High honor for ‘Ghost Army’ that fooled Nazis
Members of the World War II “Ghost Army” received Congress’ highest honor, the Congressional Gold Medal, at a ceremony on Thursday.
The “Ghost Army” earned its name during the Allied advance into Europe, when it was tasked with deceiving the Nazis by setting up fake military units full of inflatable plastic tanks, sound machines and phony generals.
“I guess we were successful because the Germans fired upon us,” Ghost Army veteran Bernie Bluestein told the Washington Post. “We convinced them that we were the real thing.”
Bluestein was one of three surviving members of the Ghost Army who attended Thursday’s ceremony, alongside John Christman and Seymour Nussenbaum. There are only seven known surviving members of the unit.
At its height, the Ghost Army had about 1,300 soldiers, the vast majority in the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops. But they were capable of pretending to be about 30,000 men — two whole divisions — which they did in missions across France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany.
The Ghost Army performed 22 missions beginning about two weeks after D-Day, exaggerating the size of the American forces as they pushed further into Europe.
The unit’s final mission, Operation Viersen, was one of its most important. On March 18, 1945, they set up shop near the Rhine River, putting up inflatable tanks and running sound systems constantly.
German commanders bought the ruse, moving troops across from the Ghost Army while the 9th Army crossed the Rhine elsewhere.
“This was an all-hands-on-deck affair and it was completely successful,” Ghost Army historian Rick Beyer said. “It fooled the Germans. They moved their troops to the river opposite where the deception was.”
In total, the Ghost Army was credited with saving between 15,000 and 30,000 American lives. Their operations remained classified until 1996, as military leaders wanted to keep the scheme secret in case it was needed during the Cold War.
In 2022, President Biden signed a law that would honor the Ghost Army units with the Congressional Gold Medal.
“More than 75 years after defeating fascism in Europe,” Rep. Annie Kuster (D-N.H.) said, “it’s time these soldiers receive the highest honor we can award.”