Harold “Hal” Leith was born in June 1919 in Butte, Montana. During the Great Depression [Annotator's Note: the Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States], his mother had to take over Leith’s deceased father’s bookbinding business. The family did not have a problem with the economic conditions, though some neighbors did. Leith had two sisters. Before the war, he worked with multiple languages in order to facilitate his desire to be an opera singer. He studied Russian, French and German. He went to Washington, D.C. to find work with the State Department, but instead was employed by the Library of Congress. He was tasked with analyzing German propaganda because of his translation abilities. He lived with a Russian family during that time. While attending a Russian music contest, word was received that the Japanese had attacked the United States in Hawaii [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. It was the beginning of the Second World War. He quit his job and went to California to be with his mother. He joined the Army so that he could apply his linguistic skills. He examined people who said they spoke different languages, and helped with their assignments within the Army. He studied Chinese intensively for a year at the University of Chicago [Annotator’s Note: Chicago, Illinois]. He learned to write Chinese language characters because of his artistic skills. He was the only one of 80 students who could read and write Chinese. He mastered over 2,000 Chinese characters. In 1944, immediately after he graduated, a man from the OSS [Annotator’s Note: OSS, Office of Strategic Services, the precursor to the Central Intelligence Agency] recruited him to work in China as an intelligence officer. Leith was married and then went to Santa Catalina Island [Annotator’s Note: Santa Catalina Island, California] for training in lock-picking, unarmed combat, and other intelligence activities. He went through an exercise in survival on the island without food. He picked the lock on a Girl Scout cabin and had plenty of the best food on the island. There were six individuals in his group. The class size was about a dozen trainees who learned how to keep things secret and recruit individuals to work with them. Leith was handy with his hands so learning to pick a lock was easy. He learned to write secret messages. There were classes before the one he attended as well as afterward. After completion of the training, he was sent by boat to India.

Harold “Hal” Leith arrived in Kunming, China by airplane. His aircraft was successful in reaching the destination, but an accompanying plane failed to top the Himalayas. The crash killed half of the OSS [Annotator’s Note: the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency] agents sent to China with Leith. Leith was an SI or Special Intelligence officer in the OSS. Leith heard about FDR’s death [Annotator’s Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States died in April 1945] while in Chicago [Annotator’s Note: Chicago, Illinois]. While on the boat [Annotator’s Note: being deployed to India in 1944], he taught languages to others. His task in Kunming was to keep in touch with Chinese forces there. He stayed there for a while, but when the atomic bomb was dropped [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945], the Japanese were going to surrender. He was asked to get General Wainwright [Annotator’s Note: General Jonathan Wainwright became a prisoner of war following the surrender of the forces he commanded in the Philippines in May 1942] in Manchuria. Leith could speak both Russian and Chinese so he was selected for the mission. He was prepared for the mission because had taken paratrooper training where he was stationed. He flew to Xi'an in northwest China. He then flew in a B-24 [Annotator's Note: Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber] bound for Mukden [Annotator’s Note: Mukden was formerly in Manchuria but is now in China]. While in the aircraft, he prayed for a safe landing with no injuries. It worked. There was concern after the war that the Japanese would kill POWs in lieu of releasing them. Some had previously been killed in Japan. There were 1600 in the camp and there was a concern that they might be hurt. Upon landing following his jump, Leith was captured for one day until he convinced his captors to verify that their nation had surrendered to the Allies. Leith went to see the commander of the Kempeitai, the Japanese secret police, and explained their error. The enemy officer had not been told to surrender in Manchuria. Leith urged him to contact his superiors. The Americans stayed at the Yamato Hotel. The next morning, the Japanese officer acknowledged the surrender and offered to have the Americans witness his hara-kiri [Annotator’s Note: ritual suicide]. Leith and the others requested that rather than committing suicide, the enemy commander should tell his men to treat the Americans nicely and surrender. Colonel Matsuda, the commander of the POW camp, surrendered to Leith and his team. The Russians attempted to convince others that they had liberated the POWs [Annotator’s Note: prisoners of war], but Leith had been there before them. The POW rescue mission was called Cardinal. There were five Americans and one Nationalist Chinese. The latter ran away immediately after the jump into Manchuria. One of the Americans was Nisei from Hawaii. He handled the Japanese, but Leith could communicate with the Japanese who spoke Chinese, which many did. The parachute jump occurred around 10:30 with Leith jumping first through a hole in the bottom of the airplane. The group sat around the hole with their parachutes tied up to the plane. There was a 20 mile-per-hour wind but that did not discourage the jumpers. Leith landed first. He was amongst Chinese farmers who directed him to the camp. The contingent headed toward the camp, but a Japanese squad captured them. A Japanese Zero [Annotator's Note: Japanese Mitsubishi A6M fighter aircraft, referred to as the Zeke or Zero] attempted to crash into the plane Leith had jumped from. The Allied pilot avoided the enemy attacker who scowled at him. The plane then returned to Xi'an, where they had started that morning. At the point of being captured, one of the Americans wanted to have a shootout with the enemy patrol. The rest of the men said for the individual not to resist. The man who was a doctor would later get into trouble with the Japanese forces there. Leith carried no documentation with him. Colonel Matsuda was taken by the Russians but escaped from them. The Americans were kicked out by the Russians in October [Annotator’s Note: October 1946] and then went to Beijing [Annotator’s Note: Beijing, China].

Harold “Hal” Leith [Annotator’s Note: as a member of the Office of Strategic Service (OSS), the forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency] returned to Mukden [Annotator’s Note: to the former Japanese POW (prisoner of war) camp in Mukden, which was formerly in Manchuria but is now in China] because he was an expert in both the Russian and Chinese languages. He was able to enter Mukden because the Russians had departed. A Nisei Japanese [Annotator’s Note: nisei means “second generation” in Japanese; a person born to Japanese immigrants in the United States] told Leith that he had found Colonel Matsuda [Annotator’s Note: the former commandant of the POW camp at Mukden] who had escaped from the Russians. After an inconsequential interrogation of the enemy officer, Leith entered the room and Matsuda passed out [Annotator’s Note: Colonel Matsuda had surrendered to Leith after the POW camp was liberated]. Leith sent the former commandant to Tokyo and the war crimes trials there. Despite 300 POWs being killed at his camp, Matsuda only received a six-month imprisonment as punishment. General MacArthur [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander, Southwest Pacific Area was in overall command of the occupation of Japan and related events] was responsible for that sentence. Leith did not have a high regard for MacArthur. The POW camp at Mukden had 1600 prisoners. Conditions for the POWs were very poor and uncomfortable. The prisoners were treated badly. The guards forced them to disrobe in weather 40 degrees below zero. Some POWs contracted pneumonia. The inmates were very happy to see Leith when he arrived. He is still invited to their reunions. The prison guards took the arrival calmly, but the Russians eventually got rid of them. Leith managed to get food for the former prisoners and some of the Nisei Japanese family members. Planes dropped plenty of food and supplies for those tended by Leith. Communications were not an issue on site or back to base. Communication supplies were parachuted into the camp. He was in the camp between August and October, but returned in December [Annotator’s Note: all in 1945] when Chinese Communists began to show up there. He did intelligence work in the latter period on the Soviets until they left, and then the Chinese Communists when they entered the area. General Wainwright [Annotator's Note: US Army General Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright, IV surrendered Corregidor and the Philippine Islands in May 1942] was in a camp called Xi’an [Annotator’s Note: Xi’an, Manchuria is now Liaoyuan, China] which was 150 miles northeast of Mukden. Leith went there with a doctor assuming that the POWs would need medical treatment. A group of Japanese soldiers accompanied them as guards. After a long train journey, they group reached the camp and rested before having a meeting with the POWs. The doctor and the Japanese squad returned to Mukden. A futile attempt was made to get a trainload of aid to the POWs. The Russians entered and aid was provided for the former prisoners. They were returned to Mukden. Leith denied to the Russians that he was a spy. At the time, he had received a promotion and a Soldier’s Medal which was the highest decoration for non-combattants. The Chinese were very helpful as Leith worked with them. Leith communicated with Wainwright and General King [Annotator’s Note: General Edward King surrendered the American and Filipino forces on Bataan in the Philippines in April 1942]. The former was grateful and nice to Leith. He discussed having to surrender the Philippines and thought he would be unpopular at home. Leith assured him that he was a hero to Americans. The General was grateful to hear that. Leith had more discussions with General King than with Wainwright. Leith maintained communications with King after returning home. A plane was sent to return Wainwright to the American forces. Leith also assisted members of the French delegation in departing Xi’an. They flew to Beijing [Annotator’s Note: Beijing, China].

Harold “Hal” Leith [Annotator’s Note: as a member of the Office of Strategic Service (OSS), the forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency] stayed there [Annotator’s Note: in Beijing, China] for a few weeks until asked to return to Mukden [Annotator’s Note: to the former Japanese POW-prisoner of war camp in Mukden which was formerly in Manchuria but is now in China] because he was the expert on things there. While at Mukden, he helped a group of Japanese Catholic nuns who were being bothered by the Russians. He aided in bringing that harassment to an end. He assisted in their return to Tokyo [Annotator’s Note: Tokyo, Japan] with their equipment. They were grateful for his efforts. Leith and his wife visited the nuns in Tokyo and he was presented artwork painted by one of them [Annotator’s Note: he motions to a painting nearby]. Leith aided a Japanese artist in regaining his American citizenship. Leith was presented a painting by the artist which hangs in a room in Leith’s home. Leith has maintained contact with the artist since then. A Russian general accused Leith of spying. The next day, Leith obtained a plane and exited Mukden for Beijing. He also spent time in Nanking and Kunming [Annotator’s Note: both cities in China]. In December [Annotator’s Note: December 1945], he was asked to return to Mukden with two others. It was about 40 degrees below zero. Some of his previous servants helped them along the way. The Nisei Japanese were provided food in exchange for their help. When the Russians arrived, Leith was not initially treated badly. Leith was finding out what the Communists were going to do. He talked to a high-ranking German who soon escaped. Leith and Helen [Annotator’s Note: Helen Leith, his wife] saw the German’s family while visiting Germany years later. Leith did intelligence work in Mukden and provided food for the local population. He got along well with the Nationalist Chinese especially a helpful, female officer he met en route to Mukden. They were concerned about Communism. Leith returned to the United States in March 1946. He retired from the Army and took a job with the SSU, Strategic Services Unit. The SSU was the successor of the OSS.

Harold “Hal” Leith was given a good rank [Annotator’s Note: in March, 1946, as an employee of the SSU, or Strategic Service Unit, a peacetime intelligence unit]. It was equivalent to a colonel in obtaining certain travel privileges. It was a promotion for him. At the end of 1946, he returned to the United States and picked up Helen [Annotator’s Note: Helen Leith, his wife] and began work at the headquarters building in Washington, D.C. While in China, he witnessed the Nationalist Chinese retreating from Mukden and Manchuria [Annotator’s Note: as a member of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency, Leith was sent to Mukden, the site of a former Japanese POW (prisoner of war) camp in what was formerly Manchuria but is now in China.]. The Nationalists were not succeeding very well [Annotator’s Note: in their fighting against the Chinese Communist forces]. The war converted Leith from being a music major to a career spy. World War Two enabled the present good relationship between the Japanese and the United States. The Soviets were very strong as Communists. Leith dealt with Chinese affairs, but also in Tehran [Annotator’s Note: Tehran, Iran] keeping up with what the Soviets were doing. Leith knew their language which irritated some of the Russians. The war changed the rest of the world as the United States took over much of the responsibility for the world. America also took care of the Nazis [Annotator’s Note: V-E Day or Victory in Europe was in May 1945]. The National World War Two Museum [Annotator's Note: The National World War II Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana] is a good thing. The country did a good thing and did very well. The war provided Leith with a 30-year career with OSS, SSU, CIG and CIA [Annotator’s Note: the OSS, SSU, and CIG (Central Intelligence Group) were forerunners of the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency)]. He provided well for his family as they traveled many places across the world. Leith has two sons. One was born in Tehran [Annotator’s Note: Larry Leith] and the other, Michael, was born in Guam [Annotator’s Note: the Leiths also had a daughter, Kathie Porter née Leith]. Leith has spent many years working against Communism.