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This was a well-kept secret. It was, in fact, so well-kept for over 50 years, that no one knew anything about it, including the families of these people who worked in this unit, until it was finally declassified. It was the Ghost Army, a replicated army of equipment, tanks, landing craft, planes, etc., placed where Hitler’s spies and army could see them, and be fooled into believing they were real.<\/p>\n
Most of the people who participated in this project just put it behind them and got on with their lives, so much so, that when Bernie Bluestein, a local Chicago area artist who is now 95, decided he wanted to take an Honor Flight to Washington, DC, all those memories he\u2019d let fade into the past started coming to the surface. When he went to Europe with his son Keith, now 63, he began to tell his son all of this buried, long-suppressed stuff, astonishing him.<\/p>\n
Mr. Bluestein was 19 when he was drafted into the Army. Because of his ability to sketch comic strips and pinup girls in Cleveland, OH, he was placed with the 603rd<\/sup> Camouflage Engineers Battalion, the objective being to create an entire army that would fool Adolf Hitler\u2019s spies and aerial observers. These people were all levels of skill in art, from professional artists to students. They created everything from fake airplanes parked on what appeared to be airfields to convoys emplaced in France, to inflatable tanks with loudspeakers playing tank noises \u2013 all to fool the German army. And they couldn\u2019t tell their families where they were (23rd<\/sup> Headquarters Special Troops unit) or what they were doing.<\/p>\n The full story on Mr. Bluestein is here: \u00a0https:\/\/www.chicagotribune.com\/news\/local\/breaking\/ct-met-ghost-army-veteran-20181110-story.html<\/a><\/p>\n To keep historical records intact, an organization titled The Ghost Army Legacy Project has been formed. The link is here: http:\/\/www.ghostarmylegacyproject.org<\/a><\/p>\n The first ever Ghost Army historical marker was dedicated September 26, 2018, in Bettembourg, Luxembourg.<\/p>\n The marker stands on the exact spot where the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops carried out\u00a0Operation BETTEMBOURG,<\/a>\u00a0one of their longest and most important operations. \u00a0http:\/\/www.ghostarmylegacyproject.org\/news<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"