Wild Bill Donovan reads like an action-packed spy thriller, with stories of daring young men and women in his OSS sneaking behind enemy lines for sabotage, breaking into Washington embassies to steal secrets, plotting to topple Adolf Hitler, and suffering brutal torture or death when they were captured by the Gestapo. Yet at times he was recklessrisking his life unnecessarily in war zones, engaging in extramarital affairs that became fodder for his political enemiesand he endured heartbreaking tragedy when family members died at young ages. A charismatic leader, Donovan was revered by his secret agents. After the war he made millions as a Republican lawyer on Wall Street until FDR, a Democrat, tapped him to be his strategic intelligence chief. The son of poor Irish Catholic parents, he married into Protestant wealth and fought heroically in World War I, where he earned the nickname Wild Bill for his intense leadership and the Medal of Honor for his heroism. William Joseph Donovans life was packed with personal drama. Now, veteran journalist Douglas Waller has mined government and private archives throughout the United States and England, drawn on thousands of pages of recently declassified documents, and interviewed scores of Donovans relatives, friends, and associates to produce a riveting biography of one of the most powerful men in modern espionage. Donovan introduced the nation to the dark arts of covert warfare on a scale it had never seen before. A mythic figure whose legacy is still intensely debated, Wild Bill Donovan was director of the Office of Strategic Services (the countrys first national intelligence agency) and the father of todays CIA.
And as for you, my friend, my lover, as you seek to bring me near, Remember what I’ve said to you, forever I am here.He was one of Americas most exciting and secretive generalsthe man Franklin Roosevelt made his top spy in World War II. Swords of justice, be so swift, this darkness cannot last.Īnd when we finally reach the calm and peace is then restored, Please let the kids know, how I love them, how much they were adored. While the acts of some may cut us down, we can’t let evil win. We learned when freedom is at risk, we all must lend a hand, In lessons taught in distant lands, by heroes of our past. In the passion of this country, in resolve to make things right. In defense of our great nation, in the willingness to fight. In the acts of random kindness, and the change from day to night. In the laughter of the children, in the candle burning bright. In the tender loving moment, when you’re hugging all our kids, Look close into their eyes, my dear, and you’ll see I am here. In the cooling breeze, the passing sunset, in the beauty of the land. In the blooming of the flowers, in the lending of a hand.
Though maybe not to hold your hand, I’m still here all the while. The seas have never seemed so rough, and now I’ve left your side. You long to feel my touch again, or maybe see me smile. Though the house I’m sure seems quiet, since the absence of my voice. In the passing of the seasons, and the change from day to night.
BILL DONOVAN HOW TO
For in this world, a senseless act, there is truly no gain.Īs you struggle with what lessons come from acts that seem so cruel, And you wonder what to tell the kids, and how to ease your fear, I ask you, please, to keep in mind, though truly not so simple, While it seems as though I’ve left you, dear, the truth is I’m still here. The answers that we all do seek, will not come very easy. Written in loving memory of William Donovan, CDR, United States Navy by USNA ’86 Classmate Jim NobleĪs the fires burned, and people cried, I only can imagine The fear you felt, and now, the void, what seems like endless pain.
0 kommentar(er)
