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Heroes from History People Really Don’t Appreciate Enough

Khalid Elhassan November 10, 2020 32 min

William Colby - William J. Donovan — William Colby (oak leaves on cap) with OSS personnel and Norwegian Resistance members in Norway. Special Operations

15. To Get His Jump Wings, William Colby Volunteered for an Experimental Airborne Artillery Unit

William Colby’s military career began in Fort Sill, Oklahoma, where he trained to become an artillery officer. He then volunteered to join an experimental airborne artillery unit. The concept of airborne artillery seemed ridiculous to Colby, but he figured that the training would qualify him as a parachutist and earn him the coveted jump wings, which were all the rage for the adventurous back then.

He got the parachute training, as well as training in demolitions and small arms. While our hero was learning how to jump out of airplanes and blow stuff up, a new organization that had a keen interest in people with interests and qualifications like Colby’s, came into being: the Office of Strategic Services (OSS).

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.