The Wicked Good Shepard

One of the Ten is involved in a project where we're filming oral histories of some folks who retired from our workplace long ago. Today's subject, an 84 year old man, went way, way, waaaaay off subject and began telling stories about when enlisted in the service during WW II.

Turns out he was recruited by the OSS, a subject we’ve recently taken an interest in.

He began telling a great story about how they interviewed him- cloak and dagger stuff, with burly 101sT Airborne Troopers showing up and telling him to "come with us," plane rides to bases across the East Coast for interviews, rides outside of DC in darkened tucks, orders not to talk to anyone, etc. (This story book-ended nicely with a similar tale told to us this weekend by a more recent applicant to the OSS's descendant.)

Some highlights:

• Jump school. After an initial jump in the US, they were sent to England for further training. There, they qualified by jumping out of a hot air balloon. And, of course, when it was their time to jump, the British instructor politely said "When you're ready." Which took the Americans by surprise. "We didn’t know what to do - we were used to people screaming at us and yelling when it was time to go thru the door."

• The difference between US and British parachutes. "The Americans gave you 2 chutes. One up front, one in the back. The Brits? They just gave you one" He shrugs his shoudlers. "Guess theirs were more reliable." But the Brit chutes worked better too. "When the American chute opened, you were slammed back up like nobody's buisnees." At which point he grabbed his midsection in memory of the experience. "But the British chutes? Opened up soft as silk, you never even knew you were stopping."

He then went on to detail his first few missions in occupied France. We were enthralled. After about 45 minutes of us gleefully listening to his OSS stories, we got a note slipped to us by the videographer reminding us to get back onto the fucking main topic.

Afterwards, we asked him if he saw The Good Sheperd.

"Oh, yes” he said. “I took my daughter with me. When the words came on the screen- 'OSS'- I slapped her on the knee. 'That was me! That was my outfit!' I told her.”

"What did you think of it?" we asked.

"Hated it."

"Oh."

"But I loved the wardrobe. The long coats and the fedoras- it was like I was right back in there again."