Office of Strategic Services - insignia

This fantastic design comes to us courtesy Les Hughes of insigne.org.

Les wrote to say that he and a friend were writing a book about the OSS (the precursor to the present day C.I.A. that mounted covert operations behind enemy lines during WW II) and they came across the following design. He wanted to know if I might be interested in seeing the insignia...needless to say, the answer was a big yes!

In early August 1943, a Captain in the Washington offices of the OSS wrote to Walt Disney asking for an insignia:

"We have seen numerous examples of the symbols and insignia that you have made for various branches of the services and we would like to have you create something special for us. We are the Operational Groups of the Strategic Services, and our role in the nation's war program is, of necessity, extremely secretive, therefore we cannot flaunt the usual banners & insignia as do the rest of the Armed Forces. The design would be placed in the lecture room at one of our instructional centers to symbolize the supreme achievements of our group."

Vernon Caldwell of the Disney Public Relations Department wrote back in early October indicating the design elements included in the Captain's original letter were unworkable. Caldwell suggested perhaps, "Donald Duck breaking bridges, toy tanks, wooden soldiers, etc., with a wooden mallet," which is what the Captain then agreed to.

This insignia is interesting due to the fact Nazi swastikas are included as design elements. Very few Disney WW II insignia included anything that made direct reference to the enemy, making this particular illustration rare in that regard.

My thanks again to Les Hughes for sharing the image and the background information!

And if anyone else has something interesting in their collection, please send me an email with the details, so I can share it here in the blog for others to see.