Operation Bodyguard: FBI Recognizes WWII Counterintelligence Landmark in New York

The FBI web site offers the below piece:

In honor of the 70th anniversary of the D-Day invasion, the FBI last weekend celebrated a landmark that was home to one of the Bureau’s intelligence successes during World War II. At a ceremony in recognition of the effort of FBI employees during World War II, the Society of Former Special Agents, the Episcopal Diocese of New York, the Suffolk County Historical Society, and the FBI’s New York Division placed a plaque at a quaint building known as Benson House in Wading River, New York, overlooking Long Island Sound.

It was there, from January 1942 until the end of the war in Europe in 1945, that FBI agents and radio technicians lived and worked undercover, secretly transmitting coded messages that the Nazis believed came from their own spies operating in New York. The Nazis believed their operatives were funneling significant details about U.S. forces, munitions, and war preparations. But in fact, the transmissions were controlled by the FBI—the Nazi spies were FBI double agents. The Bureau’s work - known as Operation Ostrich - was central to our counterintelligence operations throughout the war and was part of a larger effort by Allied Forces to deceive the enemy called Operation Bodyguard.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2014/june/operation-bodyguard/operation-bodyguard?utm_campaign=email-Daily&utm_medium=email&utm_source=fbi-top-stories&utm_content=327927 

Remembering D-Day

Today is the anniversary of D-Day, World War II's Operation Overlord.

It is hard to conceive the epic scope of this decisive battle that foreshadowed the end of Hitlers dream of Nazi domination. Overlord was the largest air, land, and sea operation undertaken before or since June 6, 1944. The landing included over 5,000 ships, 11,000 airplanes, and over 150,000 service men.

 After years of meticulous planning and seemingly endless training, for the Allied Forces, it all came down to this: The boat ramp goes down, then jump, swim, run, and crawl to the cliffs. Many of the first young men (most not yet 20 years old) entered the surf carrying eighty pounds of equipment. They faced over 200 yards of beach before reaching the first natural feature offering any protection. Blanketed by small-arms fire and bracketed by artillery, they found themselves in hell.

When it was over, the Allied Forces had suffered nearly 10,000 casualties; more than 4,000 were dead. Yet somehow, due to planning and preparation, and due to the valor, fidelity, and sacrifice of the Allied Forces, Fortress Europe had been breached.

You can learn more about this great military operation at the National D-Day Memorial site via the below link:

http://www.dday.org/history/d-day-overview.html

Honoring U.S. Sailors Lost During D-Day Invasion

In the above U.S. Navy photo, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus reads the inscription on the U.S. Navy memorial honoring Sailors lost during the D-Day invasion of Normandy at Utah Beach in Sainte Marie du Mont, France.

Mabus also delivered remarks at a local ceremony praising the extraordinary courage of the landing forces at Utah Beach on June 6, 1944, and highlighted the role of U.S. naval forces on that historic day.

The above U.S. Navy photo was taken by Chief Mass Communication Specialist Sam Shavers.