The REAL âInglourious Basterdsâ
Recently, I profiled West Virginia native Chuck Yeager and noted that, like some other heroic folks from the Mountain State, including Medal of Honor recipient Woody Williams (USMC), this ancient Appalachian region had shaped some remarkably heroic Patriots.
There is another West Virginian who was a Mountain State citizen by choice, not by birth, who was also fearlessly heroic.
For some related context, film producer Quentin Tarantino intentionally misspelled the title of his 2009 fictional film, âInglourious Basterds,â about the recruitment of Jews for a U.S.
Army commando platoon whose mission was to kill Nazis. He did so in order that his film not be confused with the 1978 movie, âThe Inglorious Bastards.â
The Basterdsâ platoon was led by Lt. Aldo âThe Apacheâ Raine, a Smoky Mountain bootlegger â which is to say, a kindred spirit. He tells his recruits: âOnce weâre in enemy territory, as a bushwhackinâ guerrilla army, weâre going to be doing one thing, and one thing only, killinâ Nazis! ⌠Theyâre the foot soldiers of a Jew-hatinâ, mass murderinâ maniac and they need to be destroyed.â
Among his Jewish recruits were Sgt. Donny âThe Bear Jewâ Donowitz, Cpl. Wilhelm Wicki, and a German defector, Sgt. Hugo Stiglitz - all of whom excel at killinâ Nazis. As Raine says to one of his Nazi prisoners before his demise, âWe ainât in the prisoner-takinâ business, we in the killinâ Nazi business, and cousin, business is a-boominâ!â Their adversary is SS Col. Hans Landa, who is tasked with tracking down Raineâs commandos but ends up with Raineâs trademark inscription on his forehead - a carved swastika that forces him to bear the Nazi shame for life.
The film, which concludes with the assassination of Hitler and his propagandist, Joseph Goebbels, is replete with entertainingly vindictive violence. After all, you canât go wrong killinâ Nazis!
While many reading this are familiar with Tarantinoâs âInglourious Basterds,â few will know the very compelling story of âThe Real Inglorious Bastardsâ â the true story of two incredibly brave American Army soldiers who were naturalized European Jewish refugees. Their names were Fred Mayer (1921-2016) and Hans Wijnberg (1922-2011).
Mayer and his family had fled Germany for the United States in 1938, his father foreseeing what was ahead under the tyrannical regime of Adolf Hitler. Wijnberg, a Netherlands native, was sent with his twin brother to the U.S. by his father in 1939, the former also fearing the rise of Hitler. In fact, all of Wijnbergâs family who remained in Europe were murdered in the Holocaust.
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Mayer, age 20, enlisted in the Army, where he excelled as a leader. Wijnberg enlisted two years later.
Because both men were native German speakers and familiar with the regions under Nazi occupation, they were recruited from their enlisted Army assignments by the CIAâs predecessor, the Office of Strategic Services, and trained as spies. Then-SGT Mayer and CPL Wijnberg were trained by the OSS in hand-to-hand combat, methods of infiltration, explosive demolition, and sniping. In one training exercise, Mayer crossed âenemy linesâ and âcapturedâ officers. When his commanding officer chastised him for breaking the rules of the war game, Mayer responded: âWar is not fair. The rules of war are to win.â
Mayer would become commander of a deadly mission, code-named âOperation Greenup,â and his unit included four other European Jewish refugees: George Gerbner (Hungary), Alfred Rosenthal (Germany), Bernd Steinitz (Germany), and Wijnberg, who would be their clandestine radio operator. Mayer also recruited former Austrian Wehrmacht officer Franz Weber, a devout Catholic, for Operation Greenup.
In February 1945, at the apex of the Third Reichâs âfinal solution,â they dared return to enemy territory as spies, subject to immediate execution if discovered.
Mayer and his men parachuted into the Austrian Alps under cover of darkness in a fierce winter storm, dropping in a âsafe zoneâ in the rugged mountains near Innsbruck, Austria. Their pilot, John Billings, volunteered for the drop mission, recalling, âIf they are crazy enough to jump there, I will be crazy enough to take them there.â
They were assigned to collect intelligence in Innsbruck, where they recruited other Austrian Jews to both collect intelligence and strike Nazi units. Their perilous mission was thoroughly documented by noted military historian Patrick O'Donnell in his book, They Dared Return.
Brazenly, at one point Mayer even posed as a German Army officer as Wijnberg secretly communicated the intelligence Mayer collected back to the OSS. But after considerable success, Mayerâs ruse was discovered, and he was arrested, then subjected to torture, as his captors attempted to extract the identity of his radioman, Wijnberg.
Mayer used his wit and resolve to counter his interrogators, and in fact, against all odds, he ultimately negotiated the surrender of the German occupiers and collaborators of Innsbruck.
At the same time Mayer was being tortured, another American agent, Hermann Matull, was also being interrogated by the Gestapo. Shown a photo of Mayerâs beaten and battered body, Matull determined that the only way he could save his friend was to claim Mayer was a âbig shotâ in the American operations in Austria and that, with the end of the war imminent, anyone who killed Mayer would be pursued by American forces and shot like a rat.
Matull insisted that the only authority who should interrogate Mayer was the Gauleiter of Tyrol and Vorarlberg, Franz Hofer, knowing that Hofer believed the fall of the Reich was close and would want to negotiate his own surrender.
Indeed, upon hearing of Mayerâs arrest and interrogation, Hofer ordered the Gestapo to bring Mayer to him. Hofer dined with Mayer, who believed this was a ploy to find out the name of his radio operator, Wijnberg. But Mayer soon realized that Hofer and Rudolph Rahn, the German ambassador to Mussoliniâs government, actually wanted to discuss their surrender and that of Innsbruck. He arranged for Rahn to get a message to OSS senior officer Allen Dulles, still protecting the identity of radio operator Wijnberg.
Dulles received the message from Rahn and relayed it by cable to OSS headquarters in Italy: âFred Mayer reports he is in Gestapo hands but cabled âDonât worry about me, Iâm really not bad off.ââ This from a Jew arrested by the SS. Typically discounting his own condition and safety, Mayer actually had been badly tortured.
On the morning of May 3, 1945, as Americaâs Seventh Army, 103rd Infantry Division was poised to capture Innsbruck, the American line was approached by a car with a white bedsheet flying on a pole â a surrender flag. Intelligence officer MAJ Bland West recalls that a young man emerged from the car with a swollen face and identified himself as â1LT Mayerâ of the OSS, presumably so West would put more credence in the word of an officer than a Sergeant. He took West to the German commanders, where, indeed, they surrendered.
For the record, the entire German and Austrian contingent in the region actually surrendered to a Jewish Sergeant!
After I first read the authentic accounts of Fred Mayerâs daring mission a decade ago, it was clear to me that his leadership, his refusal under torture to give up any of his fellow Jewish spies, and his missionâs success due to his valorous actions far above the call of duty qualified him for the Medal of Honor. In fact, in September 1945, he was nominated for the Medal of Honor by his commanding officer, who affirmed that Mayer âknowingly and willingly risked his life almost daily.â But the War Department rejected Mayerâs nomination for reasons that are far from clear or acceptable.
William Casey, former OSS operative and Ronald Reaganâs director of Central Intelligence, said that Operation Greenup was âby far the most successful of OSS operationsâ in southern Europe.
Charles Pinck, former president of the OSS Society, observed, âWhen OSS founder Gen. William Donovan said that OSS personnel âperformed some of the bravest acts of the war,â he must have had Fred Mayer in mind.â He noted further, âWhat he accomplished was just astonishing: He saved thousands of lives on both sides.â
For his actions, Mayer was awarded the Legion of Merit, Purple Heart, Prisoner of War Medal, and American Campaign Medal, among others. However, not only was his fitting nomination for the Medal of Honor rejected, but his recommendation for a Distinguished Service Cross, which had been awarded to other OSS members for far less valorous actions, was also rejected.
In April 2013, almost 70 years after Operation Greenup, former Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) appealed to then-President Barack Obama to reconsider Mayerâs service record. Obama responded with a letter to Mayer thanking him for his service.
In 2014, the Department of Defense reviewed Medal of Honor nominations that may not have advanced because of some element of discrimination and rectified that by awarding Medals to 24 veterans. Fred Mayer was not among them.
Of that rejection, Mayer said: âI did my job, and thatâs all that really mattered. I didnât do it to get a medal, thatâs for sure.â
Mayer survived World War II. He lived out his years after the war in the small community of Charles Town, West Virginia, dying at age 94 in 2016. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) said of Mayer upon his death: âHe was a true American hero and an emblem of courage. When he was captured, he exemplified what it is to be a true American hero. Mr. Mayer refused to give up sensitive information and instead convinced his captors to arrange a meeting with senior Nazi leaders. The subsequent meeting led to the surrender of a key Austrian post. His valor is an example to all who serve.â
In November of last year, knowing as a Democrat he would likely not win reelection in West Virginia, Manchin announced he would not seek reelection in 2024. However, perhaps as his last notable act as a senator, he should take up this case and ensure that a Medal of Honor is finally and fittingly approved for Fred Mayer.
Fred Mayer: Your example of valor â a humble American Patriot defending Liberty for all above and beyond the call of duty, and in disregard for the peril to your own life - is eternal. âGreater love has no one than this, to lay down oneâs life for his friends.â (John 15:13)
Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis
Pro Deo et Libertate - 1776
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Please consider a tax-deductible gift to support our hometown National Medal of Honor Sustaining Fund. Make a check payable to NMoH Sustaining Fund and mail to: Patriot Foundation Trust, PO Box 407, Chattanooga, TN 37401-0407. Visit the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center at Aquarium Plaza. (
https://www.MOHHC.org)
Mark Caldwell