Selected Documents

In 1968, the US Army used pension records to send out surveys to 9,000 veterans of the Spanish American War.  So began the Army's Veteran Survey Project.  This survey was filled out by John Walker, who was a Lieutenant in the 3132, the sonic deception arm of the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops. There is no date on the survey, but Walker was already a colonel in the Army Reserve when he filled it out, suggesting some time in the 1970s or 1980s.  Walker is generally laconic in his replies, but there are some gems in here.

In 2018, Ghost Army veteran GiI Seltzer, who was 103 at the time, received an autograph request that was acompanied by a list of questions. Seltzer, who served as a Lt. in the Headquarters Company of the 603rd Camouflage Engineers began to set down answers, and soon found himself caught up in the task.  "I had no intention of spending so much time and energy answering your questions," he wrote at the end of his four-page response.  "However I found that I was dragging up many memories that had become somewhat distant and vague,  So let us say that the effort was as much for me as for you."

At the intersection of the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops and D-Day lies Operation Troutfly. A Ghost Army radio contingent was tasked to be part of the D-Day landing force. Their mission was to conduct a deception in support of the 82nd Airborne.  The mission was canceled, but they ended up working with the airborne anyway. The details can be found in Lt. Fred Fox's handwritten report.