Lawmakers on Thursday awarded several 100-year-old World War II veterans who served in the secretive Ghost Army the Congressional Gold Medal in honor of their intelligence operations against the Nazis nearly 80 years earlier.
The Ghost Army is considered one of the first mobile tactical deception army units. The group created a mirage army that often appeared to the Nazis as a huge military force of up to 40,000 troops, tanks and aircraft.
Unbeknownst to Axis forces at the time, the battalion created by the Ghost Army was a farce involving simulated radio chatter and fake troop movements.
The unit consisted of artists, engineers and soldiers all tasked with creating large-scale deception missions.
During Thursday’s ceremony, three members of the Ghost Army received the Congressional Gold Medal — the highest award the organization has bestowed — for their service decades ago.
“I am truly honored to lead this gold medal ceremony and celebrate these incredibly brave American heroes who serve as models for the rest of us,” Chairman Johnson said at the ceremony.
Speaker Mike Johnson presents Ghost Army members with the Congressional Gold Medal
Members of the Ghost Army join military and congressional officials to receive the Congressional Gold Medal during a ceremony on Capitol Hill
Ghost Army soldiers created inflatable tanks in March 1945 to trick Axis forces into believing that Allied forces were larger than them.
Aerial photos show that the Ghost Army battalions look real during reconnaissance flights
Soldiers have painstakingly detailed their fake equipment to make it appear real to enemy forces
“When our troops were close, this group made the enemy believe they were far away. When we were little, they made me believe we were much bigger.”
The three Ghost Army veterans who received the medal Thursday were Seymour Nussenbaum, 100, Bernard Bluestein, 100, and John Christman, 99.
All three men sat in wheelchairs as the audience stood and applauded the veterans.
The U.S. Army Brass Quintet also played in their honor.
Nussenbaum was an art student from New Jersey before the Army recruited him to help design camouflage prints. He later pursued a career in commercial art.
Bluestein, originally from Illinois, helped design counterfeit military patches.
Christ, also from New Jersey, served as a demolition specialist.
Only seven members are still alive out of 1,100 artists, designers and technicians who sometimes masquerade as a greater force.
John Christan, 99, was a demolition specialist with the Ghost Army
Seymour Nussenbaum, 100, told his family his job was to ‘blow up tanks’
“I’m just sorry that there aren’t more of my fellow soldiers alive to enjoy this as much as I do,” said Bernie Bluestein, 100 before the ceremony
Ultimately, more than 1,100 men served in the unit that would be called the Ghost Army
“We commend the ingenuity of their minds, the creative genius and the courage they displayed in risking their lives to confuse and deceive the Nazis on the battlefield,” Jeffries said of the veterans.
“We thank and honor the members of the Ghost Army for their unique service to our nation, as well as for their dedication to saving lives, defending democracy, and standing up for freedom in the face of tyranny,” he continued.
As D-Day approached in 1944, military planners scoured theaters, advertising agencies, and art schools for men who could fool the Nazis.
Once in Europe, they fooled Nazi surveillance by deploying fleets of inflatable rubber tanks, trucks and planes, sometimes even constructing entire fake airfields to confuse the Germans about the Allies’ true positions.
“Our country has been slow to recognize the incredible achievements of these men,” McConnell said at the event. “And of course it was partly by design.”
“Not only did they help win a world war, whether they knew it or not, they developed top-secret ways to help preserve a hard-won peace during the Cold War.”
Speaker Mike Johnson led the Congressional Gold Medal presentation
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., from left, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., all attended the event
And dummy planes at mock airfields became another specialty of the group
The Ghost Army was shrouded in mystery not only during World War II, but long after the conflict.
Until the mid-1990s, the entire army of 1,000 men was classified.
The men who fought in the unit were often deployed on the front lines, carrying out deceptive missions in the line of sight or within earshot of the enemy.
They were infamous for playing doctored recordings of troop exercises on huge loudspeakers to deceive Axis forces that they were conducting exercises.
During a mission in March 1945, the Ghost Army blew up 200 fake trucks and tanks to pose as the 40,000 men of two divisions of the 9th Army, diverting German efforts while the main Allied force crossed the German Rhine.
Johnson credited the Ghost Army with saving an estimated 15,000 to 30,000 lives during the war.
“From the bottom of our hearts, all of today’s applause is well-deserved and well-deserved and we thank you for serving our country so well,” he said.
