The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
AT LONG LAST
LOWER MERION» At the height of its operations during World War II, the Office of Strategic Services had 13,000 men and women in its ranks. Today, fewer than 100 are still alive across the country.
This past week, one of them, a Bryn Mawr resident, was recognized for his service with the precursor to the CIA.
On Aug. 3, Lawrence Earle, 94, was recognized for his service as a member of the OSS during a ceremony at his residence at the Beaumont in Bryn Mawr where he received the Congressional Gold Medal.
“I appreciate it very much and I want to thank you all for getting together for not only my benefit but for the benefit of everybody in the country and every one of you take care of yourselves and God bless you all,” Earle said as a large audience of friends and family watched inside the Music Room at Beaumont.
The OSS was a precursor for what would later become the CIA and operated during the war. It was disbanded after the war and the CIA went into operation a few years later.
Several other surviving members of the unit were recognized earlier this year during a ceremony in Washington. Since he was unable to attend, Congressman Dwight Evans organized and presented Earle
with his medal.
“So we need to recognize our heroes who have led all of us and allowed all of us to be where we are today,” Evans said just before giving Earle his medal.
Evans added that service appears to have been in Earle’s DNA because his father George Earle served as Governor of Pennsylvania in the 1930s.
Clayton D. Laurie, intelligence historian with the CIA history staff at the Center for the Study of Intelligence spoke of the history of the OSS, its connection with the CIA and he touched on Earle’s service.
“It is my honor to represent the CIA and its history staff in this celebration of Lt. Earle contributions to the Allied victory as a member of the OSS during the Second World War,” Laurie said.
Laurie said Earle was a member of the counterintelligence branch and joined the OSS in August of 1943.
The other members of the OSS were awarded their Gold Medals during a ceremony on March 21 in Emancipation Hall of the U.S. Capitol. Earle was unable to attend so the OSS Society authorized the special ceremony at Beaumont in Bryn Mawr. The medal recognized the members of the unit’s service during World War II.