by Rick Beyer
Operation Elephant, 66–68
Operation Koblenz, 148–159
Operation Kodak, 153, 154
Operation Viersen, 190–199, 191, 192, 194, 224
Paris, 104–111
public recognition, 228
radio, 20, 42, 44–45, 48, 51, 66, 71, 93, 95, 115, 117, 119, 124, 125, 148, 152, 154, 154, 192, 193, 195
Reeder, Harry L., 20, 38, 39, 68, 100, 133, 148, 149, 236
secrecy, 225–228
Signal Company Special, 20, 42, 44–45, 118, 119, 225
Simenson, Clifford, 38–39, 85, 99, 118, 121, 237
sonics, 19, 20, 39, 46, 47, 48, 49, 51, 54, 59, 65, 66, 82, 93, 93, 95, 96, 115, 117, 124–125, 148, 180, 195, 226
U.S. Rubber Company, 41, 42
United States Army, 11, 13, 26, 38, 41, 48, 49, 152, 221, 224, 226, 226, 227, 227, 228
United States Army Combined Arms Center, 57, 84, 197, 224
United States Navy, 46
University of Luxembourg, 124
USS General O. H. Ernst, 221
USS Henry Gibbons, 54, 55
Utah Beach, 65–66, 66
V-E Day, 89, 167, 169, 224
V-Mail, 160
Vander Heide, Irwin C., 42
Vander Sluis, George, 28, 40, 120, 129, 137, 174, 177, 239, 239
Luxembourg City, 129
Making Dummy Land Mines, 40
Near Metz, 120
Paint Spray Equipment, 40
Sak as Sophie Tucker, 137
Sentry, 177
Verdun, 114, 152, 154, 155, 155, 158, 159
VIII Corps, 93, 96, 99, 148
Vogue, 177
Waiting Their Turn (Harris), 178
Walker, John, 197, 239
Walton Hall, 54, 57, 58
Washington, George, 19
Wells, Thomas, 181
West Point, 18, 39, 45, 86
Why We Fight (Capra), 46
Williams, Keith, 28, 174, 175, 177–178, 239
To My Friend Belisario, Who Should Have Known Better, 175
Wilson, A. B., 228
Wittlich, Germany (Sayles), 217
Wolff, Andre, 230
Worcester Daily Telegram, 225, 225–226
Works Progress Administration (WPA). See WPA
World War I, 38, 46, 108, 114, 155, 155
WPA, 28
Wright, Stanley, 132, 166, 167–169, 218, 239
Yale University, 16
You on K.P.! (Masey), 138, 139–145
Young Soldiers Being Transported to the Front, Remagen, Courtyard, Chateau de Divonne (Kelly), 179
Young, Tony, 32, 35, 163, 193, 239
Chris, 163
Quick Nap, 32
Zillmer, Bruce, 132
Luxembourg, 132
About the Authors
Ghost Army veterans John Jarvie, Ned Harris, and William Sayles (left to right) pose near a fake tank prop with the authors, Elizabeth Sayles and Rick Beyer, at the opening of the Art of the Ghost Army exhibition at the Historical Society of Rockland County, in New City, New York, in 2011.
Rick Beyer is a best-selling author, an award-winning documentary filmmaker, and a longtime history enthusiast.
Beyer first heard about the Ghost Army in 2005 and began work on an independent documentary film about the unit, The Ghost Army, which premiered on PBS in 2013. He has also made documentary films for History, National Geographic Channel, A&E, the Smithsonian Institution, and many others.
He is the author of the popular The Greatest Stories Never Told series of history books, described by the Chicago Tribune as “an old-fashioned sweetshop full of tasty morsels.”
Beyer and his wife, Marilyn Rea Beyer, live in Lexington, Massachusetts.
Elizabeth Sayles is an award-winning illustrator of children’s books. She has illustrated more than twenty-nine books, including I Already Know I Love You by Billy Crystal, a New York Times bestseller, as well as The Goldfish Yawned, which she also wrote.
Sayles grew up on stories of the Ghost Army told by her father, William Sayles. She worked with Rick Beyer to curate an exhibition of Ghost Army art at the Edward Hopper House Art Center in Nyack, New York, one of many art shows she has cocurated.
Sayles is an adjunct professor of illustration at the School of Visual Arts in New York City and at the City University of New York, Queens.
She lives in the lovely Hudson Valley, New York, with her husband, Matt Dow, and their daughter, Jessica.
This image is taken from the hand-painted cover of the Official History of the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops, written by Captain Fred Fox in 1945 and now at the National Archives. The Twenty-Third had no official insignia since they were a secret deception unit.
Published by
Princeton Architectural Press
37 East 7th Street
New York, New York 10003
www.papress.com
© 2015 Rick Beyer and Elizabeth Sayles
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission from the publisher, except in the context of reviews. Every reasonable attempt has been made to identify owners of copyright. Errors or omissions will be corrected in subsequent editions.
Editor: Sara E. Stemen
Designer: Benjamin English
Special thanks to:
Meredith Baber, Sara Bader, Nicola Bednarek Brower, Janet Behning, Erin Cain, Megan Carey, Carina Cha, Andrea Chlad, Tom Cho, Barbara Darko, Russell Fernandez, Jan Cigliano Hartman, Jan Haux, Mia Johnson, Diane Levinson, Jennifer Lippert, Katharine Myers, Jaime Nelson, Rob Shaeffer, Marielle Suba, Kaymar Thomas, Paul Wagner, Joseph Weston, and Janet Wong of Princeton Architectural Press
— Kevin C. Lippert, publisher
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Beyer, Rick, 1956–
The Ghost Army of World War II : how one top-secret unit deceived the enemy with inflatable tanks, sound effects, and other audacious fakery / Rick Beyer and Elizabeth Sayles.
pages cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-61689-318-7 (alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-61689-452-8 (epub, mobi)
1. United States. Army. Headquarters Special Troops, 23rd. 2. World War, 1939–1945—Campaigns—Western Front. 3. World War, 1939–1945—Deception—United States. 4. Disinformation—United States—History. 5. World War, 1939–1945—Regimental histories—United States.
I. Sayles, Elizabeth. II. Title.
D769.25.B49 2014
940.54’8673—dc23 2014027598
