Index of Known Office of Strategic Services Decoration Recipients in WWII
Statistics:
Distinguished Service
Cross 56
Navy Cross 4
Distinguished Service Medal 7
Silver Star Medals 191
Distinguished Flying Cross 77
Soldier’s Medals 73
Legion of Merit 305
Bronze Star Medals 1,099
Air Medals 347
Army Commendation Ribbons 151
Navy Commendation Ribbons 16
Purple Heart Medals 247
POW Medals 5
Certificate of Merits 74
Medal of Merit 6
Medal of Freedom 313
Croix de Guerre 108
Legion of Honor 13
British Order & Decorations 17
Greek Decorations 4
Italian Order & Decorations 53
Chinese Order & Decorations 26
Other awards ?
Total Awards 3202+
This book has 52 pages
ISBN 978-1-932891-00-3
ISBN 1-932891-00-5
Library of Congress
Control Number 2004-266585
This is a companion to the series of indexes of general orders of divisions, corps, armies and commands of the US Army in WWII. Those indexes are published as they are completed.
This work includes the most comprehensive list of OSS decoration recipients to date. The vast majority of the information came from a report prepared by the Central Intelligence Agency for William Donovan on March8, 1948. This report gives the names, ranks, and known decorations of each former OSS member.
The second paragraph of the letter accompanying the report states: “It is probable that this list is not complete since copies of all orders effecting the awards undoubtedly did not reach the Citation Office for recording. However, it contains all of the awards for which official notification was received.” The letter is signed by Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
I cross-referenced this report with my database of WWII decoration recipients and added additional information whenever found. I discovered many awards that were not included in the original report.
The original report does not specify the detachment in which each OSS Agent served. I added this information whenever possible. In my haste to get this to the publisher, I regret not having the time to locate the detachment for each man. Hopefully, I will eventually publish a revised edition, giving that information.
Please note that some awards may be for service outside of the OSS, as many members were reassigned when their services were no longer needed. I have listed all known WWII decorations received by each man. Further investigation will yield when decorations were for service in the OSS versus service in another command.
The original report lists foreign personnel that were associated in some way with the OSS during WWII. As it seemed the most appropriate way to list them I have shown each as being attached to the OSS, even though this may not have been the case. Each entry is listed in the same format as those in my WWII database. All US recipients of the Medal of Freedom and/or the Medal of Merit should be civilian employees of the OSS, since those are civilian decorations.
The original report produced for William Donovan listed personnel who received an award abbreviated as “CA” or “EECS.” These abbreviations are not covered in the glossary of the report and, as I am unfamiliar with their meaning, I have listed each of the recipients as receiving “?Decoration.” This is also the listing for some decorations that were impossible to read, having been penciled onto the report after it was originally typed.
Other then the original report, I also found useful information in the following sources:
Unpublished Works
Personal Papers of George Chumas
General Order #93, 1946 Department of the Army
General Order #25, 1945 European Theater of Operations
General Order #66, 1944 3rd Army
General Order #135, 1945 3rd Army
General Order #138, 1945 3rd Army
General Order #187, 1945 3rd Army
General Order #193, 1945 3rd Army
General Order #273, 1945 3rd Army
General Order #69, 1944 82nd Airborne Division
Published Works
11th Airborne Division
1969 Register of Graduates and Former Cadets of the United
States Military Academy
316th Infantry History, Volume III
3600 Strong, An Honor Roll of the Men and Women of the
Proctor Gamble Companies and The Buckeye Cotton Oil
Company who
Joined the Armed Forces of the United States
of America and those of the Dominion of Canada during the
Years 1940-1945
Battle Report, The Atlantic War
Biographical Sketches Staff, Faculty and Students, US Army
War College, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania 1960-1961
Biographical Sketches Staff, Faculty and Students, US Army
War College, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania 1967
Donovan of OSS
Hazardous Duty, An American Solider in the Twentieth Century
History and Roster of New Hampshire Freemasonry in World
War Two
Index to the General Orders of the 3rd Army, in World War II
Islip Town’s World War II Effort
Merrill’s Marauders, February 1944 – May 1944
New Canaan’s Records of World War II, Volume III
Rangers, Lead the Way
The Fighting Men of Texas, A History of the Second World War,
A Memorial, A Remembrance, an Appreciation
The National War College, 1959-1960
The Soldier’s Medal, A History of the US Army’s Highest Award
for Non-Combat Valor
Thunder from Heaven. The Story of the 17th Airborne Division
Tribute To the War Records of Our Members, The University
Club
US Army Awards of the Legion of Merit for WWII
USMC Paratrooper Medals in World War II
Anyone with additional information is encouraged to contact the author.
Every effort has been made to minimize errors and misspelled names. An error may be attributable to the source document, or may have occurred while transcribing the names/units. Some of the original documents are of very poor print quality, making them difficult to decipher.