Free Republic

In the vernacular of espionage, he was a "spook," a World War II shadow soldier whose field of operations knew neither front lines nor rear. Art Jibilian was attending Navy radio operators school in 1943, when he was first approached by a recruiter for the Office of Strategic Services, precursor of the CIA. The man told Jibilian of his likely assignments, "Sometimes we will drop you by parachute. Sometimes you will go by submarine. You will have a 50-50 chance of making it back." "He didn't pull any punches," Jibilian recalls today. "He told me the OSS needed radio operators...