Trained to Be an OSS Spy - Doundoulakis, Helias

. .

Résumé :
On an ordinary day in May 1941, a boy from a village in Crete faces an unexpected threat - the invasion of German troops. He runs for cover - his first escape in a series of encounters with destiny. The boy and his brother work for the SOE, an underground branch of the English Intelligence Service. When the resistance movement is uncovered, they escape through the mountains of Crete, hiding from the enemy in broad daylight. In Egypt, the boy joins the American Army and trains to be a spy for the OSS (the Office of Strategic Services), the SOE's newly formed American intelligence counterpart. Sent back to Salonica, Greece, the boy continually risks his life, operating a wireless radio in plain view. Will the German police ever discover his wireless, in a factory once owned by Greek Jews? If captured, the boy resolves to take a poison capsule that will end his young life, rather than endure torture. Often, he finds himself seconds away from death. Imagine the Victory of living to tell the tale at age 91, and his metamorphosis from boy to man, man to soldier, and soldier to spy. The author's story was featured in the documentary Camp X: Secret Agent School on History Channel in Canada, and the Smithsonian Channel's, World War II Spy School. REVIEWS An unvarnished, understated tale, full of youthful mistakes and narrow escapes, the book is written in a straightforward, conversational style. … You only live twice, once when you are born and once when you look death in the face,' Japanese poet Matsuo Basho wrote more than 300 years ago. Doundoulakis skillfully conveys that sense of being fully alive, as he transmitted an amazing 400 clandestine radio signals as an OSS spy. This is a tale you are not likely to find elsewhere, one that rings with authenticity. -BlueInk Review Helias Doundoulakis, now in his nineties, shares the story of his time in the shadowy world of espionage in Trained to be an OSS Spy ... It's a story they're not likely to find anywhere else. -Foreword Clarion Review The author's memoir perfectly encapsulates the mixed feelings of his younger self; he was only 20 when sent to the city of Salonica, an event that was both exhilarating and terrifying. His flight from Greece, where he and others hid in caves, is an intense episode, as is his secret passage back into the country. ... Treads familiar territory ... but readers new to his work will enjoy the exciting life he's chosen to share. -Kirkus Reviews

Biographie:

Helias Doundoulakis was born in 1923 in Canton, Ohio, to Greek immigrant parents, grew up in Archanes, Greece, and returned to America in 1946 after he served in the United States Army and the OSS during WWII.

At the age of two, he and his family immigrated to Crete, Greece, and there they lived uneventfully until German paratroopers invaded the island in May of 1941. After a two-year involvement with the Cretan resistance and the British SOE, he was evacuated by the SOE to Cairo, Egypt. He enlisted in the United States Army and was recruited into the fledgling American spy service, the OSS. There, as a novice, he was schooled in the SI of the OSS, or Secret Intelligence branch, and became adroit in the use of the wireless and other techniques so that he was sent back to Salonica, Greece, the main disembarkation point for German troop movements. There, along with a team comprised of a Greek naval intelligence officer, daily messages were sent to OSS Headquarters in Cairo. With this information, detailed German troop locations were monitored, including maritime activities in the port of Salonica. At the war's conclusion, he was decorated by the United States Army and the Greek government.

His first book, I Was Trained To Be A Spy, chronicles his journey from small-town boy to spy. This book was so well received, that he undertook a second book in the same series, followed by a third book in collaboration with Gabriella Gafni, Trained To Be An OSS Spy. He was nominated for the prestigious Ellis Island Family Heritage Award in 1996. As a civil engineer for Grumman Aerospace Corporation, he worked on the Apollo Space missions, the F-14 fighter jet, and the Space Shuttle. His patent for the largest radio telescope in the world was used for the construction of the Arecibo Antenna in Puerto Rico, used in the design for the largest antenna of its kind at the NAIC Arecibo Observatory. He lives with his wife, Rita, in New York, and has four children and eight grandchildren.