WWII - THE GHOST ARMY PREMIERES

THE GHOST ARMY PREMIERES

ON TUESDAY, MAY 21, 2013 AT 10 PM  ON Channel 11, WTTW

Chicago   – During World War II, Anthony B. Young of Chicago was a ghost. Young, (1921-2009), served in a top-secret unit that duped Hitler’s army with rubber tanks, sound effects and all the illusions they could conjure. These men are the subjects of a new documentary film, The Ghost Army, which premieres on Tuesday, May 21, 2013, 10:00 – 11:00 p.m. CT on PBS, WTTW. (Check local listings.)

In the summer of 1944, a handpicked group of G.I.s landed in France to create a traveling road show of deception on the battlefields of Europe, with the German Army as their audience. From Normandy to the Rhine, the 1100 men of the 23^rd Headquarters Special Troops, known as the Ghost Army, conjured up phony convoys, phantom divisions, and make-believe headquarters to fool the enemy about the strength and location of American units. Every move they made was top secret and their story was hushed up for decades after the war’s end.

Each deception required that they impersonate a different (and vastly larger) U.S. unit. Like actors in a repertory theater, they mounted an ever-changing multimedia show tailored to each deception. The men immersed themselves in their roles, even hanging out at local cafés and spinning their counterfeit stories for spies who might lurk in the shadows.

Painstakingly recorded sounds of armored and infantry units were blasted from sound trucks; radio operators created phony traffic nets; and inflatable tanks, trucks, artillery and even airplanes were imperfectly camouflaged so they would be visible to enemy reconnaissance. The Ghost Army staged more than 20 deception operations in France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany, often operating dangerously close to the front lines. In the final days of the war they faced their ultimate test: a deception along the Rhine River in which thousands of lives depended on their delivering a convincing performance. What they accomplished was kept secret for nearly fifty years.

Tony Young served in Company B of the 603^rd Engineer Camouflage Battalion alongside fashion designer Bill Blass (who was bestman at his wedding), American Artist Ellsworth Kelly, Visionary Photographer Art Kane, Fine Arts Painter and Educator George Vander Sluis, American Illustrator Arthur Shilstone and Noted Bird Painter and Illustrator Arthur Singer. Following the war, he did some freelance artwork and continued his forty-four year career at the Peoples Gas Company.  He started as a delivery boy in the mailroom and advanced consistently to the position of Advertising Manager.  His advertising accomplishments included “Penny Flame”  and “Digger,” an adorable gopher-looking character who alerted consumers to the location of  underground utility cables prior to construction.  His war-bride, Erika, will celebrate her 92^nd bithday this year.

The PBS documentary The Ghost Army was written and directed by filmmaker Rick Beyer of Lexington, MA, who is also the author of the best-selling Greatest Stories Never Told  series of history books. Beyer has worked more than eight years on the film, which was  the audience-award winner at this year’s Salem Film Fest in Salem, MA, and is an official selection of the GI Film Festival in Washington DC. He is excited that the members of this secret unit are finally getting their due. “I think every one of these guys is a rock star,” says Beyer, “and I would like nothing more than to have everyone else think so too.”

For more information on the film, visit www.ghostarmy.org or Filmmaker Rick Beyer is  available for interviews over the phone..

Contact:                                                Erika Vrabel

773 588 5874

Erikav76@msn.com

PR contact for Rick Beyer:

Mary Lugo, CaraMar Inc.            770 623 8190     lugo@negia.net

Cara White, CaraMar Inc.           843 881 1480     cara.white@mac.com