National Museum of Intelligence and Special Operations

"Filming Under Fire: John Ford's OSS Field Photo Branch" is an official selection of the Newport Beach Film Festival!

The OSS veteran and “French Chef” Julia Child was born OTD 1915. China. Betty McIntosh, her friend and OSS colleague, wrote: “In March 1945, Julia and I both received orders to report to Kunming, China, to OSS Detachment 404. On March 15, 1945, we flew the ‘Hump’ together from India to China. The plane, an unpressurized C-54, was stormed-tossed for three hours over the 15,000-foot Himalayan peaks, sucked up and down hundreds of feet by air currents, flying through lightning and thunder, and engulfed in heavy clouds. There were occasional views of the snowfields far below where planes that hadn’t made it were etched like crosses in the whiteness. Most of us were basket cases except Julia, who calmly read a book during the flight.”

The Norwegian Special Operations Group (NORSO) was activated OTD 1943. Its mission to Norway - RYPE - is inscribed on the OSS Congressional Gold Medal. https://lnkd.in/eD_DU-s2

We are honored our award-winning short documentary, “Filming Under Fire: John Ford’s OSS Field Photo Branch,” is being shown today at the IN THE PALACE International Short Film Festival, an Academy Award qualifying film festival. Watch the trailer here: https://lnkd.in/eJrMDu-W

The OSS Maritime Unit was activated OTD 1943. It is the precursor to the Navy SEALs. Read “First SEALs: The Untold Story of the Forging of America’s Most Elite Unit” by Patrick O’Donnell. https://amzn.to/3ySwvul

Betty McIntosh, who pioneered psychological operations as part of the OSS Morale Operations Branch, died OTD 2015. She wrote the definitive history of women who served in OSS, “Sisterhood of Spies”: amzn.to/4bQmRqy Her OSS service is honored in our short documentary, “The Tip of the Spear: From Virginia Hall to Gina Haspel”: https://lnkd.in/eWeKt_f6

To commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day, we are honored to share The OSS Society’s award-winning short documentary, “Operation Overlord: OSS and the Battle for France,” which tells the story of Allied special forces whose daring exploits before and after D-Day changed the course of WW2. https://lnkd.in/dAKM29_C

If you are in Normandy to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day, please join The OSS Society for a screening of its award-winning short documentary, “Operation Overlord: OSS and the Battle for France.” The screening will be held at the Carentan Theater, 2 Rue de la Halle, 50500 Carentan-les-Marais, on June 4th at 8 p.m.

The OSS’s legendary Moe Berg died OTD 1972. Berg was sent on what was arguably the war’s most important mission to determine the status of Nazi Germany’s atomic bomb programs. He went to Switzerland to hear a talk by Germany’s leading atomic physicist, Werner Heisenberg. Berg concluded that Germany was not close to building its own atomic bomb. Berg received the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously. The name of his mission - AZUSA - is inscribed on the OSS Congressional Gold Medal.