COL William Hiram Pietsch Jr.
COL William Hiram Pietsch Jr. VVETERAAN
GEBOORTE
29 Aug 1922
New York, New York County, New York, USA
OVERLIJDEN
3 Sep 2016 (leeftijd 94)
Rockville, Montgomery County, Maryland, USA
BEGRAAFLOCATIE
Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington, Arlington County, Virginia, VS  Kaart weergeven GPS-Breedtegraad: 38.8728472, Lengtegraad: -77.0660861
PERCEEL
Section 8A, Grave 247
Pietsch eventually became a "Jedburgh," the name of the Scottish town where three-man teams of Allied agents trained before being dropped behind German lines after D-Day. Pietsch's team parachuted into Burgundy in central France in August 1944 and fought alongside the French Resistance. At one point, while the Gestapo was "hunting me down like an animal," Pietsch sought sanctuary from an Italian Catholic priest known to be helping Jews evade the Nazis. According to Pietsch, the priest was Angelo Roncalli, who later became Pope John XXIII.
"He saved my life," Pietsch said.
ALBANY, N.Y. – The men and women who spied on Germany and Japan for the U.S. during World War II parachuted behind enemy lines, led guerrilla raids, invented special equipment such as scuba gear and established a counterintelligence network that endured into the Cold War.
Nearly 70 years after its agents played a key role in defeating the Axis powers, the spy organization that later became the Central Intelligence Agency is being proposed to receive the highest civilian honor bestowed by Congress, the Congressional Gold Medal. Legislation introduced last week by Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., and Rep. Robert E. Latta, R-Ohio, would collectively award the medal to the members of the Office of Strategic Services, known as the OSS.
Along with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, it's the highest award the U.S. gives a civilian. Congressional Gold Medals also have been awarded in recent years to other groups of World War veterans, including Native American "code talkers" and the Tuskegee Airmen.
William Pietsch Jr. was personally recruited for the OSS by its leader, Gen. William "Wild Bill" Donovan, a lawyer and World War I hero from Buffalo, N.Y. After graduating from West Point in early 1943, the young Army officer was introduced to the OSS chief by William Casey, Donovan's aide who would later become CIA director.
"He turned to Bill Casey and said, `tell this young man what his job will be,' and that was it. He didn't waste any time on superfluous conversation," said Pietsch, 91, a retired Army colonel from Chevy Case View, Md.
Known for leading from the front, a trait that earned him the Medal of Honor -- and his nickname -- during World War I, Donovan left the administrative duties of running the OSS to others, Pietsch said. That may explain why many OSS operatives, considered the forerunners of today's U.S. special operations troops, never received the recognition they deserved during the second World War, he said.
Pietsch eventually became a "Jedburgh," the name of the Scottish town where three-man teams of Allied agents trained before being dropped behind German lines after D-Day. Pietsch's team parachuted into Burgundy in central France in August 1944 and fought alongside the French Resistance. At one point, while the Gestapo was "hunting me down like an animal," Pietsch sought sanctuary from an Italian Catholic priest known to be helping Jews evade the Nazis. According to Pietsch, the priest was Angelo Roncalli, who later became Pope John XXIII.
"He saved my life," Pietsch said.
The Gold Medal legislation calls for the OSS medal to be given to the Smithsonian Institution for display and allows the government to produce bronze duplicates of the medal for sale to the public.
This is his service jacket from 1939. The jacket is 85 years old and has signs of wear over the years. Moth holes and cracks here and there.
it is a jacket with this story that belongs in a nice collection or museum. THERE are also 2 medals he received for his services in the 1980