The Owls of the O.S.S.: An Adventure Novel of World War Ii

CHAPTER 1

ONE HUNDRED FEET OVER THE SOUTHERN U.S.A. MARCH, 1942

The roar of the two engines was deafening. Navy Lieutenant Billy Marvin was not part of the regular crew, so he didn’t have a regular place to sit. He had found a crate, and had parked there. Unfortunately, it didn’t have a seat belt. When they started to hit the thermals after refueling in San Antonio, Billy was bouncing all over the fuselage. It was not bad on the updrafts, but when they hit a down-draft, Billy was left suspended in mid-air, and he dropped, and bounced when the B-25 flattened out.

The navigator had an electrical outlet that allowed some food to be heated. They were feasting on beans and franks with hot coffee to drink. Billy passed on the food. He wasn’t airsick; it just didn’t seem very appetizing.

Thankfully, Colonel Jimmie Doolittle asked for Billy to come up to the front, and spell him at the controls. Billy had his Navy wings, but had only flown single engine planes. The B-25 Mitchell Bomber was a unique airplane. It had a relatively short wingspan. That was why it was selected for the raid on Tokyo. It compensated for the smaller wing surface by having two of the most powerfulengines available. When it got airborne, it could fly like a "bat out of hell’. It had the feel of a fighter airplane, especially now that all of the armor plate had been removed.

Billy sat in the pilot’s seat on the left, and took control of the yoke from the co-pilot. It felt good to feel control over the super powerful plane. Billy piloted the plane to somewhere over Arizona when Colonel Doolittle came back to take over. Billy relieved the co-pilot, and they sat in silence for a while.

Lieutenant Marvin, how did you get mixed up in this project? Colonel Doolittle lit a cigarette and inhaled. The smoke and the question came out at the same time.

I’m attached to Naval Intelligence. When the idea came up, I asked to help out. Billy looked out the window at the desolation of the Arizona desert.

Billy’s mind went back to that fateful day in May when it all started

CHAPTER 2

ATLANTA, GEORGIA THE GEORGIA TECH CAMPUS MAY, 1941

The ball sailed high into the brilliant May sky. It was another lob, and Billy again retreated from the net to cover the shot. He was getting exasperated by his opponent, a small lithe fellow from the University of Tennessee who seemed to be able to take everything that Billy hit, and turn it back as a lob that seemed to land within a couple of feet from the baseline.

Billy let it bounce and cranked back another overhead smash. It hit the net about an inch from the top.

2-1, Tennessee in the third set, said the umpire.

Billy was getting disgusted with himself. He had won the first set 6-3, but lost the second set 7-5. He was now down a break in the third set mainly because he was getting fatigued from hitting overheads.

On the change over, Billy tried to collect himself, and come up with a plan to get back in the match. He toweled off, drank a sip of water, and glanced up into the bleachers. He was surprised to see a fraternity brother, Tully Donovan, in the stands. Tully had been Billy’s big brother during his pledge quarter, but had graduated right before Billy had been initiated into the ATO house. Tully gave Billy a wave. He then waved a clenched fist in encouragement.

Billy decided that sometimes the tool that someone uses against you can be the best thing when it is thrown back in their face. So, after returning serve on the next point, Billy hit a top spin lob instead of a forehand cross court. It took off into the sky, and as it came down had an imperceptible movement away from his opponent. As the Tennessean tried to hit his own overhead, this ball movement took his overhead smash into the net.

On the next point, Billy hit another topspin lob, and the Tennessee Vol let the ball hit about two feet from the baseline. The top spin took the ball so far back near the fence that the return was very weak, and Billy knocked off the volley with no trouble. From that point on, Billy only lost four points by lobbing on almost every shot, and won the final set.

As the umpire called out the final, Game, set and match to Georgia Tech, Billy trotted to the net to shake hands with his opponent. Every time Billy performed this ritual, and said the perfunctory, Congratulation, good match, he always had the childlike thought running through his mind of I’m better than you are.

Tully met him at the gate of the court, and shook his hand and said, I knew you’d figure him out, but why did it take so long?

Billy just laughed and said, I guess I’m just not as smart as I should be. Tully slapped him on the back, and said that he would like to take him out to supper, if he was available. Billy said sure, but he would have to get cleaned up first. Tully said that he would be glad to wait, and get to see some of the other ATO brothers.

Tully was a likeable fellow who had gone to Georgia Tech on the co-op program where he went to school during the fall and spring quarters, and worked in the engineering department of the TVA during the winter and summer quarters.

He had been the first to greet Billy during rush week, and recognize that Billy was a great prospect for the fraternity. He further checked with some of his contacts in Billy’s home town, and found out that in addition to being a well mannered, handsome, personable fellow, Billy Marvin was an outstanding athlete, scholar, and that he came from a wealthy family background.

Tully asked to be Billy’s big brother during his pledge quarter. Tully always had the prettiest girl at every fraternity party, and he was the undisputed, best dancer in the fraternity.

During pledge quarter there was some hazing, paddling, and just pure harassment. There were a lot of silly antics. The pledge class had to all get into the garbage dumpster while they all smoked cigars. Two fellows suffered from claustrophobia and had a very tough time. During hell week each pledge had a small bell tied to his penis. They all jingled as they went around campus to their classes.

Billy’s pledge trip was to The University of Georgia with three other pledge brothers. The list of tasks included getting pictures of 1) a naked girl sitting on the toilet, 2) a virgin turd (one having just left the cow before it hit the ground), 3) all of the pledge brothers urinating on the stone lion outside of the SAE house and 4) a picture of all of them eating popcorn from a Kotex box in the middle of the Athens Grand Theater. Billy had several friends at the University who helped out and made pictures, so they were able to achieve, and prove the accomplishment of their tasks.

One group of pledges went to Auburn University. They had the task of bringing back a policeman’s hat, among other things. They all ended up in jail, and the pledge master had to go bail them out.

Although Tully had graduated at the end of the fall quarter, he came back to be there for Billy’s initiation into the fraternity. They had become fast friends during that fall quarter, and still dropped a line to each other.

As Billy walked into the fraternity house he glanced at his message box, and saw that there was a phone slip for him. The hasty scrawl said, Call Miss Mary Ellen. The phone number was not one that he recognized.

Miss Mary Ellen was his grandfather’s girl friend. She was very pretty for her age. She had blonde hair that was the result of a close relationship with her hairdresser; she visited him every week. Her husband had gone to the store one night for some Lucky Strikes, and had never returned. She had wanted to get married to his grandfather, but the Catholic Priest had said that a death certificate showing that her old husband was dead was a requirement, so as to prevent the possibility of sin. Divorce was not an option. Shortly after Billy’s grandmother had died in the influenza epidemic, his grandfather had started keeping company with Miss Mary Ellen. Billy always thought that it was ironic that she was referred to as Miss Mary Ellen when she was technically still married to her husband, and was therefore a Mrs.

The phone was answered after one ring. Miss Mary Ellen, this is Billy.

Oh, I’m so glad you called. I wanted to tell you that Big Will is in the hospital. He has had a small heart problem. It doesn’t seem to be very bad, but the doctor is telling him to make some real changes in the way he lives.

What sort of changes? Billy asked.

Well, he has to stop eating bacon and eggs for breakfast, no more hamburgers for lunch, and no more steaks for supper. He has to cut down from eight cigars a day to three. From now on, it’s oatmeal for breakfast, a salad for lunch, and fish or chicken for supper. She drawled in that soft Southern accent that exuded grace and gentility.

I suppose you will have to mobilize the National Guard to get him to obey those rules? Billy envisioned the stubborn nature of his Grandfather.

No, I am going to move in and start riding herd on him. Everyone in town knows that we are together, and why we can’t get married. If the priest complains, I’ll just tell him that I’m going to become a Baptist, and see how he likes that.

I think that should do the trick. Call me if you need me to talk to him. Billy relaxed as he hung up, and the memories of his life in Hamilton, Georgia flooded back. Billy had been raised by his grandfather. In 1929, his parents were killed in an auto accident. His grandfather owned the Hamilton National Bank and lots of real estate.

He had been so tied up in his studies and playing tennis at Georgia Tech that suddenly, he realized how much he missed his home town and his grandfather.

As he stood under the hot shower, he closed his eyes and enjoyed the moment of respite.

Tennis was a great relief for him. For a short time, he could forget all about his studies, and concentrate on the match.

Billy had started playing tennis at age fourteen as the result of a mistake. His grandfather was trying to keep him occupied during that fateful summer of 1929. Since his parents had died in the auto wreck, it fell to his grandfather to take care of Billy. Since Billy showed no interest in golf, Big Will suggested that he take some tennis lessons from the new tennis pro at the country club.

When Billy walked into the pro shop, he was astounded to see the absolutely, most beautiful, sexy, gorgeous girl in the state behind the counter. Her name was Pat Jordan. She had hair that was somewhere between brown and red, and it cascaded over her shoulders. Billy had seen her at the club pool, and he was amazed at her figure. Billy felt that she was the perfect example of Newton’s law that said, For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Whenever she moved, her breasts moved. She bent over to pick up her pencil while on the phone. Billy was so enraptured by her cleavage that he signed up on the list to play in the club tournament instead of the list for lessons. Later, when Billy explained the mistake to the Pro, he asked if he could get a lesson before he had to play the match.

In the meantime, Billy went to the Hamilton Public Library, and found the book HOW TO PLAY TENNIS by Bill Tilden. He had recently discovered that he had the wondrous gift of a photographic memory. In addition, he had developed his own process which would be called speed reading in later years. In about an hour he had finished the book. Billy had a lot of natural speed and quickness. He took a lesson from the pro, and was able to learn the basics of the various strokes. Since he was totally unknown, he was scheduled to play the number one seed in the tournament, a twenty-seven year old insurance executive who had played tennis in college at Harvard. The match lasted nearly three hours and Billy lost 6-4, 16-14. The pro was so impressed that he asked Billy to let him coach him. He felt Billy could succeed in some of the local tournaments. Billy declined because he was going out for the high school football team. The pro called his grandfather, and asked him to talk Billy out of trying out for football. He said that with his talent, that Billy could play in the U.S. Open or Wimbledon. Billy tried out for the team and made the starting lineup by the second game.

Billy finished his shower, and put on a tan dress shirt, brown tie and brown slacks. He came down the stairs to meet Tully, but he did not realize that this meeting would be one of the most important nights of his life.

Tully drove a standard black Ford sedan. Billy commented that it didn’t look like a Tully kind of car. Tully laughed and said that it was a company car. He asked if the Peachtree House was still the best food in town. Billy replied that it was, and that is where he headed.

Billy and Tully both ordered the pork chops special with various kinds of vegetables with sweetened iced tea to drink, and peach cobbler for dessert. After they had ordered, Tully asked if Billy had a girl, was pinned or engaged. Billy sheepishly replied that he was in none of those predicaments. They reminisced about Billy’s time as a pledge. They laughed about the antics required during his pledge trip. Tully brought Billy up to date about the activities of some of their brothers who had already graduated.

Tully then pulled his chair close to the table and started talking in a quiet whisper. Fortunately, it was Wednesday evening, and the only other patrons were on the other side of the room. Billy, I’m working with my uncle. It’s part of the federal government. Our deal is still very confidential. I’m asking you as a friend, fraternity brother, and as a loyal American to keep everything that I tell you totally confidential

Billy nodded agreement. Sure.

My uncle is William Donavan. He had a great deal going on Wall Street as an attorney. However, President Roosevelt asked him to join him in this new endeavor. They were friends in college, like we are. During the war he got the nickname Wild Bill" because of his action in combat; he was awarded the Medal of Honor, but he is nothing like that. The department that he heads up is called the Office of Strategic Services. It will become active officially in 1942 or earlier if needed. It was originally thought to be like a US spy agency, but he’s expanded the scope into other areas. He answers directly to the President.

He and President Roosevelt are of the opinion that by this time next year, we’ll be at war with the Germans, the Japanese or both."

Billy was surprised. President Roosevelt ran on the promise of keeping America out of any war

Tully sipped his iced tea and said, "He said what he had to say to get elected. Politicians have been known to do that. Anyway, we’re all very sure of the coming war.

When it comes, there will be young men like you who will join, or be drafted, and they’ll have their lives altered by death, injury, or by just plain inconvenience. I envision that you’ll enlist, probably go to Officers Candidate School, get a commission, and the last words that you’ll ever say will be Follow me men! You then go over the top, and get shot in the back by one of the idiots that you are leading. You’ve got too much going for you to have that happen.

I went to the Dean of Men’s office and discussed you with Dean Griffeth before the tennis match. In his words, You’re the ‘smartest son of a bitch’ who has ever gone to this school. In August you’ll finish your seventeenth quarter here; you’ve gone straight through, and will be getting a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Physics and a Batchelor’s, Master’s and Doctorate in Chemical Engineering. How in the hell did you take all of those courses, and end up getting the degrees all at once.

Billy chuckled and replied, I took all of the required courses, some of the Physics courses counted as electives for Chemical Engineering and vice versa, but there are sixteen hours of electives that I’ll take this summer, and one required hour, PE 102, the swimming course. It’s required for both Bachelors’ degrees. You must have the Bachelor degrees before you can get the advanced degrees.

Tully smirked, Swimming, Hell, it’s drown proofing. Does Coach Plaxico, the gymnastics coach, still teach it?

Billy said that Coach Plaxico was the teacher, and that he was pretty concerned because he had never been much into swimming.

Tully said that he would do fine. The food was delivered, and they ate in silence for a few minutes. He then leaned forward and continued in the secretive tone that he had used earlier.

"Billy, I’m making an offer to you, and probably three or four other extremely smart people that I am looking at. It is a job with the O.S.S. Technically speaking you’ll be in the Armed Forces, assigned to the O.S.S. You’ll be given the rank of an Army Captain. You’ll have to spend a two week stint in San Antonio, they have a special two week crash course where they train medical doctors in how to dress and act like officers. After that, you’ll be in Washington, assigned to the O.S.S.

You’ll be part of a special group who’ll be doing any number of things, but they’ll be the kind of things that will be innovative ways that can help America succeed, and win the war, the more outrageous, the better.

Put all of that knowledge in your noggin to work to save lives, and help us get America back to peace and prosperity. If you do this, you’ll not be sent into action, or be in any danger. Pay and allowances of a Capitan, you’ll be based in Washington, D.C., not too far from home, and very near a very large population base of sex starved females."

Billy took another bite of turnip greens and swallowed. He asked to be excused to go to the men’s room. He unzipped, but spent most of the time considering the offer, and how his grandfather would take it.

As he returned to his table, Tully looked up and said that he had forgotten one important aspect of the deal. You may not tell anyone, ever, what you do. If you’re asked, you can say you work for military intelligence. Any idea that you come up with will be credited to someone else, and you may never reap the rewards of anything that you create.

Billy asked, How soon before you need an answer?

Tully said that he would meet Billy at the Robbery, the sandwich shop at the center of campus, for lunch tomorrow. Billy said that was pretty fast. But, since he really could not consult with anyone else it was OK.

At lunch, the next day, Billy smiled and waved as Tully walked into the Robbery. Billy spoke without any hesitation, I’m your boy for the deal, except for a couple of changes. I want to be in the Navy, not the Army. After I get out of the San Antonio School, I want to go to Navy flight school. I already have a pilot’s license, so I want to get my wings.

Tully grinned and said that it was a deal, and that he was glad that he had brought up the flight school concept, because one of the people on the team would be from the Air Corps, and it would be a good idea to get him flight qualified.

Billy pulled out a piece of note paper and his mechanical drawing pencil and said, Since I am now on your team, here’s the first idea. He wrote the formula E= MC squared.

This is a concept that is being worked on by a team of specialists in nuclear physics at Chicago Tech. I don’t know a lot about it, but it seems to have a lot of promise. Dr. Albert Einstein has developed the concept that unstable radioactive elements can have their atoms split by creating a critical mass. This critical mass causes the release of free electrons that crash into the atoms of the mass causing them to be split in a chain reaction. This chain reaction would cause a tremendous release of energy. About five to ten pounds of, say, the right isotope of uranium, would yield an explosion of say one thousand tons of TNT.

Tully took the note sheet, smiled and said, I didn’t understand a word you said, but I will pass this on. They shook hands and Tully said that in about a week, that there would be some papers for signing that he would bring to him.

Billy went back to his lab at one o’clock, and was immediately engrossed in a problem of elemental differentiation in a sub zero environment. It was at the supper table that night that he finally slowed down for a minute, and could think about what he had agreed to. There were still several questions. How long was the commitment? What if there is no war? Could he ever get promoted? How much does an Army Captain make? The main one was how he would explain it to his grandfather, Big Will.

Billy went to his mail box and got a few pieces of mail, one was a letter from Miss Mary Ellen. She wrote him weekly, and gave him all of the news. Big Will was not a letter writer. The other was postmarked from Tampa, Florida. He opened it, and found only a snapshot of a beautiful woman, Pat Jordan, and identical twin boys with blond curly hair, about 1year old. No letter, no message on the back, but the picture told a story that only he could ever truly appreciate. His thoughts returned to Christmas time, 1939.

CHAPTER 3

HAMILTON, GEORGIA CHRISTMAS, 1939

Billy had arrived in Hamilton a few days before Christmas. The Christmas holiday had not been anything of a family type situation since Billy’s parents had died. Big Will traditionally took some vacation time, and Miss Mary Ellen traditionally took time off from her job at the Clerk of the Superior Court’s Office. They rode the train to Miami, and took a cruise for about a week. They were going to leave the next day.

Big Will was working late at the bank, and had asked Billy to go to the drug store to pick up his pills. Miss Mary Ellen was late returning from a shopping trip to Rich’s Department Store in Atlanta.

Billy had told his roommate, Dennis Cooper, a fraternity brother, who was also on the tennis team, about his dire Christmas outlook. Dennis invited Billy to come down to Tampa, Florida where he lived. He and Billy would play in a tennis tournament. It would be during the week between Christmas and New Years. Billy was to leave on the train for Tampa at eleven thirty on Christmas Day morning, as Big Will and Miss Mary Ellen got on their train for Miami.

As Billy walked into Thompson’s Drug Store, there were several other customers waiting for their medications as well. Dr. Howard Thompson waved at Billy, and said he was working on getting everyone’s medicine ready. He suggested that Billy should go have a treat at the soda fountain while he waited. Billy got a limephosphate, and turned to sit down. He was surprised to see Kathy Nelson sitting in the booth looking at a copy of Life magazine.

Kathy had been Billy’s girl friend the summer before he was a freshman in high school. They mainly dated by sitting together at the Hamilton Baptist Church. They would hold hands, and were considered to be boy friend and girl friend. Their other dates were simply walking to the movie theater. The balcony was the favorite place for teenage necking. Billy and his family were very active in the Hamilton Baptist Church. Big Will was the Chairman of the Board of Deacons. Kathy’s mother worked at the county tax office. There was no mention of her father, and no one asked.

Well, hello stranger, he said as she looked up and recognized him. How are you?

Kathy moved her coat from the seat across from him and motioned for him to sit down. She had gained some weight, and her hair looked a little frazzled, but her smile was still genuine. I’m as good as can be expected. Are you still in school at Georgia Tech?

Billy sipped the tart carbonation and nodded in the affirmative as he swallowed.

Well, I have two boys, and they’re a handful. I’m here to get medicine for the youngest one; he has a case of the croup. Of course, you know, both of them are your fault.

Professional comedians had developed a technique called a spit take for this kind of circumstance. This is what Billy did unconsciously as he was in the process of swallowing when Kathy laid this bombshell on him, and he got strangled.

What are you talking about? he stammered as he got his breath back. She laughed and said that it was not what he was thinking.

She moved a little in the seat and leaned forward to talk more privately. "I’m sure that you remember the last time that we were out together. We were over at Glen Lake Park in the evening, no one around, and we were making out on the bleachers, and it started going a little too far. Well, it wasn’t a little too far; it was a lot to far. I actually thought once that you must have been an octopus, because you seemed to have eight hands. You kept trying, and I kept saying no, and I know that you were pretty exasperated.

Well, the next Sunday you went to attend church at the Methodist Church with the football team, and ya’ll went to all of the different churches in town over the next few weeks. We didn’t see each other except occasionally at school. Then I hear that you were going with Sandy, and I saw the two of you together. I could tell from the way she acted with you that she wasn’t telling you no on anything. Mymother had preached to me about boys, and what they wanted, and how I had to say no.

I don’t know if you ever heard, but I was a love child, and I never knew anything about