* * *
THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF
THE PENTAGON
WASHINGTON, D.C.
1 January 1943
Subject: Letter Orders
To: Colonel A.F. Graham, USMCR
Office of Strategic Services
Washington, D.C.
1. You will proceed to such destinations as your duties require by U.S. Government or civilian motor, rail, sea or air transportation as is most expedient. JCS Travel Priority AAAAAA-1 is assigned. The wearing of civilian attire is authorized.
2. United States Military or Naval commands are authorized and directed to provide you with whatever assistance of any kind you may require to accomplish your mission (s).
By Order of The Chairman, The Joint Chiefs of Staff:
Official:
Matthew J. Markham
Lieutenant General, USAAC
J-3, JCS
* * *
[FOUR]
The Office of the Director
The Office of Strategic Services
National Institutes of Health Building
Washington, D.C.
1045 24 April 1943
Colonel William J. Donovan, the stocky, gray-haired, sixty-year-old Director of the Office of Strategic Services, rose from his desk and walked to the door when his secretary announced Colonel Graham’s arrival. When Colonel Alejandro Federico Graham, USMCR, passed through the door, Colonel Donovan cordially offered his hand. “Welcome home, Alex,” he said. “How was the flight?”
“From Buenos Aires to Miami, it was slow but very comfortable. Cold champagne, hot towels; Panagra does it right. From Miami to here it was very fast and very uncomfortable. That was my first ride in a B-26. What was that all about?”
“I’m going to have dinner tonight with the President. I really had to talk to you before I did.”
Donovan had been a Columbia University School of Law classmate of Franklin Delano Roosevelt; he and the President remained close personal friends. In the First World War, he had won the Medal of Honor as a colonel, commanding the famous “Fighting Sixty-Ninth” Infantry in France. After the war, he had become a very successful Wall Street lawyer. At the request of President Roosevelt, he had become the Director of the OSS at an annual salary of one dollar.
Graham grunted.
“Can I get you anything? Coffee?” Donovan asked.
“Coffee would be nice, thank you,” Graham said.