Lawmakers look to honor the Ghost Army of WWII

This was theater production on a grand scale, as a strategy of war, an elaborate fakeout to trick the Germans into believing large forces of Allied troops were being massed where they were not. The unit used inflatable tanks and what have been described as “gigantic speakers” to replicate the noise of an army 20 times its size as it served as a decoy.

Before being recruited for this special Army unit, Bier was an 18-year-old arts student from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. Now 92 and living in Dartmouth, he is one of just 40 or so surviving artists, designers, and sound engineers out of 1,100 US military personnel who were part of a “Ghost Army’’ deployed in World War II Europe.

A push is on in Congress, in bills sponsored by Democrats Senator Edward Markey of Massachusetts and Representative Annie Kuster of New Hampshire, to recognize the contributions of these troops, whose operations were kept secret until the 1990s.

“This is something that should happen to recognize the efforts of those brave veterans, who, in their own right, have never had any interest in receiving recognition,” said retired Medford mayor Mike McGlynn, 62, whose father, Jack, served in the Ghost Army. “These veterans [had] very little in terms of weapons to defend themselves and put themselves out there to distract the enemy.”

Soldiers in the unit had to do a wide range of tasks not usually associated with warfare, from staging props to recording to acting, all to dupe civilians and German spies. The Army recruited people from a wide array of professions for the unit, which carried out more than 20 deception missions in Europe during the war.

The Ghost Army’s story was declassified in the 1990s and drew attention in 2013 with the premiere of the PBS documentary “The Ghost Army” by Lexington resident Rick Beyer.

“It was secret for a long time, so they did not get recognition when they might have otherwise back in the 1940s or the 1950s,” Beyer said during remarks at the Capitol last month at a screening for his documentary, part of the recent push for congressional recognition.

Markey is introducing legislation to honor the unit with a Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor awarded by Congress. The bill mirrors legislation Kuster introduced last year to award the medal to the Ghost Army. Kuster’s bill has gained more than 30 cosponsors, including Representative William Keating, a Democrat from Bourne, and several Republicans.

“Their tactics were meant to be invisible, but their contributions are as lasting as any of the Greatest Generation,” Markey said in a statement. “It is time the Ghost Army’s heroics come out of the shadows.”

The introduction of the bills coincides with discussion in Hollywood to create a movie based on the Ghost Army’s story, which has drawn interest from big names, including actor Bradley Cooper.

Jack McGlynn, who is also a former Medford mayor, said he is honored by the push for congressional recognition but didn’t join the Army for glory.

“I didn’t do it to gain any gold medal,” said McGlynn, 94, who worked in the sonic division that played recorded battlefield noises from gigantic speakers to fool enemy troops. “My actions were to protect the United States of America and its families.”

Kuster’s legislation, which recently garnered support from Veterans Affairs Chair Jeff Miller, a Republican representative from Florida, has yet to receive a vote in the House. But Kuster said she’s optimistic about its future.

“They’ve never had the recognition that other distinguished veterans from World War II have,” Kuster said. “Their creativity helped to save thousands of lives of American soldiers. So I’m really very excited about it.”

Bier recalls being looked down on as “sissies” by other Army units, largely because many of the men in the unit were recruited specifically for their background in the arts. After the war, many continued to work in creative fields, including Bier, who would graduate from Pratt and begin a career designing packaging for consumer goods.

“When we got up in the morning, there wasn’t country music, there was classical, symphony music,” Bier said. “It was a completely different atmosphere.”

The unit’s creativity paid off. The Ghost Army is estimated to have saved thousands of lives by forcing the Germans to retreat or attack decoy targets. Much of the unit’s work involved setting up the fake vehicles at night and blasting recordings to mimic the sound of other units.

During the day, the soldiers sewed patches onto their uniforms to match the unit they were impersonating and went to local towns, talking loudly among themselves at bars and other public spaces for German spies to hear.

The unit also produced fake radio transmissions to dupe enemies monitoring the airwaves.

Bier remembered one instance when the unit set up a fake unit near enemy troops, prompting the Germans to retreat and the Ghost Army to celebrate.

“We thought we were a big success,” he said, laughing. “Actually it was a very dangerous thing.”

The Ghost Army’s job often required the unit to entice the opposing forces to attack them. Several Ghost Army soldiers were killed during their missions and dozens more were wounded. Bier recalls hiding in a foxhole during one of those “terrifying” experiences, while gunfire flew around him.

Bier was shot through the stomach, liver, and diaphragm by friendly fire on another occasion, which landed him in a British hospital for several months.

Yet that did not dim his enthusiasm.

“I’m one of those people who really enjoyed a lot of it,” he said, noting that as an 18-year-old recruit he was one of the youngest in the unit. “I guess I was young and stupid.”

He most eagerly recalled a buddy teaching him how to paint with watercolors during down time, celebrating in the streets of liberated Paris, and his frustration languishing in the hospital, awaiting a reunion with his Ghost Army friends.

“As far as this medal business goes . . . I don’t feel like any kind of hero,” Bier said. “I feel like a very privileged person that I was there.”

Sophia Bollag can be reached at sophia.bollag@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @SophiaBollag.