Ghost Army

The Ghost Army was a United States Army tactical deception unit during World War II officially known as the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops. The 1,100-man unit was given a unique mission: to deceive Hitler's forces and mislead them as to the size and location of Allied forces, while giving the actual units elsewhere time to maneuver. Activated on January 20, 1944, the Ghost Army arrived in Europe in May shortly before D-Day and returned to the US at the end of the war in July 1945. During their tenure, the Ghost Army carried out more than 20 deception campaigns, putting on a "traveling road show" using inflatable tanks, sound trucks, fake radio transmissions, scripts and pretense.

Their story was kept a secret for more than 50 years after the war, until it was declassified in 1996. The unit was the subject of a PBS documentary The Ghost Army in 2013. In February 2022, members of the Ghost Army were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, citing their unique and highly distinguished service.

History and deployment
The Ghost Army was created by U.S. Army planners Ralph Ingersoll and Billy Harris, and led by Colonel Harry L. Reeder. Inspiration for the unit came from the British units who had honed the deception technique for Operation Bertram during the battle of El Alamein in late 1942.

The unit had its barracks at Camp Forrest, Tennessee, and was fully formed at Camp Pine, New York (now Fort Drum), before sailing for the United Kingdom in early May 1944. In Britain they were based near Stratford-upon-Avon, and troops participated in Operation Fortitude, the British-designed and led D-Day deceptions of a landing force designated for the Pas-de-Calais.

Some troops went to Normandy two weeks after D-Day, where they simulated a Mulberry harbour at night with lights intended to draw German artillery from the real ones. After this the entire unit assisted in tying up the German defenders of Brest by simulating a larger force than was actually encircling them.

As the Allied armies moved east, so did the 23rd, and it eventually was based within Luxembourg, from where it engaged in deceptions of crossings of the Ruhr river, positions along the Maginot Line, Hürtgen Forest, and finally a major crossing of the Rhine to draw German troops away from the actual sites.

Recruiting
Ghost soldiers were encouraged to use their brains and talent to mislead, deceive, and befuddle the German Army. Many were recruited from art schools, advertising agencies and other occupations that encouraged creative thinking. In civilian life, ghost soldiers had been artists, architects, actors, set designers, engineers and lawyers.

Although the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops consisted of only 1,100 soldiers, the contingent used equipment pioneered by British forces such as dummy tanks and artillery, fake aircraft, and giant speakers broadcasting the sounds of men and artillery to make the Germans think it was upwards of a two-division 30,000-man force. The unit's elaborate ruses helped deflect German units from the locations of larger allied combat units.

The unit consisted of the 406th Combat Engineers (which handled security), the 603rd Camouflage Engineers, the 3133 Signal Service Company Special, and the Signal Company Special.

Visual deception
The visual deception arm of the Ghost Army was the 603rd Camouflage Engineers. It was equipped with inflatable tanks, cannons, jeeps, trucks, and airplanes that the men would inflate with air compressors, and then camouflage imperfectly so that enemy aerial reconnaissance could see them. They could create dummy airfields, troop bivouacs (complete with fake laundry hanging on clotheslines), motor pools, artillery batteries, and tank formations in a few hours.

Many of the men in this unit were artists, recruited from New York and Philadelphia art schools. Their unit became an incubator for young artists who sketched and painted their way through Europe. Several of these soldier-artists went on to have a major impact on art in the postwar US. Bill Blass, Ellsworth Kelly, wildlife artist Arthur Singer, and Art Kane were among the many artists who served in the 603rd.

Sonic deception
The 3132 Signal Service Company Special handled sonic deception. The unit coalesced under the direction of Colonel Hilton Railey, a colorful figure who, before the war, had "discovered" Amelia Earhart and sent her on the road to fame.

Aided by engineers from Bell Labs, a team from the 3132 went to Fort Knox to record sounds of armored and infantry units onto a series of sound effects records that they brought to Europe. For each deception, sounds could be "mixed" to match the scenario they wanted the enemy to believe. This program was recorded on state-of-the-art wire recorders (the predecessor to the tape recorder), and then played back with powerful amplifiers and speakers mounted on halftracks. These sounds were audible 15 mi away.

Radio deception
"Spoof radio", as it was called, was handled by the Signal Company. Special Operators created phony traffic nets, impersonating the radio operators from real units. Different Morse code operators each have their individual style of sending or "fist"; the Signal Company operators mimicked a departed operator's style so that the enemy would not detect that the real unit and its radio operator were long gone. It was thought impossible to mimic an operator's fist, but the Ghost Army Signal Corps Special was able to do so.

Atmosphere
To complement existing techniques, the unit often employed theatrical effects to supplement the other deceptions. Collectively called "atmosphere", these included simulating actual units deployed elsewhere by the application of their divisional insignia, painting appropriate unit insignia on vehicles and having the individual companies deployed as if they were regimental headquarters units. The same few covered trucks or lorries, with just two troops in the visible seats near the rear to appear to be full of motorized infantry, would be driven in a loop to look like long convoys. "MPs" (military police) would be deployed at crossroads wearing appropriate divisional insignia and some personnel would dress as divisional generals and staff officers visiting towns where enemy agents or scouts were likely to see them. A few actual tanks and artillery pieces were occasionally assigned to the unit to make the "dummies" in the distance appear more realistic.

Ghost Army Congressional Gold Medal Act
The Ghost Army Legacy Project, under the leadership of Rick Beyer (producer and director of The Ghost Army 2013 PBS documentary), campaigned for Ghost Army recognition for six and a half years, through four Congressional terms. Senators Ed Markey (D-MA) and Susan Collins (R-ME) co-sponsored S. 1404, and Representatives Annie Kuster (D-NH) and Chris Stewart R-UT, co-sponsored H.R. 707. The House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to pass H.R. 707 on May 18, 2021. The Senate bill, S. 1404, had 71 co-sponsors, four more than the required number to move forward in the Senate. Senator Catherine Cortez-Masto (D-NV) was the 67th Senate co-sponsor.

Following a unanimous vote for passage by the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, on the evening of December 15, 2021, the full U.S. Senate passed S. 1404, the Ghost Army Congressional Gold Medal Act. On January 19, 2022, the House of Representatives also passed S. 1404.

On Tuesday, February 1, 2022, President Biden signed into law S. 1404, the Ghost Army Congressional Gold Medal Act, which provides for the award of a Congressional Gold Medal to the Ghost Army, in recognition of their unique and highly distinguished service in conducting deception operations in Europe during World War II. President Biden expressed gratitude to Representative Kuster and Senators Markey, Portman, Collins, and Blumenthal, among many others, for their leadership.

The American Legion, the National World War II Museum, the American Veterans Center, the National D-Day Memorial Foundation and others supported the effort.

Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony
On March 21, 2024, two-years after President Biden signed the Ghost Army Congressional Gold Medal Act, the Congressional Gold Medal ceremony was held at Emancipation Hall in the United States Capitol. In attendance were three of the seven surviving Ghost Army soldiers:  100-year old Mr. Bernard Bluestein of Hoffman Estates; 99-year old Mr. John Christman of Leesburg, New Jersey; and 100-year old Mr. Seymour Nussenbaum of Monroe Township, New Jersey.

The awarding of the Congressional Gold Medal is the culmination of a nearly seven-year effort by dozens of volunteers led by Mr. Rick Beyer, president of the Ghost Army Legacy Foundation, to honor and demonstrate gratitude for this unit's heroic efforts, which were kept secret for so long.

In attendance was Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Mr. Mike Johnson (R-LA); Republican Senate Minority Leader, Mr. Mitch McConnell (R-KY);  House Democratic Leader, Mr. Hakeem S. Jeffries (D-NY); Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Charles Q. Brown Jr.; The Honorable Tanya Bradsher, Deputy Secretary of Veteran Affairs; General Randy A. George, Chief of Staff to the Army; and Surgeon General of the Army, Lieutenant General Mary K. Izaguire.

Also in attendance were Congressional Gold Medal Act sponsors: Senator Edward J. Markey, (D-MA); Senator Susan M. Collins (R-ME); Congresswoman Annie M. Kuster (D-NH); and former Congressman Chris Stewart (R-UT).

Senator McConnell remarked, “Our nation has been slow to recognize these men’s incredible achievements, as they helped win a world war, as well as developed top-secret ways to help preserve a hard-won peace through the Cold War. But today the veil of secrecy is gone as a grateful nation knows how you answered the call in a time of need. America will never forget your service and I’m so very proud to join in honoring you today.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson, referred to the Army's declassified report that concluded “Rarely, if ever, has there existed a group of such few men, which had so great an influence on the outcome of a major military campaign.”

Senator Edward Markey stated, “The soldiers recruited for the Ghost Army were not only men of muscle, they were also men of the mind. They were creative, original thinkers who used engineering, art, architecture and advertising to wage battle with the enemy. Their weapons were unconventional, but their patriotism was unquestionable.”

Acceptance and Words of Thanks were delivered by: Mr. Bernard Bluestein (603rd Camouflage Engineers, 23rd Headquarters Special Troops); The Honorable Christin E. Wormuth, Secretary of the Army; and Mr. Rick Beyer, President of the Ghost Army Legacy Project.

The Invocation was delivered by The Reverend Donald Fox, son of Ghost Army veteran, Fred Fox. The Benediction was delivered by Chaplain (Major) Aaron Stucker-Rozovsky, 338th Medical Brigade, United States Army Reserve.

The United States Army Band “Pershing’s Own” Brass Quintet played the Prelude and the Postlude with enthusiasm.

The ceremony was covered by most major media outlets, with articles published in the New York Times, the Washington Post, USA Today, Stars & Stripes, NPR, the BBC, and the San Diego Union-Tribune.

The Gold Medal ceremony may be viewed at:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s417Sush4Aw.

The Medal

The obverse depicts the four main methods of subterfuge practiced by the Ghost Army. A telegrapher is shown keying a message in Morse code together with a soldier sewing a phony unit patch onto his uniform. In the background, a soldier stands alongside a half-track with a loudspeaker attached to it, and behind a group of soldiers carry an inflatable tank.

The reverse depicts the emblems of the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops and the 3133rd Signal Service Company. A narrative inscription fills the field, presenting the information like a telegraph transmission, the treatment of the text reinforcing the secretive nature of the Ghost Army's mission.

The obverse sculptor and designer are John P. McGraw and Justin Kunz, respectively. The reverse sculptor and designer and Phebe Hemphill and Justin Kunz, respectively. The U.S. Mint produced the medal in two sizes: The 1.5" medal is 95% copper and 5% zinc; the 3.0" medal is 90% copper and 10% zinc.

Legacy
While no active Army unit traces formal lineage from the 23rd, its legacy has inspired the contemporary Army. Today, both the psychological and Information Operations (IO) communities use the ghost patch as an informal identity as these disciplines specialize in influence Psychological Operations (PO) and deception activities (IO), which the 23rd pioneered.

The 23rd Headquarters Special Troops were made Honorary Members of the U.S. Army Psychological Operations Regiment on November 3, 2022.