General John Singlaub was born in 1921 in the Owens Valley of the Eastern Sierra Range of California. His grandfather had a homestead there. There was plenty of water until the city of Los Angeles bought up the water rights and eliminated the family from the use of the water in the creek that flowed through their property. The family moved when Singlaub was five years old to the San Fernando Valley. His family bought a home in Sherman Oaks and he attended school there. He decided early in life that he wanted to be a regular Army officer. His district congressman refused to get him an appointment to the military academy because his father was a Democrat. Singlaub's father had registered as a Democrat due to organized labor influences. The family would often vote Republican. Singlaub spent his summers in the Inyo Valley with family that still resided there. Those periods were instrumental in teaching Singlaub survival skills. He would take friends up to the mountains to see how long they could survive with what they carried. That gave him a feeling of independence. His spare time was spent that way until he started with his alternate plan to attend UCLA [Annotator's Note: University of California, Los Angeles] and ROTC [Annotator's Note: Reverve Officer Training Corps] training. His plan was to use The Thommason Act which would appoint reserve officers as regular Army officers. During the war, the Act was never used so Singlaub did not receive his regular commission until after the end of the conflict. He accepted a job in the OSS [Annotator's Note: Office of Strategic Services] that became CIA [Annotator's Note: Central Intelligence Agency] after the war. While in the ROTC, Singlaub was cadet colonel which was the senior cadet officer. He joined the Army Reserve in 1938. In 1940, when his reserve artillery regiment was called up, Singlaub was discharged for the convenience of the government because he was in the advanced ROTC program.

John Singlaub enlisted in the US Army Artillery because he wanted the experience to supplement his infantry skills. This was at a time when horse drawn artillery was still being used by the American Army. Those tactics quickly became outdated. Singlaub questioned the logic of using animals to pull the artillery and ammunition while back home mechanization had replaced the use of farm horses. His superior officer commented that trucks were not as dependable as horses. It was a debate that Singlaub could win. The United States Army had only 210,000 troops and was poorly prepared for the coming of war. The draft was instituted and the ROTC [Annotator's Note: Reserve Officer Training Corps] barracks where Singlaub was to attend camp that summer were needed for the new recruits. The 1941 summer ROTC camp for Singlaub was cancelled. He decided to go to sea in the black gang or engine room crew. He also could serve in the deck gang as a sweeper. His papers also allowed him to serve in the galley crew. His work was on the Matsonia for the Matson Lines. The ship sailed through the Pacific from the United States' west coast. His first job was in the galley cleaning huge pots. He jumped ship in Hawaii that summer and went to work for the Pacific airbase contractors who were civilian contractors around Pearl Harbor. They also worked around Guam, Wake and other islands. He helped build a new naval hospital overlooking Pearl Harbor. He got to know Pearl Harbor well. The building eventually became the headquarters for the Pacific Theater forces commander. Because Singlaub had been in the reserves and had completed all the military related courses, he was ready for a commission after his first semester of his senior year except he had not attended the required ROTC summer camp. He was placed in charge of cadets going to Fort Benning for infantry training. There, the cadets and Singlaub attended a 13 week officer candidate school course. It was there that he learned what the Germans had been doing with gliders and paratroopers. He volunteered for airborne training after graduation in January 1943. He was assigned to a parachute regiment at Fort Benning, Georgia. He broke his leg on his second jump. He was out of action but went to demolition school in the interim period. Those skills would be helpful later. While he was serving as a platoon leader for the paratroopers and demolition regimental officer, he was recruited by the OSS [Annotator's Note: Office of Strategic Services, pre-runner of the Central Intelligence Agency, or CIA]. He did not know what the OSS was all about. Singlaub was of interest to interview because of his language abilities. Singlaub was told the OSS was more dangerous that the paratroopers. Singlaub decided he would do so. He received orders to report to the OSS commander, General Wild Bill Donovan [Annotator's Note: US Army Major General William J. Donovan], who had won the Medal of Honor during World War 1. Singlaub was interviewed and accepted for further training.

John Singlaub trained with the OSS following his completion of paratrooper and demolition training at Fort Benning, Georgia. Singlaub's OSS [Annotator's Note: Office of Strategic Services, pre-runner of the Central Intelligence Agency, or CIA] initial training was in Maryland. Some of the training was in what is now known as Camp David or what President Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: President Franklin D. Roosevelt] called his Shangri-La. Singlaub left the training in December 1943 and departed Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn, New York and sailed for Scotland. The men were under British command after their arrival in Scotland. The rest of the training was under the British SOE, or Special Operations Executive, which was the British equivalent of the OSS. The training under the SOE was very intensive and included British weapons and demolition instructions. It was the first time that Singlaub experienced live fire. The OSS men were given challenges that included live rounds being fired at them if they were seen by a sniper. They knew they were spotted if live rounds landed near them. Some live fire action took place in bombed out areas of London to provide experience for future urban warfare situations. A shot would hit very close to the trainee if they did something wrong. It was novel training that helped the trainee realize that they were seen and needed to be more careful in the future. The training also included instinctive firing [Annotator's Note: instinctive firing is used in close quarters combat when there is no time to aim but accuracy is critical because there may not be a chance for another shot] as part of the education. The training was referred to as Operation Jedburgh. The name of the operation came from the Scottish town nearby where a local resistance had been made to Scottish takeover in the past. The operational teams were composed of three men. The lead officer could be American or British. The second officer would be from the country where the mission was to occur. The third member was a radio operator and could be an American or British. The team grew very close and well organized together. The second officer in Singlaub's group was a Frenchman. There was great coordination and respect within the team. The team that Singlaub led was to parachute into France before the Normandy invasion. That did not occur because Singlaub had to have emergency appendix surgery. The other two teammates elected to wait until their leader recovered and a good mission could be organized for the three of them. A new mission would be assigned within six weeks to jump into Central France which would be their area of operation. The British did not issue reserve parachutes to the team. The team jumped so low that a reserve chute would not have time to deploy. Instead of having a reserve chute which was useless once on the ground, Singlaub had a musette bag with spare ammunition, code books and currency for the operation. That gear was more comforting to have immediately available upon landing.

John Singlaub parachuted into Central France as the OSS [Annotator's Note: Office of Strategic Services, pre-runner of the Central Intelligence Agancy, or CIA] American leader of a three man team operating under British SOE [Annotator's Note: Special Operations Executive] direction. Quickly he realized that the Germans had not anticipated the landing in the South of France. [Annotator's Note: Operation Dragoon was the assault on German occupied Southern France on 15 August 1944. The well executed assault was overshadowed by the Normandy invasion nine days earlier.] The mission of the team was to prevent the Germans from shifting forces to the south but also to prevent the movement of the enemy troops to the north where the Normandy and Brittany breakouts were about to occur. The team was to be prepared to attack German garrisons if they received the word. Communications was through a small radio with coded messages. Singlaub's team maintained constant and efficient contact from the center of France to headquarters. The team could transmit messages no longer than five minutes because of the risk of discovery by the German DF [Annotator's Note: direction finding] tracking. Singlaub met the on the ground British RAF [Annotator's Note: Royal Air Force] agent after he arrived. The agent had been born and raised in France and could pass for a Frenchman very well. The agent introduced him to a Frenchman who had been an officer in the French Army. The officer's code name was Captain Hubert. There was another Marquis Resistance group in the area that received their instructions from a KGB [Annotator’s Note: Soviet secret police] station chief in Bern, Switzerland. The leader of the alternate group was a pain to Singlaub. He called himself Colonel Antoine even though he had only achieved the rank of corporal in the French Army. Antoine was undependable and sometimes ran too many risks with the missions. Some of the messages to Singlaub's team came from the nightly personal messages on the BBC [Annotator's Note: British Broadcasting Corporation]. The messages were cryptic except if the recipient knew the codes involved. The messages could be listened to on any shortwave radio like the Europeans were using at the time. The transmissions were a low risk and effective means of communicating from London to the agents deployed in Europe. The BBC was a big help to Singlaub and other agents. Singlaub's team's mission was regarded as a success because the movement of Germans in the central area of France was severely hindered. Instead of stopping traffic on the main highway running east to west in the region, the team would demolish auxiliary roads and establish ambushes on the main road to trap the Germans. The team would work with local mayors to prevent collateral injuries to the local population. There were opportunities to capture Germans, but that was a problem because of the French bitterness over Nazi atrocities. The Germans would only surrender to a French officer based upon Singlaub's guarantees that the French officer represented General Eisenhower [Annotator's Note: Supreme Allied Commander, General, later President of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower]. That duty kept Singlaub busy traveling from one side of the province to the other. At a certain point, Singlaub ran out of targets. He requested permission to take a battalion size group of resistance fighters toward General Patton's [Annotator's Note: US Army Lieutenant General George S. Patton] flank in order to offer protection to the American assault. The schedules for movement of German convoys on the main roads were so precise that Singlaub's forces were able to use the same roads at alternate times. Orders were received to attack all German garrisons and soon the enemy was withdrawing to the Siegfried Line which made the job easier for the fighters under Singlaub after the Germans exit. Singlaub was eventually given orders to return to Paris and be debriefed. He did so as ordered.

John Singlaub was asked by OSS [Annotator's Note: Office of Strategic Services, pre-runner of the Central Intelligence Agancy, or CIA] leader General Wild Bill Donovan [Annotator's Note: US Army Major General William J. Donovan] why he thought he could lead an OSS mission. Having recited his past paratrooper and demolition special training, Singlaub was halted and asked again by Donovan why he would be the best selection for the job. Singlaub talked about taking care of himself in the mountains of California and being able to survive on his own. With that, he was told by Donovan that he would be acceptable for the job. There were good instructors provided by the SOE [Annotator's Note: British Special Operations Executive] from Camp X established near Toronto, Canada. The training was in hand to hand combat, silent killing and other special weapons skills. The training in Great Britain was under Fairbairn and Major Sykes. [Annotator's Note: William Fairbairn was a British police officer in Shanghai who developed techniques in hand to hand combat in the interwar period. Eric Sykes was a soldier specializing in weapons and demolition, who also served with the police in Shanghai. The two men had worked together in developing methods used later by the British Special Forces for close quarters combat.] Hand to hand combat training was very intense. The trainees were taught to eliminate their foes. Sykes and Fairbairn had trained some of the French coast raiders. One raider even broke into a Luftwaffe party for highly decorated German pilots and eliminated many of them. The OSS men measured their successes against the achievements of the British Special Forces. Some of the British trainees had been on raids in Norway and in attempts to destroy the Nazi heavy water capability. Memory work was a constant requirement because certain key information could not be committed to paper for fear of enemy interception. One mission that Singlaub suggested later in the war involved organizing former French prisoners of war who had escaped their captors and were in the Austrian Alps. With the mission in Central France ending, this would have been a good follow-up. To Singlaub's dismay, the mission proposal was rejected by the Soviet Union. [Annotator's Note: The Soviet Union had been assigned to have post war Austria under its sphere of influence. Allied special forces troops and organized Allied forces within Austria would likely not been looked upon favorably.] Singlaub would go through the full British paratrooper jump training while waiting for the decision on the Austrian mission. He learned much more about the British while he took the course. There was a tight alliance between the American and British special operations people.

John Singlaub experienced live fire training while working with the SOE [Annotator's Note: British Special Operations Executive]. The Brits had been training for the war a lot longer than the Americans. They knew that mental adjustment to danger was far more important than physical abilities. An individual could survive by not only doing things right but by taking advantage of the terrain. Observing and using shallow depressions in the ground became very significant when incoming mortar rounds exploded. Training breaks down when danger is not associated with it. Being fired at in the urban training in the rumble areas of London added up to exercises in preparation for the real thing. It is a psychological thing. A mortar round does not have to kill a person if you know how to react. It is not just the mechanical operation of aiming and firing your weapon, it is learning where the enemy is located when the action starts. One training task provided by the Brits included giving three men one rifle with one or two rounds of ammunition each. The goal was to shoot a stag. The individuals had to quietly work together. Effective decisions about target range and influencing windage became useful even though unusual. In addition to the excellent training, the men had good steaks from the stag. Training has to carry an element of reality to be the most beneficial. This was an education provided by the British commandos.

John Singlaub was trained by the British Special Forces. Some of the training included assuming an artificial background and memorizing a new identity. The old persona was to be discarded while on the assignment. It was difficult to completely abandon the old personality. In the psychological assessment the Brits ran, there were tricky circumstances. A friend of Singlaub who thought he was a psychologist but was not, actually gave his real identity to the British psychologist prematurely and washed out of the training as a result. It was a painful lesson to those who remained in the program. They must know who they could trust. One more exercise involved simulation of capture by the enemy. They were told that the next day they would be questioned. Someone acting as an innocent civilian slipped a note under the door indicating that they would help. There are decisions about trust that one has to make with that information. Singlaub took the hint and made an escape. He was soon accosted by a man with a gun, but Singlaub took advantage of the man's lack of attention and escaped only to be accosted once again. When Singlaub escaped yet again, he was told he was in a mine field. Singlaub ultimately gave up. The exercises kept the trainees' interest up and developed a trust within the team. Singlaub learned that you have to take what information is available and use it to accomplish the mission.

John Singlaub compared British to American parachutes. The British chute was different in many ways compared to the American design. The designs for parachute and spare parachute deployment, materials, ripcord use, enclosure bag use, the static line position, the practical use of a spare chute, and parachute quick release devices to exit the harness are all different. Singlaub compares in detail those variations in design. Singlaub points to the significant advantages in the design of the British parachute. Additionally, he talks about a paratrooper having to jump from a bomber through an exit tube when in service for the SOE [Annotator's Note: British Special Operations Executive]. Singlaub reveals the inherent risks associated with exiting the aircraft in this manner. When working directly for the American forces, a paratrooper jumps from the side of a transport plane such as a C-47 [Annotator's Note: Douglas C-47 Skytrain transport and cargo aircraft] instead of a bomber. Landing methods are also different. These variations are revealed in detail based on Singlaub's personal experiences and professional opinions after numerous jumps. Singlaub jumped with the OSS [Annotator's Note: Office of Strategic Services, pre-runner of the Central Intelligence Agancy, or CIA] and SOE, as well as the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions of the United States Army. The American OSS would eventually use many British parachutes but also employ the American spare parachutes.

John Singlaub was nervous about parachuting into France, but, even so, his team was not ineffectual. Prior to the jump, Bill Casey offered them an L tablet which they turned down. [Annotator's Note: William "Bill" Casey was head of the Intelligence Branch of the OSS. He would be awarded the Bronze Star for his service. Later, Casey would become the Director of the CIA. An L pill is a poison pill to be used for suicide rather than capture.] The team considered that surrender was not an option. Rather, they would fight until they could no longer do so. After being briefed by Casey and others, Singlaub and the team jumped out of a British Sterling [Annotator's Note: Short Sterling heavy bomber] bomber into Central France in 11 August 1944. Their bomber flew from Fairford RAF base outside of London. Their aircraft was in formation with other bombers headed to Germany on bomb runs. The aircraft left the formation in a feint of mechanical problems to disguise the fact that Singlaub's team was onboard and would be deployed elsewhere from the vectored bomb run. In addition to the three team members there were about ten French SAS, Special Air Service, commando team members assigned to jump with them but from one or two other aircraft. The French jumped in the wrong place and did not land near Singlaub's team. After landing, a young French child aided them. A Captain Voitiere [Annotator's Note: unsure of spelling] was head of the SAS commandos. There was an urgency to form up with the French so the mission could get moving. Singlaub's team met Hubert the RAF officer, and they were taken to the farmhouse where they spent the night. Early the next morning, the farmer's daughter brought them a magnificent mushroom omelet which by far exceeded any food they had been receiving in England. Soon after organizing their kit and the deliverables to the Marquis, the team headed out to begin their mission.

John Singlaub had expected that his team would lead an attack on a German garrison, but a competing Communist resistance group attacked prematurely ahead of them. That set a standard that the alternate group of resistance fighters could not be trusted. During the course of the battle, Singlaub came close to being killed by a 37mm round. They had been transported to the battle by a truck. The truck had been converted from using gasoline as a fuel to burning charcoal to create methane gas for burning in the engine. The vehicle could not make quick starts or getaways. Additionally, there were risks associated with using the methane as a fuel substitute. The battle was against remnants of an SS Division. The Germans had radios which aided their communications. The Marquis [Annotator's Note: French Resistance fighters] with Singlaub knew how to get intelligence on the Germans. The Germans refused to surrender to the Marquis due to the hatred they had for the Germans and their atrocities committed on the French population. The Germans would surrender to Singlaub because he was a representative of General Eisenhower [Annotator's Note: Supreme Allied Commander, US Army General, later President of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower]. In one case of German brutality, the Nazis had gathered together the male population at the town of Oradour-sur-Glane near where Singlaub's groups operated. The Nazis suspected the members of the Marquis were hiding in the town. The town's men and boys were machine gunned by the Germans. The women and children were locked in a large Roman Catholic Church. [Annotator's Note: The women and the children in the church were also killed by the SS troops. The town was destroyed by the Germans and it remains in the same condition today.] Singlaub is of the opinion that terrorism works. It served its purpose for the Germans. The French town has been since dedicated as a shrine to the evils of the Nazi occupation. Singlaub visited the town on the 50th anniversary. The French respected him for his work with the resistance. The French population was reluctant to aid the resistance during the occupation because of fear of retaliatory acts by the Nazis against those suspected of aiding the Marquis or Allies. Singlaub makes a comparison in today's world of the terrorism being performed by Islamic extremists. During the course of the battle near this town, a 37mm round blew the sides off the building where Singlaub was. Afterward, he was struck by a sniper's shot. Fragments were removed from his face months later while he was in London. One of resistance fighters lost his eye in the conflict. It was a good battle from Singlaub's standpoint. His team and the resistance won. On this occasion, Singlaub grabbed a Bren gun and several extra magazines and advanced on the position of the 37mm gun. Seeing numerous enemy troops gathered by the weapon, Singlaub emptied the Bren gun and two extra magazines on the nest of Germans. He kept pumping bursts of four rounds and emptied the three magazines into the enemy until they were not moving. After Singlaub was patched up from his wounds, the Allied team moved on to the rest of the war.

Prior to the battle near Oradour-sur-Glane, John Singlaub experienced a German Heinkel 111 bomber attack. The aircraft flew so low that the rivets on the plane were visible. He shouted to his fellow fighter to gather some Bren guns. Four guns were gathered and they shot at the approaching enemy. Information was received that one of the planes they fired upon crashed when attempting to land. All the crewmen were killed. Strafing by Focke-Wulf fighters continued for days later in attempts to eliminate the resistance fighters. Despite being fired upon, surreptitious radio communications from the mayor's office continued. The townspeople cheered the radio operator as he emerged from the building after completing his message and surviving the incoming German aircraft fire.

John Singlaub took his group of resistance fighters just south of the Loire River. A local mayor organized an appreciation ceremony. Singlaub did not understand what the mayor was saying, but there were some interesting follow-up activities. The mayor knocked down a wall that hid a French automobile. The mayor then went on to knock down another wall that hid a supply of very good wine. These had been hidden from the Germans. There were several instances of this type of situation occurring after the enemy had abandoned France. This was a good way for the French to show their appreciation for the efforts of the Marquis [Annotator's Note: French Resistance fighters] and the Allied leaders. Singlaub's advisor and force strength was increased when another group joined them before the crossing of the Loire River. The French liked to brag that the Central region of France was the first department to be liberated exclusively by the Marquis. Singlaub reminded them that he had helped them do so.

John Singlaub completed his mission with the French resistance in France. His proposal for a mission to organize French POWs [Annotator's Note: prisoners of war] trapped in Austria was rejected. Afterward, Singlaub wrapped up his OSS [Annotator's Note: Office of Strategic Services, pre-runner of the Central Intelligence Agancy, or CIA] mission in Europe by debriefing in London. He returned to the United States as a SHAEF [Annotator's Note: Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force] headquarters courier for General Eisenhower [Annotator's Note: US Army General, later President of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower]. He carried the sensitive papers to Glasgow, Scotland and then on to Boston. He had a two MP [Annotator's Note: military police] escort prior to boarding the ship in Glasgow. The bags had locks on them to prevent entry. It was Singlaub's responsibility to protect them and he took it very seriously. After arriving in Boston with the papers, he then went on to Washington. The next stage for him was additional training on Catalina Island on the West Coast. The education was on Oriental traditions as well as additional survival techniques. He learned quite a bit about the Chinese culture. He sailed from San Pedro across the Pacific. There was not escort so the ship zig-zagged across the sea. It was April 1945 and word of the death of President Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: President Franklin D. Roosevelt] was received. Singlaub's first landing after crossing the Pacific was at Perth, Australia. The ship then sailed to Calcutta, India. His OSS team included Army, Navy, Marine, and Army Air Forces personnel as well as civilians. He was in charge of taking the group over the Hump. It took many days to reach the Assam Valley. He and his group were flown over the Hump from Chabua to Kunming, China where he was given a new duty. His assignment would be on the border adjacent to Indochina. Indochina is now called Vietnam.

John Singlaub had a specific OSS [Annotator's Note: Office of Strategic Services, pre-runner of the Central Intelligence Agancy, or CIA] mission on the border of Indochina. It was to cut a road and railroad lines that ran from the Hanoi delta into China. That would disrupt the flow of Japanese troops into China from the south. This was part of the deception for the invasion of Japan. His team assisted Ho Chi Minh and his people. [Annotator's Note: Ho Chi Minh would become the Communist leader of the Viet Minh and then the President of North Vietnam after the country was subdivided following the departure of the French after World War 2.] The indigenous people were given training in survival and defense techniques as well as demolition skills. Singlaub and his people flew in support of OSS Deer missions for the people under Ho. [Annotator's Note: The Deer missions involved OSS advisors helping the Viet Minh who were led by Ho Chi Minh who was an avowed Communist. The overarching goal was the defeat of the Japanese military in the region as well as adding an element of deception related to the impending invasion of the Japanese home islands.] Drop zones were selected based on the adequacy of the popular support below. In bombing the railroads, Singlaub decided to bomb the curved rail areas of the railroad and simultaneously destroying the enemy ability to manufacture curved rail sections. During this time, Singlaub learned the atomic bomb had been dropped and his mission was immediately placed on hold. After the dropping of the second atomic bomb on 9 August [Annotator's Note: 9 August 1945], Singlaub's mission was cancelled and he was told to get back to Kunming as soon as he could.

John Singlaub returned to Kunming and was met by an officer at the airplane. Orders were received from OSS [Annotator's Note: Office of Strategic Services, pre-runner of the Central Intelligence Agancy, or CIA] headquarters to immediately send United States representatives to all Japanese POW [Annotator's Note: prisoner of war] camps. Intelligence had intercepted messages which indicated the Japanese intended to deal harshly with and even execute Allied prisoners that they had incarcerated. Singlaub was to transit to the POW camp at Hainan Island. He knew where the island was located. There were over 400 prisoners of mixed nationality. The POWs had been captured in the Netherlands East Indies or what is now known as Indonesia. Singlaub agreed to take the mission, but he wanted to pick his own team. It was agreed and many of his previous team volunteered. It was the rainy season. A local dam broke and flooded the area near his Kunming camp. Water was so deep that it flooded the sleeping area. Footlockers were floating away. Supplies had to be collected in a rubber boat for the mission. Singlaub was joined by eight other men. In addition to a radio operator who had served with him, he had an inexperienced medic who was still a great asset. There were also intelligence members in the team. Some of the members were in 14th Air Force AGAS, Air Ground Aid Service, who had helped downed airmen. Because the Japanese make a big distinction in rank of those they deal with, Singlaub was promoted from captain to brevet major. Singlaub selected the drop zone in an open field near the POW camp so the prisoners could see the American aircraft delivering Allied people to them. The Japanese guards at the camp had no clue that they were losing the war. Most of the Japanese guards were Hokkaido Marines who were large men who were not particularly friendly. After Singlaub parachuted into the area of the camp, he was addressed by a Japanese lieutenant who had come out to take the OSS team prisoner. Singlaub told the enemy officer to send some of his platoon over toward some local civilians so that the OSS team could be protected. There was a few shouting matches between the American and Japanese officers until a Nisei interpreter spoke in Japanese and told the enemy lieutenant to move his men between them and the civilians. It was a good thing that Singlaub had been promoted so that he had the commanding rank. There was also a Chinese interpreter with the team. The interpreters were fine and brave men. The Japanese lieutenant did not take the team as prisoners. The lieutenant had his soldiers load the American bundles on the truck. The OSS team rode with the lieutenant and his men to the camp and spoke to a higher ranking officer. The Japanese were told that they would not surrender to the OSS team, but to the Chinese Army who was coming to take over the camp and receive their surrender. Singlaub ordered the Japanese to get their highest ranking officer over so he could communicate with them. There was disbelief in the enemy forces that the war was over. The OSS team was provided an acceptable building to sleep for the night, the next day the Japanese colonel in charge of the camp came to meet the American OSS officer. Singlaub put the Japanese colonel in a subordinate position in the room and informed him that the POW senior officer and his staff should be brought to him so he could communicate directly with the POWs. The Japanese colonel let his people know that the surrender by Japan had been agreed upon by the Emperor. Singlaub defined certain terms to the Japanese colonel. The American team would have all the vehicles on the island. The food priority would be for the Allied POWs first, the Japanese troops second, and the local population on the island would have the third priority. That set the ground rules for the former guards of the POWs.

John Singlaub had a problem getting into the POW [Annotator's Note: prisoner of war] camp on Hainan Island. The conditions with the camp were unbelievable. POWs were dying every day. The Japanese colonel in charge was experimenting in reducing food for the POWs to see if they could continue to work. The Dutch and Australians were suffering. The POW commander was an Australian colonel. The colonel came in to meet Singlaub. He expressed his most important need as food. Singlaub attempted to get fresh meat from the local populace as well as rice. The Australians had been sleeping off the floor and their general condition was better than that of the Dutch. The Australian leadership was generally better than the Dutch. The Dutch POW medical doctor of the camp was so stressed that his actions were not always sane. Singlaub had been warned not to let the POWs eat too much. Further, there was a warning that the food should not be too rich. A doctor who was joining the rehabilitation efforts jumped into the site but dislocated his shoulder. He had to wear a sling to perform his duties. Singlaub's medic helped in setting the injured doctor's shoulder. Some of the supplies dropped to Singlaub's group were at too low an elevation. The parachutes did not sufficiently deploy and much of the supplies, including medicines, were destroyed. Singlaub requested Navy ships join him to aid his efforts. He was informed that there were none available. The Australians did send in some destroyers. Aboard the ships, the POWs were given the bunks of some of the ship's officers which was a great gesture. Singlaub and more POWs sailed into Hong Kong for recovery. On the first night in Hong Kong, the POW commander and Singlaub looked across the harbor at the great number of British ships anchored there. It was a great way to end the war. Singlaub was pleased to help the POWs. He has remained in touch with some of the Australians he rescued. In giving a speech later in Australia, the POW colonel and his staff requested a visit with him. They met in Melbourne for a dinner party that was very touching. It was pleasing to see how well they had done since the war. Coincidentally, Singlaub was having trouble with the Chinese government. The Chinese interpreter that had supported his mission to Hainan Island had been a captive in a Chinese Communist slave labor camp. The Australians were outraged about that. The Australians gave Singlaub the name of their Ambassador in the United Nations. Eventually, the interpreter and his family were released. Even though they were on the Chinese government's list of undesirables, the interpreter and his family had been let go. That was a positive thing for Singlaub.

John Singlaub wanted to be a regular Army officer after the war ended. He immediately applied for the integration of reserve officers into the regular Army. The OSS [Annotator's Note: Office of Strategic Services, pre-runner of the Central Intelligence Agancy, or CIA] was dissolved in November 1945 with the research and analysis part of that organization being turned over to the State Department. The special operations, espionage and other aspects were turned over to the Strategic Services Unit, or SSU, of the War Department. Singlaub's wife was in Navy intelligence and had worked in breaking the top secret Japanese Purple Code. She was released in California and he flew out to meet her. They both went to Singlaub's new assignment in the Infantry Replacement Training Center in Camp McClellan in Alabama. The duty did not thrill Singlaub or his wife. There was a mission offer by the SSU for Singlaub to fly to Mukden, Manchuria. He accepted the offer and his wife joined him in January 1947. By the middle of 1947, the Air Force, the Department of Defense and the CIA were created. Singlaub stayed on in Mukden until 1948 when China was falling. His wife had previously been sent out to California where his family would take care of her and the Singlaub's new baby. Singlaub served in Washington, D.C. until 1948 when he went back into the Army. He took advanced courses and joined the 82nd Airborne Division before the start of the Korean War. With the start of the Korean War, Singlaub was pulled out of the 82nd Airborne and sent back to Fort Benning to Ranger Training Command. His duty was to train a Ranger company for each division. Singlaub had wanted to be a battalion commander in Korea, but the CIA interfered. The CIA wanted him to go to Korea for them and be Deputy to the Senior CIA Officer in Seoul. His senior officer was Colonel Ben Vandervoort who was a great leader. Even though he was great to serve with, Vandervoort did not know much about special operations. It was Singlaub's job to bring his senior officer up to speed. Eventually, Vandervoort was replaced by a civilian who operated undercover as a colonel. Following Korea, Singlaub served in Vietnam in the Special Studies Group which took over the CIA duties in Southeast Asia. They performed unconventional warfare with large Army Special Forces branches that covertly crossed borders into Laos and Cambodia. There were Navy Seals with fast boats that performed missions into North Vietnam. Singlaub had C-130 cargo aircraft flown by Taiwan Chinese. Helicopters under his command were flown by South Vietnamese crews. There were covert operations that were very interesting and unconventional.

John Singlaub was in Denver, Colorado commanding a Readiness Region when he was asked to go overseas once again. [Annotator's Note: The continental United States is subdivided into ten United States Army Reserve Regional Readiness Commands with multiple states in each region.] He was sent to Korea to be Chief of Staff for the United Nations Command and US Forces Korea and Deputy Commander of the 8th Army. He also held the position of Senior United Nations Representative on the UN Armistice Commission. He had previously been promoted to Major General. During this period, Mr. Carter decided to run for President. [Annotator's Note: James E. Carter, Jr. ran for President of the United States in 1976.] Carter made campaign speeches during his candidacy that he would withdraw American troops from Korea. The President of Korea sent for General Richard G. Stillwell who was the commander of UN Forces there. He asked if that was the future for the US military commitment in Korea. These speeches came after UN intelligence discovery of North Korean plans for a massed attack on South Korea across the demilitarized zone. Stillwell told the Korean President that he would try to find out what the plan was for the American troop commitment to South Korea. The White House under Carter's administration decided to have a meeting in Korea with the Koreas and others concerned. The withdrawal of troops was disagreeable to anyone in the military in Korea based on the history of 1949. A similar plan for United Nations troop withdrawal resulted in North Korean invasion in 1950. There had, at the time of Carter's speeches, been recent murders in the DMZ of American officers by North Koreans. Although there had been an apology from the North Koreans, the times were unsettled. A meeting was organized by Stillwell and Singlaub for contingency planning with the Korean Government in case that troop withdrawal happened. An American reporter covering the meeting had a bad habit of covering previous Korean conditions with a pro-North Korean slant. The reporter was not allowed in the embassy so the public affairs chief for Singlaub cautioned him that the reporter would potentially go to the Communists to get their point of view. The public affairs chief recommended giving the reporter a background interview to prevent that. The interview was given to the reporter with senior civilian advisors and in headquarters. The civilians were not able to comment on the military situation so Singlaub was brought into the discussion. Singlaub commented that the South Koreans did not have the military preparedness for the United States troop withdrawal. It would lead to war based on the President's proposal just as withdrawal had led to war in 1950. Singlaub's quote concerning this was published in the reporter's newspaper. That night as Singlaub was hosting a dinner party, a call came in from his commanding officer who had received a call from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who was concerned about the article in the Washington Post which quoted Singlaub. The article and the quotations would not please the White House. An hour later, another call came in saying the President was upset. Carter had asked for a meeting with Singlaub as soon as he could arrive in Washington.

John Singlaub was called to Washington to meet with President Jimmy Carter. He was not sure if he was being disciplined or not. He could not be told the answer prior to his departure from Korea. Singlaub knew a Malaysian ambassador who Singlaub told about the interview with the reporter concerning troop withdrawal from Korea in accordance with President Carter's ideas. The interview was supposed to be off the record, and yet it was printed in the Washington Post. The Malaysian ambassador thought the exit from Korea was a dumb idea so it might be a good thing to reveal Singlaub's viewpoint. Singlaub did not think so. Upon arrival in Washington, Singlaub reported up the chain of command in Washington. The Secretary of Defense took him to Mr. Carter. The smile on Carter's face during the whole meeting was disconcerting to Singlaub. The fact that the President was late arriving for the meeting due to a tennis match, and the White House staff's casual attire was also confounding to Singlaub who compared that to the more disciplined atmosphere of the Reagan or Nixon Administrations. Singlaub told the President that his commanding officer in Korea specifically asked for Singlaub's return to Korea because of the shortage of general officers there. Carter replied that it was too late to consider that. Singlaub could not imagine where his next assignment would be. He was reassigned to headquarters of the Army Forces Command in Fort McPherson in Atlanta. After Singlaub joked that he was surprised with the assignment because of it being in Jimmy Carter's Georgia, he was chastised by some of his commanders. They were dissatisfied with him. Singlaub would discuss topics at Georgia Tech and reporters would surreptitiously enter the lecture halls and take notes. An AP [Annotator's Note: Associated Press] reporter revealed some of Singlaub's responses to various questions. One controversial topic concerned the giveaway of the Panama Canal which no one in the military supported. Singlaub also commented on the lack of ability of the United States negotiator for nuclear disarmament with the Soviets. The selected negotiator had been advocating unilateral disarmament by the United States for years. The reporter's revelation of Singlaub's comments broke the rules of propriety for invited guest speakers. Nevertheless, the reporter's article contained volatile comments by Singlaub. Singlaub realized that he was becoming a liability to the Army and requested an early retirement. The President could not end Singlaub's Army career soon enough. Singlaub did not do anything contrary to his agreement with the Army. He has no regrets. He had risked his life for his country and the Army. His career was being tainted only by the comments he had made.

John Singlaub lectured around the country after his career in the United States Army. He had two major themes. One dealt with consolidation of the nation's special operations forces. The other theme dealt with keeping adequate armed forces support in Korea. He enjoyed the audience reception to these messages. He wrote a book entitled "Hazardous Duty." Another critical message he espoused became President Ronald Reagan's policy of helping friendly resistance movements around the world that need our help and support. Singlaub met with Reagan during his tenure. The President stood by Singlaub and his messages. Singlaub summarized his position that he never fit in well with people who lied just to get ahead. In closing, Singlaub feels the study of World War 2 is important to understand where our country is today. The study of our nation's history should even go back before the Civil War. America is a God fearing country which gave itself its freedom. History must be taught. The National WWII Museum and other museums are good to educate young people about our country and its history.