"It gets to be you're really living on the edge. It's a time of your life when you're really
alive." (Video Interview, Part 1, 20:46)
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Walter L. Mess
Walter L. Mess [detail from video]
War: World War, 1939-1945 Branch: Other Unit: Office of Strategic Services (OSS) Service Location: China-Burma-India (CBI) Theater Rank: First Lieutenant Place of Birth: DC
Sailor Walter Mess was recruited by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) to run power
boats out of Trincomalee Harbor, Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Mess and his team navigated the
Indian Ocean in secret, installing operational groups on the beaches of Burma and
Thailand, picking up downed Allied fliers, and running intelligence for their section of
Southeast Asia, which also included ground operations. With only two hundred some
OSS men in the theater and limited resources, Mess learned to make do and think on his
feet.