Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

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Mr. MARKEY. Mr. President, today I am introducing the Ghost Army Congressional Gold Medal Act to honor the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops, called the ''Ghost Army,'' which was a top-secret unit of the United States Army that served in the European Theater of Operations during World War II. The unit was actively engaged in battlefield operations from June of 1944 through March of 1945. The deceptive activities of the Ghost Army were essential to several Allied victories across Europe and are estimated to have saved thousands of lives.

I was inspired to introduce this bill after hearing the story of Jack McGlynn of Medford, MA. I have known Jack for decades going back to my time in the Massachusetts State Legislature, but I never knew that he was a member of the Ghost Army. Like many World War II Veterans, Jack returned home to Massachusetts after the War, started a family, and got involved in local politics. Jack was a city councilor, Mayor, and State Representative. He kept his service in the Ghost Army a secret from everyone, even his wife and 6 children. Finally in 2008, Jack read that it was declassified and he finally shared the story with his family and friends.

In evaluating the performance of the Ghost Army after the War, a U.S. Army analysis found that ``Rarely, if ever, has there been a group of such a few men which had so great an influence on the outcome of a major military campaign.''. Many Ghost Army soldiers were specially selected for their mission, and were recruited from art schools, advertising agencies, communications companies, and other creative and technical professions.

The first four members of the Ghost Army landed on D-day and two became casualties while camouflaging early beach installations. The Ghost Army's secret deception operations commenced in France on June 14, 1944, when Task Force Mason landed at Omaha Beach to draw enemy fire and protect the 980th Artillery.

Task Force Mason was a prelude to full scale tactical deceptions completed by the Ghost Army. Often operating on or near the front lines, the Ghost Army used inflatable tanks, artillery, air planes and other vehicles, advanced engineered soundtracks, and skillfully crafted radio trickery to create the illusion of sizable American forces where there were none and to draw the enemy away from Allied troops.

Ghost Army soldiers impersonated other, larger Army units by sewing counterfeit patches onto their uniforms, painting false markings on their vehicles, and creating phony headquarters staffed by fake generals, all in an effort to feed false information to Axis spies. During the Battle of the Bulge, the Ghost Army created counterfeit radio traffic to mask the efforts of General George Patton's Third Army as it mobilized to break through to the 101st Airborne. It also provided assistance to elements of 10th Armored Division in the besieged Belgian town of Bastogne.

In its final mission, Operation Viersen, the Ghost Army deployed a tactical deception that drew German units down the Rhine River and away from the 9th Army, allowing the 9th Army to cross the Rhine into Germany. On this mission, the 1,100 men of the Ghost Army, with the assistance of other units, impersonated forty thousand men, or two complete divisions of American forces, by using fabricated radio networks, soundtracks of construction work and artillery fire, and more than 600 inflatable vehicles.

Three Ghost Army soldiers gave their lives and dozens were injured in carrying out their mission. Their activities remained classified for more than forty years after the war and I believe the extraordinary accomplishments of this unit are deserving of belated recognition. The United States will be eternally grateful to the Ghost Army for their proficient use of innovative tactics throughout World War II, which saved thousands of lives and were instrumental in the defeat of Nazi Germany.

I ask all my colleagues to cosponsor this legislation to give a Congressional Gold Medal to the members of the Ghost Army.

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