Operation King Cobra: How it started
It all began in September of 1995, when a veteran of World War Two contacted me. For anonymity sake, let’s call him Jonathan Preston. Jonathan had found out from a friend that I had had numerous articles published when I was in the Air Force. He wanted to meet with me and tell me about his role in World War Two. He also mentioned that everything was declassified and he could finally talk about the covert missions he was tasked with. The term ‘covet missions’and ‘declassified’ caught my interest. When I asked him to tell me a little about it over the phone, he said, “No, but trust me, you’ll want to hear what I have to say.”
As it turned out, Jonathan had been a very successful covert operative with the US Army’s counter-intelligence corps during World War II. He and a team of two or three other intelligence agents conducted covert operations behind Japanese lines in the China, Burma and India Theater of Operations from 1944 through 1945.
Jonathan and I met twice a week for six months. He told me stories about the highly classified and dangerous missions that he and his team, usually one British and one French agent, were asked to execute. Many of the mission were extraordinary, to say the least. The most interesting part, however, was that he was part of an elite force of US intelligence agents whose tasking came directly from the US Army chief of staff, via a courier with verbal orders only. Nothing was written down.
Jonathan told me that only a small cadre in the US intelligence apparatus had knowledge of this elite group; and from what Jonathan told me, as far as history is concerned, he told me,the special missions force never existed.
After I finished taping his stories, I promised that I would one day write a book about his missions. He was adamant that I write and publish a book because the attempts by other counter-intelligence agents, prior to 1995, had been thwarted by one of
the US intelligence agencies. This book is my attempt to honor Jonathan Preston for his unique and heroic service to this country and to tell the story of one ‘very special’ intelligence agent.
As it turned out, Jonathan had been a very successful covert operative with the US Army’s counter-intelligence corps during World War II. He and a team of two or three other intelligence agents conducted covert operations behind Japanese lines in the China, Burma and India Theater of Operations from 1944 through 1945.
Jonathan and I met twice a week for six months. He told me stories about the highly classified and dangerous missions that he and his team, usually one British and one French agent, were asked to execute. Many of the mission were extraordinary, to say the least. The most interesting part, however, was that he was part of an elite force of US intelligence agents whose tasking came directly from the US Army chief of staff, via a courier with verbal orders only. Nothing was written down.
Jonathan told me that only a small cadre in the US intelligence apparatus had knowledge of this elite group; and from what Jonathan told me, as far as history is concerned, he told me,the special missions force never existed.
After I finished taping his stories, I promised that I would one day write a book about his missions. He was adamant that I write and publish a book because the attempts by other counter-intelligence agents, prior to 1995, had been thwarted by one of
the US intelligence agencies. This book is my attempt to honor Jonathan Preston for his unique and heroic service to this country and to tell the story of one ‘very special’ intelligence agent.
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Gold Dominion
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Gold Dominion
By Steve Doherty
World War II has finally ended, but for Jonathan Preston—the US Army’s most successful covert operative—a new mission is just beginning.
Gold Dominion
By Steve Doherty
World War II has finally ended, but for Jonathan Preston—the US Army’s most successful covert operative—a new mission is just beginning.
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