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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

12. America Put Its Ethnic Diversity and the Multicultural Roots of Its Citizens to Good Use During WWII

After the US joined WWII, the War Department tried to figure out the best way to make use of first-generation bilingual immigrants from enemy-occupied areas. Eventually, it was decided to establish special units of bilingual American citizens from certain ethnic groups, for operations in occupied countries. Accordingly, ethnic battalions of Filipinos, Japanese, Austrians, Greeks, and Norwegians, were created in 1942.

The Norwegian one was the 99^th Infantry Battalion, Separate (because it was unattached to any regiment). It trained for winter and alpine warfare in Colorado, and was then shipped to Scotland in September, 1943. It was there that the OSS came a-calling, seeking Norwegian speakers to volunteer for special missions. Eventually, 12 officers and 80 men from the 99^th Battalion were selected for what would become the OSS’ Norwegian Special Operations Group (NORSOG).

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.