thedrifter
09-24-07, 01:14 PM
The Lore of the Corps
Officer used Arabic knowledge to work undercover in WWII
By Michael Hoffman and Philip Ewing - mhoffman@militarytimes.com and pewing@militarytimes.com
Posted : October 01, 2007
It wouldn’t be far off to call Col. William Alfred Eddy the Marine Corps’ “Lawrence of Arabia.” During World War II, the Corps sent the career academic to establish intelligence inroads into North Africa.
Born in Lebanon, Eddy, an officer who would head the Office of Strategic Services in North Africa, spoke fluent Arabic and used his firsthand knowledge of the Arab culture to help orchestrate a successful invasion of North Africa to wrest control of the region from Germany.
Eddy, who received his commission after earning an English degree from Princeton, didn’t follow a typical Marine career path.
A brigade intelligence officer in World War I, Eddy was wounded by the blast from a high-explosive shell at Belleau Wood.
As he recovered at a naval hospital in Brooklyn, he earned a doctorate in 18th-century English literature from his alma mater. He went on to chair the English department at the American University of Cairo, became a professor at Dartmouth University and later president of Hobart College.
But Eddy yearned to rejoin the Corps even after the service ruled him unfit to serve and retired him as a captain. He resigned from Hobart in 1941.
Col. “Wild Bill” Donovan, the director of undercover intelligence officers in North Africa, got Eddy back on active duty as a naval attaché and tasked him with undercover operations in North Africa in 1942. The 12 agents Eddy worked with — known as “the Twelve Disciples” — collected key intelligence on German forces.
He was instrumental in the formation of plans for the Allied invasion of North Africa, dubbed Operation Torch. Prior to the kickoff of the successful landings in 1942, he helped prop up the pro-Allied French resistance in former French colonies such as Algeria.
Eddy earned the Legion of Merit and a battlefield promotion to colonel after the operation’s success.
In 1943, he retired from the Corps a second time to become a Middle Eastern diplomat for the State Department. Eddy served as the translator during a key meeting in 1945 between President Roosevelt and King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia that helped establish strong post-World War II relations between the two nations.
Eddy resigned from the State Department in 1947 and moved to Beirut with his wife. He served as a consultant to the Arabian-American Oil Company until his retirement in 1957.
Eddy died in 1962 at the age of 66 from a cerebral thrombosis.
Michael Hoffman, a former Air Force intelligence officer, is deputy news editor of Marine Corps Times. Philip Ewing is deputy news editor of Navy Times.
Ellie
Officer used Arabic knowledge to work undercover in WWII
By Michael Hoffman and Philip Ewing - mhoffman@militarytimes.com and pewing@militarytimes.com
Posted : October 01, 2007
It wouldn’t be far off to call Col. William Alfred Eddy the Marine Corps’ “Lawrence of Arabia.” During World War II, the Corps sent the career academic to establish intelligence inroads into North Africa.
Born in Lebanon, Eddy, an officer who would head the Office of Strategic Services in North Africa, spoke fluent Arabic and used his firsthand knowledge of the Arab culture to help orchestrate a successful invasion of North Africa to wrest control of the region from Germany.
Eddy, who received his commission after earning an English degree from Princeton, didn’t follow a typical Marine career path.
A brigade intelligence officer in World War I, Eddy was wounded by the blast from a high-explosive shell at Belleau Wood.
As he recovered at a naval hospital in Brooklyn, he earned a doctorate in 18th-century English literature from his alma mater. He went on to chair the English department at the American University of Cairo, became a professor at Dartmouth University and later president of Hobart College.
But Eddy yearned to rejoin the Corps even after the service ruled him unfit to serve and retired him as a captain. He resigned from Hobart in 1941.
Col. “Wild Bill” Donovan, the director of undercover intelligence officers in North Africa, got Eddy back on active duty as a naval attaché and tasked him with undercover operations in North Africa in 1942. The 12 agents Eddy worked with — known as “the Twelve Disciples” — collected key intelligence on German forces.
He was instrumental in the formation of plans for the Allied invasion of North Africa, dubbed Operation Torch. Prior to the kickoff of the successful landings in 1942, he helped prop up the pro-Allied French resistance in former French colonies such as Algeria.
Eddy earned the Legion of Merit and a battlefield promotion to colonel after the operation’s success.
In 1943, he retired from the Corps a second time to become a Middle Eastern diplomat for the State Department. Eddy served as the translator during a key meeting in 1945 between President Roosevelt and King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia that helped establish strong post-World War II relations between the two nations.
Eddy resigned from the State Department in 1947 and moved to Beirut with his wife. He served as a consultant to the Arabian-American Oil Company until his retirement in 1957.
Eddy died in 1962 at the age of 66 from a cerebral thrombosis.
Michael Hoffman, a former Air Force intelligence officer, is deputy news editor of Marine Corps Times. Philip Ewing is deputy news editor of Navy Times.
Ellie