Sounds of activity to full the germans and they saved the lives. Where would they do this . They did this where they were needed. Sometimes it was close to the front lines but not close enough to recommend their secrets or it couldve been farther away they sometimes with operation elephant, they would for them to the second armored position but they were actually moving closer to the front line. They operated anywhere they were needed. Tell me about some of the pictures you have here. Some of the pictures, what i have here are some of what they were in the war and what they theyow showing just that werent recognized in the war and are recognized now. We have an iconic picture of the inflatable take in the center. 95 pounds and it shouldve been for tons or more. Ingersoll who was credited for the original idea of the ghost army. The men is a picture of the unit. We have the 406, 603, and the signal company. The 603 engineer made the inflatable tank and decoys and painted the fake patches. 31 32, which were the sonic sounds. They would record sounds of tanks and play it on the speakers so that the germans across the lines would hear them and think a unit was moving or think a unit was there because they heard men swearing and camp fire and things. Then we have the signal Company Special which is where my grandfather was. They would make fake radio messages that would say, hey, there is a movement there is a unit moving in or telegraphed these things and sometimes it would be in morse code. The 406 was the security team. They would patrol and they were mostly the ones who were lightly armed. Nobody knew these were inflatable tanks. They also had bulldozers because they didnt have any real artillery but they had bulldozers. You cannot have tanks without tracks. They would make the tanks and then they would make the tracks and put the tank on top of it. Just Little Things like that. They all participated in special effects and impersonations. They would where the patches so the look like wear patches so they look like they were real that there is a unit here when there wasnt. Why was this kept a secret until 1996 . They wanted to keep it secret for a little bit of time, 25 years or so, to make sure everything was settled with the war and make sure it was not to new after the war, like this is how we beat you. By the time it got to inappropriate time, the cold war was in heat and they did not want to tell the russians what worked on the germans. It was just that they didnt want to say this because it worked and it was nonviolent and it was cheap. After the cold war, it was just set aside. And then in 1996, it was declassified. The writer of the history was an article writer and he was trying for years to get the story declassified so we could tell it and write it and tell the stories. The men were dying off and even ghoststhese are still and they are becoming ghost faster than we can catch up with them. Is why it was classified for so long and that is why nobody knows it still. Talk to your grandfather about it . And heterviewed him asked me how i learned about the and it was that is 100 birthday party. And i the family together was like, this isnt real. I started looking it up and it was real. I was able to get the sources and get interested enough to make a project about it. I did talk to my grandfather. Throughout the stages i was showing him. State competition was where he lived so i showed him my project. He still is proud and knows what i was trying to accomplish. This is my grandfathers. These are his patches and his war books and sewing kit. They were all issued a sewing kit to sew on the patches. You see all of these different. Ivisions they were impersonating these divisions. E of them, we have to hear two here at they didnt have enough time to wait and they had an artist paint them and they still worked and they fooled the germans with them. Cover as hiserman german language book. He wrote on the inside cover that all of the operations he was a part of in the coordinates and the time and other field manuals. My great grandfather and that is him with his command. As a man ito him also interviewed. I was on a two week tour of beope as a Family Member to for my grandfather, our family represented him. He came on the tour and i got to meet him. We were following the footsteps of the ghost army. Hese are the veterans i knew there are less than 15 alive or do i was able to interview eight of them for this project. There were at least seven and i was also able to get transcripts and videos for to use for the research. Nationals,ome from we were driving and we were going to stop to the veterans and show it to them. It is fun. I see the switch here. Liker all my project i some kind of physical representation in some while factor that helps carry the story. It is hard to do something not just military so i made a physical representation of secrecy with black light antique and it highlights the secret of the ghost army and what it was. They are highlighting where they are in the operations. From the some quotes ghost army and represent what it was that nobody knows. It helps to have the flashlight to make it brighter or it is just fun in the bright light to have this and you see the little it is ghostly and secretive. It conveys a lot of the message of the project. It is that physical representation and something that im using to my advantage to carry the point across without saying it in words. Gethere did you primarily all of your information . Primarily it was from the veterans. Written book and will he also pbs documentary. Hes very active. He is very active. We actually have a bill to get congressional medal for these men. He is very active and i got to know him very well. It was in september and i was not in full on Research Mode yet, but i was like, oh, i know what this is about now. It was helpful to see it without reading it in a book. We went to five countries, six including the united states. We started in london, we went to england. That is where the it was only the sonic the rent division that was not there. And then we moved across the saw theto france and normandy beaches. And we moved to paris and just looked at the different world war ii things because theres no ghost army museum. It was the first Historical Marker in the world. So, we just saw some of those world war ii sites and moved to paris. They were just kind of in our area of france and we moved over to luxembourg where the operation by exhibit was a ther part and that was what Historical Marker was and then we moved into elgin, where obviously we invested to operations. They were operations that help out with the before and after of the battle of the bulge. And then we moved from there to germany. And then from there home back to america, the same way they did. I mean, this has it all. Add dignity to their service. To kill allt trying the germans. They were pulling it away to save american lives, and by doing that, saving german lives. Humble about it, but they did it and only three men died out of 1100. Any attention to themselves. Fired a shot, basically. Only three men died. One was more of an accident. A stray shot. Was its amazing what they did. Modeling christiansons exhibit on the ghost army won the senior prize at National History day. The story of her greatgrandfather was entered museum. Here is video from his office as he nominated major stanley nance. Composed largely of artists, directivehe unusual to attract enemy attention through an ingenious optical illusion. Stanley nance was one of the special troops. There job was to the job was to imitate other units to make the enemy believe that large factions of soldiers were on at dday. H they sounded like they were coming from the battlefield. Was recorded a month before. This served as a heroic tale. His greatgranddaughter battling christiansen madeleine christiansen told the story through history project that one the World War Ii History award. Its an amazing recreation of a story of skill in triumph, annalsand the models of history. We honor to extraordinary generations of utah, the soldier , andelped defeat tyranny his greatgranddaughter who is keeping that story alive. [applause] transmissions i , which were radio many, if just one of those that i sent change the tide of battle where one life one new wife or one mother was spared putting of gold star in their front , that is what the 23rd headquarters was all about. Saving lives. That was drilled to us. We did not have guns. War or fakery to win the chase thosets numbers down. We shortened the war by at least asked months. We were told we would be in this conflict at least two years. We were barely in it one year. So, thats what we did. We were able to shorten the war and save lives for both the german army and the american army. And so, if one mother or one new bride was spared putting of gold star in their front window, we were successful. In 1979, Small Network with anunusual name rolled out unusual idea let the viewers make up their own mind. Contentught unfiltered from congress and beyond. A lot has changed in 40 years. But that idea is more powerful than ever. Cspan is your unfiltered view of government, so you can make up your own mind. Widener professor jordan smith talks about the invention of rum. We recorded the interview at the organization of american historians annual meeting in philadelphia