The Air-Raid Warden Was a Spy: And Other Tales From Home-Front America in World War II (2 page)

The Air-Raid Warden Was a Spy

Books by William B. Breuer

An American Saga Bloody Clash at Sadzot Captain Cool They Jumped at Midnight Drop Zone Sicily Agony at Anzio Hitler’s Fortress Cherbourg Death of a Nazi Army Operation Torch Storming Hitler’s Rhine Retaking the Philippines Nazi Spies in America Devil Boats Operation Dragoon The Secret War with Germany Hitler’s Undercover War Sea Wolf Geronimo! Hoodwinking Hitler Race to the Moon

J. Edgar Hoover and His G-Men The Great Raid on Cabanatuan MacArthur’s Undercover War Feuding Allies Shadow Warriors War and American Women Unexplained Mysteries of World War II Vendetta: Castro and the Kennedy Brothers Undercover Tales of World War II Top Secret Tales of World War II Secret Weapons of World War II Daring Missions of World War II Deceptions of World War II

The Air-Raid Warden Was a Spy

And Other Tales from Home-Front America in World War II

William B. Breuer

John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

This book is printed on acid-free paper.
∞

Copyright © 2003 by William B. Breuer. All rights reserved

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Breuer, William B. The Air-Raid Warden Was a Spy / William B. Breuer.

p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-471-23488-5

Printed in the United States of America

10987654321

Dedicated to four-star GENERAL BARRY R. McCAFFREY (Ret.), a valiant warrior who received two Distinguished Service Crosses and three Purple Hearts during four combat tours.

We have a distinct spy menace. The peril is the deep penetration of the United States by subversives.

—J. Edgar Hoover, FBI Director (1941)

Contents

Introduction 1

Part One—Shock Waves Hit America
“On the Ground, by God!” 5 Dispute in the President’s Office 7 Calls for Retreat to Rockies 8 Submarines Off West Coast 8 Roosevelt Rallies the Nation 9 Eavesdropper in the German Embassy 11 A Television Pioneer 12 Instant Psychologists 13 Strange Doings across the Land 14 A Stop-and-Go Railroad Trip 15 “San Francisco Is Being Bombed!” 15 Watching for Enemy Paratroopers 16 A Covert Raid into Mexico 17 Fear for Roosevelt’s Life 19 FBI Joins in Sinking Submarine 20 Rounding Up Subversive Suspects 21 A Feud over Wiretapping 22 Mission: Halt Ambassador’s Hara-Kiri 23 A Field Marshal Is Shocked 25 Nazi U-Boat in New York Harbor 26 A Journalist Prowls the Normandie 27 The Salesman’s Luck Runs Out 27

Part Two—America under Siege
Joe Louis Contributes Huge Purse 31 A Grieving Father Joins Navy 31

vii

Self-Appointed Do-Gooders 32 A Hollywood Victory Committee 33 Actress Dies for Her Country 34 Dismantling a Nazi Spy Network 36 A Debacle in Manhattan 40 The Battle of Los Angeles 42 “We Poison Rats and Japs” 42 Goal: Coalition of Africa and Japan 47 Mysterious Malady on Ships 47 The FBI and the OSS Feud 48 Hijinks on a Hospital Roof 49 Suspicions Run Rampant 52 “German Officers” Stalk Harbor 52 Commercial Radio’s First War 53 U-Boats “Ruining” Tourist Season 54 Helping a German POW Escape 55 Strange Scenario in San Francisco 56 Silencing a Priest Rabble-Rouser 57 Nazi Agents in Key Industry Posts 57 Blasts Rock Defense Facilities 58 Eastern America Set Ablaze 59 The Mysterious Shangri-la 60 Comic Strip Puzzles Tokyo Warlords 61 Disaster Impacts Two U.S. Towns 61 “A Date with Destiny” 62 A Tumultuous Homecoming 62 Lord Haw-Haw and His Spies 65

Part Three—A Sleeping Giant Awakens
Invasion Target: California 69 Washington: Chaotic Capital 69 A Young Reporter Is Awed 71 “Doll Woman” an Enemy Agent 72 Panic Erupts at Concert 74

Contents
ix

Standard Oil Aids the Nazis 74 A Guidebook for Nazi Spies 75 They Came to Blow Up America 75 Artillery Confrontation in Oregon 80 German-American Bund Demolished 80 First Lady Rattles Some Cages 82 “I’m Proud of You, Mom!” 83 Horse Racing Flourishes 83 Psychological Saboteurs at Work 84 Hollywood Superstars Sign Up to Fight 89 War Hero Meets Joe Kennedy 90 Wants to Spotlight U.S. Spies 92 Government Censors Movies 92 Navajo Code-Talkers 94 Popular Orchestra Disbanded 95 Gone with the Wind in Chicago 96 Nasty Bartenders and Redneck Cops 97 Plane Bombs Pacific Northwest 100

Part Four—A Nation in Total War
Covert Project on Constitution Avenue 103 Patton Calls on the President 104 Weapons Mysteriously Vanish 105 A Huge Bounty on Hitler’s Head 106 A Tempest in a Teapot 106 Press Conference for “Women Only” 106 Secret Plan to Draft Females 107 Women in Combat Experiment 107 Jailbreak for a Boyfriend 108 Megabucks for Jack Benny’s Violin 108 “Mom, Keep Your Chin Up!” 108 Firm Gets Big Payoff 113 A Glamorous Nazi Agent 113 Marine Commander’s Dilemma 115

Contents

A Patriotic Heroine’s Long Ordeal 115 A Platinum Smuggler’s Demise 119 “Get Going! Time Is Short!” 121 Women Flock to War Plants 124 Recruiting the Blind and the Deaf 125 Offer to a Striptease Artist 126 The FBI Arrests “Good Old Ernie” 127 America’s Least-Known Boomtown 128 “Hello, America! Berlin Calling!” 130 A Picture Stuns the Nation 135 A Tragedy in St. Louis 136 “Legal Kidnapping” by Soviet Thugs 138 Spy Nabbed a Second Time 139 Scoundrels in the War Effort 141 “Bomb Japan Out of Existence” 143 War Hero Bounced from Air Corps 144 An Overseer of GI Morals 144 Top-Secret Projects Opened to Women 145 Roosevelt: Chloroform Drew Pearson 146 An Ace German Operative 147

Part Five—On the Road to Victory
Hoodwinking Hitler from New York 151 A Spy in Allied Headquarters? 152 Two Broadcast Rivals Called Up 154 Tributes to a Fallen Female Pilot 154 Cheers for a Lady 156 D Day Anxieties and Prayers 157 A Virginia Town Is Jolted 161 Calamity at Port Chicago 161 Secret Project in a Movie Studio 162 WASPs Test New B-29 162 The Fable of Fala 163 Roosevelt’s Foe Keeps a Secret 164

Contents
xi

A Father-and-Daughter Spy Team 165 Stumbling into a World Series 167 A Riot Erupts in New York City 169 Dark Intruders Sneak Ashore 172 Robot Bombs Threaten East Coast 174 The Führer Staggers America 176 Back Home for Christmas 179 Episode on a Florida Bus 179 A GI Changes His Mind 180

Part Six—The Lights Go On Again
A Blaze of Glory 183 A “Byrne-out” Hits the Nation 186 “It Was His Duty” 186 A Battered Warrior Limps Home 187 Visit by a Navy Chaplain 188 “Will I Be Able to See?” 188 “Franklin Died Like a Soldier” 191 Mama Truman Visits the White House 193 GIs’ Best Friend Dies in Battle 194 Restrained Joy Breaks Out 194 Two Old Friends Meet 196 Poll: Hang Hirohito 196 “Your Son Is Close to Death” 197 A Rain of Explosive Balloons 199 Paratroopers in Operation Firefly 201 A Purple Heart Parade 202 Plane Crashes into Skyscraper 203 An Invasion of German Scientists 203 Curious Happenings in Utah 205 A Haunting Prediction 206 Proposed Use of Disabling Gas 206 “I Was Thinking about Our Boys” 207 “Let’s Take a Second Day Off!” 207

A Nation Goes Wild 208

A GI Refugee Returns 209

“Experts” Visualize Crime Wave 210

Notes and Sources 211

Index 223

Introduction

D
URING WORLD WAR II,
few civilians realized that home-front America was under seige, that the German and Japanese warlords had planted a large number of spies, saboteurs, and propagandists who were bent on wreaking as much havoc as possible.

Many of these subversives were “sleepers,” who had been recruited by the Germans or the Japanese years earlier and ordered to blend in with their communities until it was time to spring into action.

To hold down panic on the home front, the U.S. government slickly covered up the fact that these predators were blowing up factories and key installations, causing enormous damage and loss of life, and that they had set ablaze millions of acres of forests. These fires were attributed to careless smokers.

At the same time the saboteurs were striking blows at home-front America, German spies were radioing reports on departing convoys to submarines lurking off the eastern seaboard, resulting in the sinkings of hundreds of merchant vessels. Nazi submarine skippers had become so bold that one even took his undersea craft into New York harbor.

Meanwhile, life on the home front went on as nearly normal as possible. Professional sports continued. Hollywood created movies. There were countless acts of heroism, patriotism, and sacrifice. Thousands grieved over the loss or serious wounding of loved ones on the far-flung battlefields of the world. As with the young men doing the fighting, the human will prevailed on home-front America.

1

Part One

Shock Waves Hit America

“On the Ground, by God!”

A
MERICA’S MAGNIFICENT CAPITOL
, its huge white dome topped by a twenty-foot-high statue of Freedom, was keeping watch over sprawling Washington, D.C., on this bleak, frigid Sunday of December 7, 1941. Although Japan had been saber rattling in the Pacific in recent weeks, most of America’s top military and government leaders were casually going about leisure-time pursuits.

That afternoon, Masuo Kato, a reporter for Domei, the Japanese news agency, was riding in a taxi to attend funeral services for Colonel Kenkichi Shijo, the assistant military attaché in the Japanese embassy, who had died of pneumonia.

Suddenly, at 2:26
P.M.
, the music on the taxi radio halted and an excited announcer stated: “This is a bulletin from the White House. Japanese airplanes are bombing Pearl Harbor!” And, from that moment the nation became galvanized as one.

The angry driver shouted to his passenger: “Goddamn those slanty-eyed Jap bastards! We’ll lick the hell out of those sons of bitches now!”