The People in the Forest

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 who to this question answered, yes.

This is... ...Cloak and Dagger. Warfare. Espionage International Intrigue. These are the weapons of the OSS. Today's story, The People in the Forest, is suggested by actual incidents recorded in the Washington files of the Office of Strategic Services.

A story that can now be told. Plane began to slow down, and then it circled slowly. Someone pulled the cover off the jump hole, and I got my first view of France. Occupied France, August 1944.

On the ground to the right I could see fires like safety matches with the moonlight. And I wondered how big they really were those fires that were out there to guide us in. The dispatcher told me I was to jump second.

Ready? First bad break of admission. Only it didn't happen to me, it happened to Chris Fowler. See you in France, Coppella! Okay, Fowler. Number one. Geronim! I just stood there looking down watching him go.

And my heart started to pound all over me. My breath caught my nearly choked on it. Chris fell and fell and fell. The shoot didn't work. Came out of the bag and streamed and opened behind.

Barrett troopers call that a lumen candle. On a turn back door, fella. Huh? No. No, I'll jump it. Okay then. Ready number two. Number two. Ready? Ready? The wind came up and hit me in a rush. I thought myself falling.

I think I died a few times until I heard the crack of the shoot. Beautiful. The most beautiful sight in the whole world, that big white umbrella over me. The little safety matches on the ground got bigger and bigger.