Congress must pass the OSS Gold Medal Bill

As our Second World War veterans pass to their eternal rewards, members of Congress are moving to recognize the most secretive of the veterans, the men and women of the Office of Strategic Services.

The WWII spy agency, crafted and led by William J. "Wild Bill" Donovan, was the predecessor the Central Intelligence Agency and was a vital instrument in the hands of American leaders as they took on the Axis Powers in foreign lands. After the war, President Harry S. Truman shut down the OSS and created the CIA without Donovan, whom he hated and who was content to return to running his Wall Street law firm. Like Donovan, OSS veterans were kicked to the curb at the end of the war and died unable to explain to their loved ones what they had done to bring peace back to the world. Thirty-five years later, Donovan was redeemed when OSS veteran William J. Casey took over the agency in 1981. Casey was a Donovan protégé and a fellow member of the Knights of Malta. Although, Donovan earned his Medal of Honor as soldier in World War I, the OSS was a vigorously military operation. That legacy lives on in the special operations community. A fact borne out by the OSS spearhead patch worn by military personnel assigned to Special Operations Command.

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While the CIA always had its own black-side operators, its culture is more like a college faculty lounge, rather than a kinetic instrument of national security. Under Casey, the operations and intelligence were relinked--only to be delinked again after the Iran-Contra Scandal--and relinked again after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. The phrase used by spooks is: "The OSS is back." Speaking at the OSS Society, Director of Central Intelligence John O. Brennan said, "The attacks of 9/11 brought the two main branches of OSS back together. Intelligence officers and special operators are working hand-in-hand to bring the fight to our adversaries. This makes the history of the OSS more relevant than ever to the women and men protecting our nation." Both the chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee Rep. Edward R. Royce (R-Calif.) and the committee's top Democrat, California's Rep. Eliot L. Engel released a July 7 letter supporting the bill that would authorize a Congressional Gold Medal dedicated to the OSS and its veterans. "It is time for the extraordinary members of the OSS to be collectively recognized for their tremendous achievements in the global defense of freedom during one of the most dangerous times in world history," the men wrote. "Members of the OSS include United States Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr., and American icon Julia Child, professional baseball player Moe Berg, the first African-American to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, Ralph Bunche, and four future Directors of Central Intelligence," they wrote. The medal must be approved by two-thirds of the House and Senate. The Congressional Gold Medal is considered on the same level of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, but is not always awarded to an individual, rather for a group, a single large coin is struck for display. As a born-and-bred Red Sox fan, Berg has always been a personal favorite. Berg had travelled to Japan on baseball exhibition tours and after Pearl Harbor, his recollections, photos and home movies were incredibly valuable to the OSS and the war effort. My mother always talked about Berg, but I doubt that once it ever occurred to her, in the millions of hours she spent watching "The French Chef," or whatever other Child and her husband put on the air, that the Childs were also OSS veterans. The truth is that Berg is gone, the Childs are gone and most of their comrades are gone. With all the talk of OSS being back, it is only fitting for Congress to make it real with the passage of H.R. 3544, the Office of Strategic Services Congressional Gold Medal--before they are all gone.