DALLAS: For many years, their mission throughout World Conflict II was a secret. With inflatable tanks, vans and planes, mixed with sound results, radio trickery, costume uniforms and appearing, the American navy models that turned referred to as the Ghost Military helped outwit the enemy. Now, they’re being awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. Three of the seven identified surviving members are set to attend the ceremony on the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, together with 100-year-old Seymour Nussenbaum of Monroe Township, New Jersey. Bernard Bluestein, 100, of Hoffman Estates, Illinois, and John Christman, 99, of Leesburg, New Jersey, are additionally set to attend. “It was like putting on a big production,” Nussenbaum mentioned. “We have had in some cases people impersonating generals, putting on a general’s uniform and walking around the streets.” Nussenbaum, who grew up in New York Metropolis, was learning artwork on the Pratt Institute earlier than he was drafted and ultimately joined a unit specializing in camouflage that was a part of the twenty third Headquarters Particular Troops. “Our mission was to fool the enemy, to put on a big act,” mentioned Nussenbaum, a painter who who went on to have a profession in industrial artwork. The laws to honor the navy models with the Congressional Gold Medal – Congress’ highest honor – was signed into regulation by President Joe Biden in 2022. That got here after nearly a decade of labor by members of the family of the troopers and Rick Beyer, a filmmaker and creator who has who helped deliver their story to gentle after their mission was declassified in 1996. Beyer, president of the the Ghost Military Legacy Mission, produced and directed the 2013 documentary “The Ghost Army” and co-authored the 2015 guide “The Ghost Army of World War II.” “I just want to make sure it’s not forgotten,” Beyer mentioned. “I think it’s a great use of ingenuity, creativity on the battlefield.” The Ghost Military included about 1,100 troopers within the twenty third Headquarters Particular Troops, which carried out about 20 battlefield deceptions in France, Luxembourg, Belgium and Germany, and round 200 troopers within the 3133rd Sign Firm Particular, which carried out two deceptions in Italy. Beyer mentioned their missions, carried out close to the entrance traces, probably saved 1000’s of American lives. One of many largest missions, known as Operation Viersen, got here in March 1945 when the twenty third Headquarters Particular Troops’ deception drew German models away from the purpose on the Rhine River the place the ninth Military was really crossing. “They had hundreds of inflatables set up,” Beyer mentioned. “They had their sound trucks operating for multiple nights. They had other units attached to them. They had set up multiple phony headquarters and staffed them with officers who were pretending to be colonels.” “This was an all-hands-on-deck affair and it was completely successful,” Beyer mentioned. “It fooled the Germans. They moved their troops to the river opposite where the deception was.” In September 1944, the Ghost Military helped fill a spot in Gen. George Patton’s line throughout an assault on the Germans within the French metropolis of Metz. “They end up holding this part of the line for eight days, which is really long in terms of doing a deception, trying to keep up appearances,” Beyer mentioned. Kim Seale of Dallas will probably be among the many members of the family attending the ceremony. His father’s work within the Ghost Military got here as a shock to him when – about six months after his father’s loss of life on the age of 84 in 2001 – he spoke to a Ghost Military member who was placing collectively a reunion. “I said, ‘What do you mean, Ghost Army?'” Seale mentioned. “My Dad never talked about it,” Seale mentioned. “He kept the oath.” He mentioned his father, Oscar Seale, who was a captain, had advised him that at one level in the course of the struggle that he had transitioned from a tank division to serving as a courier. Seale mentioned he now thinks that is when his father joined the Ghost Military. “It’s been a 20-plus year journey of learning about the Ghost Army, learning about what my Dad did, learning about what the men did and just being amazed at that story,” he mentioned.
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