"I would take [the German generals] in my car and show them the Pentagon. And I said, 'You know, this is the annex. The big one makes this place look small.' You did all kinds of things with these people. You were working on their head." (Video Interview, 36:19)

John W. Kluge

John Kluge [2002] War: World War, 1939-1945 Branch: Army Unit: Quartermaster Corps and The War Department (Intelligence) Service Location: Aleutian Islands; Washington, DC; Fort Hunt (PO Box 1142), Virginia Rank: Captain Place of Birth: **

John Kluge's path to serving in a Washington-based intelligence unit was a winding one. Born in Germany, he and his family emigrated to America when he was eight years old. In 1940, at the age of 26, he enlisted in the Army, anticipating a year's service, which got extended after Dec. 7, 1941. After he graduated from Officers Candidate School, he was shunted off to Alaska's Aleutian Islands. His break came with his next assignment: a secret post not far from the newly constructed Pentagon. Thanks to his fluency with German, he spent the rest of the war interrogating captured German officers and translating captured Nazi documents.