Over Ground Railroad

Are you willing to undertake a dangerous mission behind the enemy lines? Knowing you may never return alive? What you have just heard is the question asked during the war to agents of the OSS. Ordinary citizens, so to this question answered, yes.

This is... ...look and dagger. Warfare, espionage, international intrigue. These are the weapons of the OSS. In tonight's episode, Overground Railroad, the part of Lieutenant Fontaine, a SS agent who helped thousands of American airmen escape to safety, is played by Les Tramey.

The story is suggested by actual incidents recorded in the Washington Files of the Office of Strategic Services. A story that can now be told. When a flyer was forced down behind enemy lines, he was just another fugitive, moving cautiously at night to avoid detection, fighting for survival.

The shelter was a haystack or a hedge roll. For food, he dug raw potatoes or turnips from the field. And in his panic, he was always just one step ahead of the Gestapo, with no knowledge of the country and no friend whom he could turn.

A few of the lucky ones managed to escape back to England. I met one of those lucky ones in Colonel Johnson's office at OSS headquarters in London. Lieutenant Fontaine, this is Major Davidson. How do you do, Major?

Lad, now you're Fontaine. Before I ask Major Davidson to tell you a story, I want to say something. Yes Colonel Johnson? At its narrowest, the English channel is only 20 miles wide, yet it took Major Davidson here more than a year to get across.

And hundreds of Allied pilots all over France haven't been able to make it yet. And if something isn't done to help them, they never will. But Colonel, with the Nazis occupying France... With the Nazis occupying France, the channel is still only 20 miles wide.