a “trained band of terrorists.” In carrying out their mission, the men of Gleason’s OSS command blew up more than 100 bridges, wrecked rail lines, destroyed communication systems and caused general destruction for the Japanese Army.

Seventy-four years later, these heroes received their medals. There are fewer than 100 members from the OSS ranks left. Gleason, 97, a resident of Sterling Estates of West Cobb, is among the latest to receive a Congressional Gold Medal — the highest civilian honor that can bestowed. After two years of discussions in Washington, House Speaker Paul Ryan officially presented the medal to the Office of Strategic Services on March 21. “I got a phone call from the president of the OSS Society, Charlie Pinck, that he was sending me my medal through the mail. I received it a couple weeks ago,” said Gleason. “I am extremely honored and never expected anything like this. I would say it was the icing on the cake for my 30 years of military service in the United States Army.”

Gleason was recruited into the OSS by fellow Penn State University Phi Kappa Psi fraternity brother Charlie Parkin. After being trained at the OSS training camp in the Catoctin Mountains in Maryland, he was sent to England to demolition school. The OSS was dissolved after World War II, and Gleason returned to the U.S. Army’s Corps of Engineers. He served during the Korean War, building anti-aircraft installations in Alaska over fears that the Russians might attack there.

During the Vietnam War, Gleason was in charge of an Army supply installation at Cam Ranh Bay located on an inlet on the South China Sea. His crew sent supplies to 49,000 troops fighting the enemy in the jungles of Vietnam. “I would spend $82 million a month on supplies to support my troops,” said Gleason.

The OSS, which is the predecessor of the CIA, recruited an interesting mix of members. Julia Child, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg, Western film director John Ford and German born actress and singer Marlene Dietrich all served in the spy agency. The exploits of the clandestine crew was the topic of Teddy White’s book, “The Mountain Road.” The book later became a movie in 1960 starring Jimmy Stewart who played a character based on Gleason’s OSS service. Gleason served as a technical adviser for the film.

He retired from Army in 1971 as a full colonel. “Who would ever dream that at 97 years old, I would get a Congressional Gold Medal,” he said. “I am over-awed.”

Article from the Army Times

Honoring surviving OSS members must be a priority for lame-duck Congress

This article was written by Bob Dole, and published on Military Times. Bob Dole was a former Senator who represented Kansas in Congress from 1969-1996. He served as an Army combat infantry officer in Northern Italy during World War II.

The Office of Strategic Services, better known as the OSS, was the World War II predecessor to the CIA, U.S. Special Operations Command and the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research. It was created after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. President Franklin Roosevelt believed the war necessitated the creation of a centralized intelligence agency with the capability to conduct unconventional warfare.

Roosevelt chose as its director Army Gen. William “Wild Bill” Donovan, who earned the Medal of Honor fighting with the legendary “Fighting 69th” Infantry Regiment in World War I. Roosevelt called General Donovan his “secret legs.” Donovan was a man of seemingly limitless intelligence, vision and bravery who is considered the founding father of the intelligence and special operations communities.

The OSS Maritime Unit was a predecessor to the Navy SEALs. Its Jedburgh and Operational Groups were predecessors to Army Special Forces. Elements of the Army Air Corps served as the air arm of the OSS and as predecessors to Air Force Special Operations Command. The Marines who served in the OSS were predecessors to the Marines Corps Forces Special Operations Command.

Donovan said OSS personnel performed “some of the bravest acts of the war.” They were drawn from every branch of the military and the civilian population. Donovan called them his “glorious amateurs”:

• Army officers including Col. Aaron Bank, considered the “father of Special Forces,” and Maj. William Colby, who would become head of the CIA.  See picture of Col Aaron Bank at left. 


• Marines including Col. Peter Ortiz, the most highly decorated member of the OSS; Col. William Eddy, who some consider the American “Lawrence of Arabia”; and Sterling Hayden, the famed actor who served under the name John Hamilton and would earn a Silver Star before returning to Hollywood for roles in “The Godfather” and “Dr. Strangelove.”


• Coast Guard personnel, including Lt. John Booth, served as the OSS’s operational swimmers. • Navy Lt. Jack Taylor, a Navy Cross recipient who led one of the deepest parachute missions into occupied Austria and survived captivity in a Nazi concentration camp.



• Fred Mayer, the real “inglorious bastard” who was nominated for the Medal of Honor.  See picture of Fred Mayer at right. 


• James Donovan, the OSS general counsel who was portrayed by Tom Hanks in “Bridge of Spies”


• Virginia Hall, the only civilian woman to receive the Distinguished Service Cross in World War II.

• Ralph Bunche, who would go on in 1950 to become the first African-American to earn the Nobel Peace Prize.   See picture of Ralph Bunche at left. 



The OSS supported resistance movements around the world. General Eisenhower said the intelligence it gathered before D-Day alone justified its creation, but the OSS played a critical role in other invasions.


Its Morale Operations Branch pioneered the use of psychological warfare. It brought leading academics into the war effort to work for its Research and Analysis Branch and created area studies. It led Operation Halyard, one of World War II’s most famed rescue missions. Its Communications, Presentation, and Research and Development Branches created new technologies and devised innovative methodologies.

OSS personnel went behind enemy lines on the war’s most dangerous missions. Historian Patrick O’Donnell said one would “be very hard-pressed to find a smaller group of individuals who made such a profound difference in the history of modern American warfare."

The Office of Strategic Services Congressional Gold Medal Act will honor the men and women who served in the OSS. Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., and Roy Blunt, R-Mo., introduced this bill in the Senate, where it was passed unanimously with 73 co-sponsors earlier this year. The House bill has 320 co-sponsors – nearly 75 percent of the body’s members.

The House has honored many other groups of World War II veterans, including the Doolittle Raiders, the Tuskegee Airmen and the 1st Special Service Force. Under new rules enacted for the 114th Congress, House leadership must issue a waiver to allow passage of Congressional Gold Medal bills that honor groups of people. It granted such a waiver to the only other Gold Medal bill passed in this session of Congress, which honored civil rights marchers. There is no reason a waiver should not be granted for the OSS bill, too.

Time is running out pass this bill before Congress adjourns. If the gavel falls before the bill is passed, some of the greatest and unrecognized heroes of World War II will never be honored for their service. This would be a travesty. When Donovan died in 1959, President Eisenhower said he was the “last hero.” It is time to honor the “last hero,” and all the heroes of the OSS, with a Congressional Gold Medal.

94 year old OSS Veteran Shares His Story

A 94-year-old World War II veteran held a Reddit AMA, with the help of his grandson, in which he provides a startling look at his time serving behind Nazi lines as an intelligence staff sergeant.

John Cardinalli, who was sworn to secrecy for 65 years following the end of World War II, has taken to Reddit to explain his time with the US Office of Strategic Services. The OSS was the forerunner of the CIA, and it was dedicated to coordinating espionage and intelligence gathering behind enemy lines during WWII.

Cardinalli was unable to tell his story until the FBI and CIA declassified his mission in 2008. Now, realizing the historical importance of his role, Cardinalli has written the book "65 Years of Secrecy" about his roles during the war.

In the AMA, Cardinalli explains of how he joined the OSS in the first place:

I got into the OSS while in the infantry in North Carolina and I saw a sign that said "Men Wanted for Hazardous Duty, Need to know Morse Code, and must speak a Foreign Language, which I am fluent in Italian". There is more to the story of how I actually was accepted, it is all in my book. I am not trying to push my book, but it has everything in there. It is available on Amazon "65 Years of Secrecy by John Cardinalli."

Cardinalli described his exact role:

My role was an agent behind enemy lines collecting information and radio back to allied forces. I was a master at Morse Code, which is how most of our communication was done.

He also briefly explained how the OSS teams functioned behind enemy lines:

I worked with a small team that were grouped in twos. The code name who was in charge of all these teams was named "The Dutchman". There is a lot to this, but basically, but the groups all had a task and a name. For example, we had a "married couple" named jack and jill. Yes, I was in Holland and spent a lot of time hiding in windmills which were strategically chosen along Rhine River.

Cardinalli also shared the scariest thing he ever experienced:

Battle of the Bulge. Our team completely split up, by ourselves, with just radios to communicate. Everyone was completely on their own for 2 days.

The Battle of the Bulge was one of the last German offensives in Western Europe against the Allies, during which US forces sustained the brunt of the assault. It was the largest and bloodiest battle that the US took part in during WWII.

Despite the amazing adversity that Cardinalli had to fight through during WWII, he also admits that he never missed a chance to lightheartedly poke fun at his fellow team members:

One of my team members needed a hair cut and I told him I was the best Italian Barber in the military. I never cut hair in my life. I cut his and he looked like a dog with mange. He literally almost shot me.

Cardinalli also shared his advice for those thinking of joining the military:

If one was going to join the military, go into intelligence.

Article by Jeremy Bender on Business Insider

America's First Frogman - The original Combat Swimmer Passes Away

 'America's first frogman' dies in Bend, Oregon at 95 This article is from a local Bend Oregon television station's on-line article about John Spence, a very unique individual.


John Spence, known in World War II history as “America’s first frogman,” has died at the age of 95, a friend and fellow veteran has confirmed. Jake’s Diner owner Lyle Hicks, who hosts the local Band of Brothers meetings, said he went to visit Spence at an assisted living facility on Tuesday and learned he had died during the night.

Nearly a year ago, NewsChannel 21 talked with Spence, who served his country as a combat swimmer sought out for their advanced swimming, diving and boat handling skills -- a precursor to today's Navy SEALs.

Spence was one of 70 frogmen who served in World War II and the Korean War. The current Special Forces are still using those water skills in their operations. “We were counteracting a situation where our allies, which we were trying to help, that were taking a beating," Spence said. "So we were transferred to counteract what they were doing."

In recent years, Hicks and Band of Brothers President J.W. Terry and California filmmaker-historian Erick Simmel worked with Spence to develop a biography of his Navy service. Hicks shared that with us Wednesday, and it’s presented in full here:

John Spence Biography:

I was born in 1918 in Centerville, Tennessee. My dad was the local sheriff so I tell everyone that I was in jail for my first six years. I lost my dad when I was 9. He was ambushed by a bunch of moonshiners.

I joined the Navy in 1936. After boot camp in Norfolk, Virginia, I was sent to Diver school where I was taught as a Hard Hat Deep sea diver. I was assigned to the USS Idaho. All of the large ships in those days had a deep sea diver group. Along with my duties as a gunner when the need arose, I would be called upon to deep sea dive. It made my monthly paycheck $10 fatter. I mustered out of the Navy after 4 years and went to work for Lockheed Aircraft till the Japs attacked Pearl Harbor.

I then went to the Navy Department in Washington and volunteer for the Armed Guard. They were the gunners who were protecting the merchant ships. I was told ‘You must be crazy. The Armed Guard are losing 85% of their gun crews. But, I can see by your record that you have been a deep sea diver and we have a request for one. Are you interested?’. I told them, yes, and they sent me to the Navy Yard in Washington where I stayed for 3 weeks and could not find out anything from anyone.

I then received a letter from my mother who was worried that I was in some sort of trouble as men were in my hometown asking former teachers and classmates all sort of questions about me. I was then sent to a secret base known as ‘Area D’ somewhere on the Potomac River south of Quantico. It was there that I found out that I had been recruited into the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), an espionage organization who were direct frontrunners to the modern day C.I.A.

Few realize that the OSS was it’s own branch of the armed forces having a commander serving on the joint chiefs of staff. Ours was Major General William Donovan, WW1 Medal of Honor recipient and national hero. The thing that separated us from the others was also the thing that seemed to cause the most conflict. We were the guys that were ‘Out of the Box’.

I was trained in Area D for special skills and in what is now Camp David in the fine art of sabotage. I was placed under the command of a British Commander Woolley and a Navy Lieutenant Jack Taylor. Lt Taylor was recruited to teach me small boat handling and navigation. It was learned that Italian swimmers were sinking British ships so we decided to start a group of underwater warfare swimmers. They named us Frogmen…..I was the first.

There is an interesting tale of how that name came forward. Since I am a part of that tale, I will share it. The Dunlop Company of England created a thin rubber waterproof suit. They called them dry suits today but back then they were anything but. They were green and had a full hood attached. Mine sort of fit me. As senior Navy diver, I was chosen to try it out. It worked much better than the wool long johns we had used to cheat the cold. Someone saw me surfacing one day and yelled out, “Hey, Frogman!”. The name stuck for all of us….but once again, I was the first.

I was sent to the Shoreham Hotel in Washington DC escorted by two armed Marines. Arriving, I found the hotel secured by more Marines and was escorted to a secured swimming pool there. Standing near the pool was a tall young man with blonde hair flanked by even more Marines. He had a contraption of some sort on a table next to him.

The man was a medical student by the name of Chris Lambertsen, who had invented a contained diving unit that recirculated air and sent no bubbles to the surface. The Lambertsen Amphibious Respiratory Unit or the LARU was like nothing before or since. I was introduced to him as John and he to me as Chris. But, I could see he was a doctor in the making so I respectfully called him Doctor while he continued to call me, John.

The LARU was cobbled together in Lambertsen’s garage. The face mask was a converted WW1 gas mask. It’s performance and ingenious design of its upgrades changed and brought about a whole new dynamic to secret warfare. It was the foundation and predecessor to what the Seals use today.

Lambertsen was sworn to such secrecy that he was not able to tell his medical school dean why he had to take time off from school to visit Washington. At the end of tests, he was sequestered into the OSS as a Army 2nd Lieutenant.

To the untrained eye, the Doctor and I might seem to be quite a mismatch but to anyone witnessing, you could see the excitement in both of us as my mind raced over the simple marvel of his invention. He created it and I was his test student. I was soon swimming underwater in that pool without the normal underwater gear and breathing with no bubbles. It was silent. The only sound was my own breathing. It made me feel kind of like Buck Rogers. It’s classification was at the highest level and on par with the Atomic program.

I was joined by 2 others and we began training at Annapolis in explosives, spy school, close combat, and much more. We were then sent to Silver Springs, FL to make a presentation movie of what we were being trained to do.

After the film, we were sent to Ft. Pierce, Florida where we were asked to teach Army and Navy amphibious commandos. I was tasked with demonstrating the LRU to the man who was to lead the new Navy Underwater Demolition Team or the UDT. His name was Draper Kaufman. I remember showing him the fins and face plate. This father of the Navy Seals looked me square in the eye and said, “Swimming is not one of my favorite things!”. So, you can imagine what I thought when former President Bush wrote a book naming him America’s First Frogman. Maybe it should have read ‘First Frogman to dislike swimming’. I have always got a kick out of that.

We were sent to England for further training, where I was set as the leader of L-group 1. It was Christmas time and I was led to a home of a Jewish family who brought me in to their home to share Christmas with them. They prepared a magnificent meal which made an even greater impact when I found out later that the meal had cost them a year’s worth of saving and supply in food. They being not Christians and yet knowing I was far from his family welcomed me as if they were mine. Though I have long forgotten their names, I will never forget how special they made that Christmas.

We practiced in the Thames River which was extremely cold. Our wet suits would crack and let moisture in. We tried a variety of things to help that including using dishwasher gloves with pocket warmer type chemicals in them that would heat up with moisture. We also tried using Swedish ski undergarments that were like a heavy fishing net. That would allow the water that got in to warm up by your body heat…but it just ended up moving the cold spots to other places.

I went behind enemy lines in France with the famous British Major Hasler. Hasler was the later the leader of the famous Operation Frankton. Major Hasler could speak quite a few languages and was very crafty. Armed with commando cloaks, OSS daggers, suppressed weapons, cameras, and L Pills in case of capture, we linked up with the French underground and were able to get a couple of downed pilots out. We used American money that the French farmers used to negotiate trade with the Germans.

We were being trained for a mission that was called Operation Betty. Four operatives of which I was one were to be dropped off in the Bay of Biscayne in Southern France. Our bombing raids could not dent the giant concrete reinforced pens that protected the German submarines there. We were to be dropped off by crash boats closed to shore. Using motorized surfboards of sorts called ‘Water Lilies’ and submersible motorized canoes called ‘Sleeping Beauties’. We would navigate in under the German’s radar. We would then swim in underwater using the LRU. Two swimmers would place mines on the locks while the other two would place them on the side of the German Subs. The mines would detonate blocking the gates and sinking the subs. We would swim to a safe house and link up with advancing forces at Normandy.

Armed with a water proof Boy Scout compass, magnetic explosives, dry suits, and LARU rebreathers, we practiced in water that was often colder than 50 degrees. Our training was at night and very intense. We were on the eve of the attack when our part was scuttled. Presumably because the magnets on the explosives messed with the compasses. I still think we could have saved quite a few lives with that operation.

On June 22, 1944, the L unit was disbanded and I was sent to the Bahamas to be the chief LARU instructor. But, I was still itching to get into the fight with the Germans or the Japs!. So, somewhat distraught with being denied combat after all of the blood, sweat, and cold shivering hands and combat swimming mishaps….and my own service being so different than what was now being taught, I opted back into the fleet. I was sent to the USS Wadsworth DD 516 where I became the chief gunners mate.

The Wadsworth fought in the battle for Palau, Iwo Jima, and then on to Okinawa. During the first day at Iwo Jima, I was in the forward turret providing cover fire for the newly formed UDT simmers who did a marvelous job under fire to clear beach heads Using those same fins and faceplates. I had a little inward chuckle wondering how that Kaufman fellow had finally been convinced of using them with his ‘demolitioneers’.

In Okinawa, we were charged with shooting down 21 kamikazes and were given the Presidential citation. I was also given a commendation for that battle. During one day of that duty, on 28 April 1945, Wadsworth repelled six determined attacks by 12 enemy aircraft. The raids—which came from all points of the compass—commenced at sunset and continued for over three hours. We successfully evaded a torpedo plane who after missing us with it’s torpedo decided to attempt to crash into our ship. It took out our front 40 millimeter gun and clipped our whale boat before crashing into the sea.

It was the second of two close calls. The first was six days prior when a kamikaze narrowly missed us to port. The crash of the plane sent a huge wave across our ship’s deck. The wave was so huge that one sailor thought he had been swept overboard and began attempting frantically to swim back to the ship. When the wave subsided, we laughed as he swam the crawl …on the deck of the ship.

After VJ day, we remained in the area until September, when we assisted two LST who were bound for Nagasaki. We helped take on Allied prisoners of war from the atomic bombed devastated port.

I remained in the Navy until 1961 when I retired as a Master Chief Gunners mate. After the war, I kept in contact with Taylor and Lambertsen as life-long friends until they passed on.

My training and service during WW2 remained Top Secret until 1987 and it was not until 1988 that a Sergeant in the Army Special forces began looking into what we had done and contacted me. If it had not been for the curiosity of this young Army Sergeant, all of this would never have come to light. He also said that he wanted the world to know. So, in March of 1998, I and the others from the OSS Maritime Operational Swimmers were inducted as lifetime members of the Army Special Forces giving us all Green Berets. Soon after, the Navy Seals realized us to be the forerunners of their organization and awarded us the Seal Trident.

Of the original five, I am the only one left. I am Master Chief John Spence, Office of Strategic Services - United States Navy and proud to be America’s First Frogman. God Speed Master Chief Spence.

OSS Veteran and Combat Diver Pioneer's Last Dive

Ashes of combat dive pioneer, OSS veteran Christian Lambertsen committed to the sea.

Someone once described the ideal OSS candidate as a Ph. D. who could win a bar fight....well that was Dr. Lambertsen. Lambertsen, a World War II combat diver from the Office of Strategic Services and life-long medical scholar, conducted his "final combat dive mission" during a ceremony March 10 when his ashes were committed to the Atlantic Ocean.

Lambersten passed away Feb. 11, 2011 at the age of 93.

Lambertsen's 70-year career is layered with scientific achievement, beginning in 1941 with the invention of the Lambertsen Amphibious Respiritory Unit -- which he later renamed the Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus, or SCUBA.

"When World War II broke out, everyone realized they needed people to be able to sneak in and blow up ships," said Maj. Trevor Hill, an Army Special Forces officer and the commander of the Special Forces Underwater Operations School in Key West. "Lambertsen brought [the LARU] to a meeting with the Office of Strategic Services … he got in a pool and demonstrated that he could breath underwater, without creating bubbles, which was mind-blowing at the time."

Lambertsen trained the operational swimmers for a newly created OSS maritime unit, and joined them as a direct-commission U.S. Army major following his medical school graduation -- where he was first in his class.

Lambertsen spent most of World War II as a member of the Pacific Fleet Underwater Demolition Team, leading numerous underwater missions in Burma to attach explosives to Japanese ships. He also served as his unit's medical officer.

Green Berets: A complete video history

The United States Army Special Forces, also known as the Green Berets because of their distinctive service headgear, are a special operations force tasked with five primary missions: unconventional warfare (the original and most important mission of Special Forces), foreign internal defense, special reconnaissance, direct action and counter-terrorism.

The first two emphasize language, cultural and training skills in working with foreign troops. Other duties include hostage rescue, combat search and rescue (CSAR), security assistance, peacekeeping, humanitarian assistance, humanitarian demining, counter-proliferation, psychological operations, manhunts, and counter-drug operations; other components of the United States Special Operations Command or other U.S. government activities may also specialize in these secondary areas.

Many of their operational techniques are classified, but some nonfiction works and doctrinal manuals are available. Currently Special Forces units are deployed in Operation Enduring Freedom.

As a special operations unit, Special Forces are not necessarily under the command authority of the ground commanders in those countries. Instead, while in theater, SF soldiers may report directly to United States Central Command, USSOCOM, or other command authorities.

The Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) highly secretive Special Activities Division (SAD) and more specifically its elite Special Operations Group (SOG) recruits soldiers from the Army's Special Forces.

Joint Army Special Forces and CIA operations go back to the famed MACV-SOG during the Vietnam War. This cooperation still exists today and is seen in the War in Afghanistan.

More Recommended Reading

Several new books available on Special Forces or related areas. I just finished reading OSS, great book about Bill Donovan and his creation of the fabled Office of Strategic Services, who combined with the 1st Special Service Force are the forerunners of Special Forces.