National
Archives to Open Official Personnel Files of the Office
of Strategic Services (OSS)
The National Archives will open more than 35,000
official personnel files of men and women who served in
the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) which was the
U.S. wartime intelligence agency during World War II.
The files cover civilian and military personnel who
served and were later transferred, discharged,
reassigned, or died while in service prior to 1947.
These records are available for research in the textual
research room at the National Archives facility in
College Park. The files will be released to the public
on August 14, 2008.
On the day of the opening, the press office will
distribute CDs that include selected files of some of
the notable people who served in the OSS, including
former CIA directors Allen Dulles and William Casey,
famed chef Julia Child, Supreme Court Justice Arthur
Goldberg, Arab/Israeli peace negotiator and civil
rights advocate Ralph Bunche, and Hollywood actor
Sterling Hayden.
The 750,000 pages include initial applications to join
the OSS; preliminary training and subsequent work
assignments; pay, leave and travel documents;
evaluations, basic medical information; and awards,
decorations and discharge papers. Occasionally,
photographs are included in the application file.
Senior officials, officers and men engaged in special
combat actions, such as Detachment 101, Jedburghs, X-2,
espionage, and major intelligence missions may have
citations summarizing those efforts in the files.
Name searches for individuals who served in the OSS can
be found online in the Archival Research Catalogue
listing for the OSS Personnel Files posted as ARC #
1593270 (CLICK HERE). Please type the
number listed above (1593270) into the search box
to find the OSS personnel records. Click on
"personnel files" and then "search within this
series" to conduct a name search.
Related
Links
ABC News - NBC News - FOX News - CNN - Ordering Copies of OSS Personnel
Files