Earlier this fall we ran an article on the life of artist and soldier John Hapgood (1905-1995), whose remains are buried in the Island Cemetery. Hapgood was a successful graphic artist based in Manhattan and who specialized in advertising. During World War II, Hapgood used his artistic skills in the U.S. Army’s 603rd Camouflage Engineers in the European Theater, also known as “The Ghost Army.” With staged tanks and trucks made of balloons, large audio equipment blasting recordings of vehicles of war in movement, and fake, coded radio traffic, the 603rd played mind games with the Nazis all across Europe. In getting the Germans to move forces to confront The Ghost Army, the 603rd was successful in distracting the Germans from where the other outfits of the U.S. Army (with tanks and trucks not composed of inflated balloons) would attack. This outfit was so successful that the true extent of their operational impact was in fact hidden from the general public for decades, for in the height of the Cold War the U.S. military did not want the communist enemy to know details related to successful tactics and strategies.After the war, Hapgood resided during the summer months in
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