Julia Child was Covert OSS Spy During WWII (Photos)

During the early 1940's, Presidentauthorized the creation of the Office of Strategic Services - an early version of the CIA. The secret organization recruited 24,000 spies including many famous and influential people to participate in surveillance across the globe. Among those was the famed chef

Child met her future husband, Paul Cushing Child, while on assignment for the OSS in Sri Lanka. The cook, author and television personality died at age 91 in 2004.

The secret has come to light now that 750,000 documents will be open for inspection. This long guarded information sheds light on the last secrets from the wartime intelligence agency that was disbanded in 1945 by President Harry Truman.

The CIA had resisted releasing OSS records for years until former CIA Director William Casey, himself an OSS alum, cleared the way for transfer of millions of pages of information to the National Archives when he took over the CIA in 1980.

Spies within the OSS included soldiers, actors, historians, lawyers, athletes, professors and reporters. They studied military plans, created propaganda, infiltrated enemy ranks and stirred resistance among foreign troops.

Notables include John Hemingway, son of author Ernest Hemingway, Quentin and Kermit Roosevelt, sons of President Roosevelt, Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg, Chicago White Sox catcher Moe Berg, Sterling Hayden, a film and television actor, historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr., and author Thomas Braden, who wrote the book that inspired the Eight is Enough television series.

Most never gave any inkling to their involvement in the secret spy ring. Several members, well into their 90's, are thrilled to be able to finally let out their secret. Walter Mess,93, now living in Falls Church, VA, did covert work in Poland and North Africa. The only person he ever told was his wife because he said: "I was told to keep my mouth shut."

Another former spy, Elizabeth McIntosh, 93, of Woodbridge, VA was thrilled with the opening of records. "They've finally after all these years gotten the names out. All of these people had been told never to mention they were with the OSS. I think it's terrific."



More former spies shown below.











Source: AP