A True Story of an American Nazi Spy: William Curtis Colepaugh

By Robert A. Miller

A True Story of an American Nazi Spy, William C. Colepaugh. A Biography


William C. Colepaugh was born and raised in Black Point Connecticut. Living on the banks of Long Island Sound he developed a love for the sea and aspired to become a naval architect.

His goals were sidetracked by his lack of educational skills as he failed in his attempt at a degree from either the Naval Academy or MIT.

Influenced by family members, schoolmates, and social acquaintances, he developed a love for Germany and all things German. This love grew to a desire to go to Germany to further attempt to achieve his original goals.

It didnt take long for him to become disenchanted after he finally arrived in Germany as the Germans had different plans for him.

He was trained as an espionage agent and saboteur by the SS and returned to the United States to carry out his mission with a fellow German national, Eric Gimpel. After a 54-day submarine journey they landed near Bar Harbor Maine with $60,000, diamonds, fire arms, and espionage equipment and made they way to New York City that was to become their base of operation. However, after three weeks, mistrust developed between the two spies. Colepaugh broke loose from Gimpel with the money but was soon outsmarted by the seasoned spy.

Soon after, Colepaugh decided to turn himself in to the FBI and provided them with enough information that culminated in the capture of Gimpel a few days later. They were tried and convicted by military tribune and sentenced to be hanged, but presidential politics and world events led to a change in their sentence to life in prison.

Colepaugh served 15 years in Federal prison and was released in 1960. For the next 42 years of his life he functioned as a successful businessman, community member, and husband, with his past only known to a select few including his wife. In 2002 he was exposed by a journalist and lived in seclusion the remaining three years of his life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing
• Release date: Feb 27, 2013
• ISBN: 9781466982192

Book preview

© Copyright 2013 Robert A. Miller.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

isbn: 978-1-4669-8218-5 (sc)

isbn: 978-1-4669-8220-8 (hc)

isbn: 978-1-4669-8219-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013903215

Trafford rev. 02/20/2013

7-Copyright-Trafford_Logo.ai

www.trafford.com

North America & international

toll-free: 1 888 232 4444 (USA & Canada)

phone: [phone].png fax: [phone]

Contents

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1      Roots

Chapter 2      Growing Up in East Lyme

Chapter 3      School and Misguidance

Chapter 4      Meeting the Nazis

Chapter 5      Crossing the Rubicon

Chapter 6       Nazi Training

Chapter 7      A Long Voyage Home

Chapter 8      On the Loose in the USA

Chapter 9      Surrender and Capture

Chapter 10      The Trial

Chapter 11      Punishment

Chapter 12      Parole and a New Life

Epilogue

Appendix I      Hitler Speech 1939

Appendix II      Hitler Speech 1941

Appendix III      German Intelligence

Appendix IV      Richard Gay Interview

Appendix V      1956 Appeals Court Transcript

Appendix VI      Recovered Documents

Appendix VII      The Nazi Spy Next Door

Bibliography

In Memory of Flora Storrs, a kind and gentle human being

Preface

The news was more than shocking: a photograph and news article on the front page of USA Today titled The Nazi Spy Next Door (2/27/02). That photograph was of my good friend of many years and fellow Rotary Club colleague, William Curtis Colepaugh.

After the story broke, I was determined to learn as much as possible about this now-historic figure that happened to be my friend. Much of the information that I gathered was conflicting, leaving me with more questions than answers. I would have gone straight to the source, but Bill, unfortunately by this time, was suffering from the late stages of Alzheimer’s disease.

It was not until after his death in 2005 that I embarked on this journey to write his biography, to tell his story. I wanted to find out exactly who this guy was and attempt to set the record straight. I believe I owed him that much, as he had been a good friend and kind to me over the years.

I started with the United States census records. As an amateur genealogist, I was very familiar with Ancestry.com, and thus it was not a hard task to discover his roots. This research led me to Bill’s hometown of Niantic, Connecticut, where several of Bill’s acquaintances and neighbors still reside. They graciously opened their doors and filled in some of the blanks about Bill and his family when he was a youngster. It was at the East Lyme Historical Society, where I also found a great deal of information about his early years.

Interestingly, Bill’s records from Admiral Farragut Academy and MIT provided further evidence of where he may have gone astray. I was fortunate to find the family of Bill’s lifelong close friend Jay D. Boone who was a schoolmate at Farragut. You will be surprised to read about the disparity between his life and Bill’s.

Then it was on to the United States government records that were made available, upon request, through the Freedom of Information Act. The six thousand pages of Bill’s official FBI, prison, and trial records enabled me to fill in many blanks. The pieces of the puzzle were starting to come together. The factual information I gleaned from these government records served as this biography’s foundation, where fact from fiction were separated, realizing of course that even government reports may contain errors of admission and redactions due to security or other obscure reasons. For example, one possible discrepancy may well have been because of J. Edgar Hoover’s desire to manage the release of official FBI information in his favor that may not be quite factual, examples of which are noted in detail within the pages of this biography.

I then contacted professional German researchers who were able to access German government files for my review. I read several books written by others relating Bill’s involvement in what was called Operation Magpie in 1944. One such book, Agent 146, The True Story of a Nazi Spy in America, was written by the German spy who accompanied Bill in his spy mission back to the United States in 1944. Another, James Centner’s, Codename: Magpie: The Final Nazi Espionage Mission Against the U.S. in WWII. Much of the information contained in these two books is conflicting with official government records. I read other books relating to WWII German spies who took part in a similar spy mission, Operation Pastorius, in 1942. I also read books on the atomic bomb program and heavy water research in the United States. These books are listed in the Bibliography.

Finally, I interviewed many of Bill’s friends and acquaintances in the King of Prussia, Pennsylvania area, including close relatives of his now-deceased wife, Dolores.

What resulted is a fascinating story about a young man’s social rejection and misguided decisions that led him toward a drastic mistake in judgment. Convicted of treason and sentenced to be hanged by the neck until dead, Bill’s story might have ended there in February 1945. But presidential politics and the war’s end allowed him to live and eventually be freed from prison, albeit his past may have haunted him for the remaining forty-five years of his life.

I can’t enter his mind now to know for sure why he did what he did, but I’ve come to some conclusions, as may you, after you read this true story.

The following people deserve special mention: Niantic natives Wilbur Beckwith, James Littlefield, Flora Storrs, Janet Littlefield, Caroline Zinsser of the East Lyme Public Library, and Norman Peck Jr., and for members of the King of Prussia Rotary Club and other members of the King of Prussia area community. I would also like to especially thank Elizabeth Kuchta of the East Lyme Historical Society. Also the Admiral Farragut Academy and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for sharing some of their records. Thanks to fellow Rotarians Ulrich Rimrott, Grover Emrich, Bill Wilson, Donald Peragallo, and Don Blackburn.

It was David J. Miller IV who aided me with the German interfaces. Many thanks to him.

A special thanks to those in government who were responsible for enacting the Freedom of Information Act in 1967. Surely, this story could not be told without access to the records acquired through that Act.

Finally, I would like to thank Jay D. Boone posthumously and his family. Jay D. Boone was a complete man, decorated American patriot, true friend, devoted family man, and brave human being.

image002.jpg

East Lyme residents with author: From left, James Littlefield,

Janet Littlefield, Elizabeth Kuchta, Bob Miller, Flora Storrs,

Wilbur Beckwith, and Caroline Zinsser.

Introduction

On Monday, June 4, 1990, more than 250 prominent business leaders, colleagues, politicians, friends, and family gathered to honor William Curtis Colepaugh. I proudly delivered the keynote speech, joining many other members of the King of Prussia Rotary Club who spoke glowingly of William Curtis Colepaugh and his accomplishments in the community. To a standing ovation, Colepaugh walked up to the podium to receive the King of Prussia Rotary Club’s first-ever Distinguished Service Award.

image003.jpg

Photo copied from the June 1990 edition of Service Above

Self annual Rotary report to the community.

All seventy-six Rotary members signed the plaque, which was engraved with the following inscription:

In recognition of his long, faithful, and distinguished service and his countless valuable and significant contributions to the objectives and success of all levels of Rotary including International, District, and Local, and in appreciation of his gracious, gentlemanly and friendly spirit of fellowship, his example as a family man, his leadership, his patriotic furor and his consistent dedication to the principles of Rotary.

Bill was chosen over many Rotarians who could have been given such an award, mainly because he quietly went about his business of contributing for many years in an unusually low-key manner, never seeking recognition or notoriety. On that day, Colepaugh had had no idea that he was to receive this award and was totally unprepared when asked to approach the podium. He thanked everyone. The audience stood again and applauded. He shook hands, exchanged hugs, posed for photos, and shed tears. All seemed well.

What this unsuspecting group of distinguished Rotarian American citizens did not know was that they had just bestowed the King of Prussia Rotary Club’s highest honor on a convicted American Nazi spy. It was during World War II that Colepaugh, a Connecticut-born Yankee, was led by Hitler’s Gestapo and trained in espionage and sabotage under Hitler’s SS in Nazi Germany. It has been forty-six years since Colepaugh landed clandestinely by U-boat on a Maine beach late at night on November 29, 1944, and subsequently surrendered almost one month later on December 26. A military commission tried and convicted him of espionage on February 14, 1945, and sentenced him to hang from the neck until dead.

How did he get from being hanged by the neck until dead in 1945 to being honored by an American community service club in 1990? Read on.

Since his release from prison in 1960, Colepaugh’s many friends and colleagues knew him fondly as Bill. His contributions to the Rotary Club and community were wide-ranging. He created a Tomorrow’s Leader Camp for high school students and was a fervent financial supporter of the Boy Scouts of America, even remembering them in his will. He served on the charitable Gundaker Foundation, which awarded student scholarships, and was a Paul Harris Fellow, donating at least $1,000 to Rotary’s charitable causes. As a member of the district’s Rotary Foundation Committee, he helped further their mission to enable Rotarians to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through the improvement of health, the support of education, and the alleviation of poverty and polio. No other King of Prussia Rotary member was so active and seemed to live by the Four-Way Test.

For Rotary, the Four-Way Test is the cornerstone of all action and is as follows:

Of the things we think, say, or do

•   Is it the Truth?

•   Is it Fair to all concerned?

•   Will it build Goodwill and Better Friendships?

•   Will it be Beneficial to all concerned?

Everything changed for Bill Colepaugh and his wife, Dolores, on February 27, 2002, when USA Today printed a front-page article on American spies written by reporter Richard Willing (see Appendix VII). Willing had researched accurately in great detail, complete with photographs, the story of a World War II convicted Nazi spy, William Curtis Colepaugh.

It was 1984 when I first joined Rotary that I was greeted by a low-toned, shaky Hi, Bob! That’s how William Curtis Colepaugh greeted me in at my first meeting of the Rotary Club of King of Prussia. Every Monday morning for ten years thereafter, he greeted me in the same voice, that of a shaky old man. There were unexpectedly solid handshakes, often leaving me to wonder just how old he was. He had a subtle smile where only the left side of his mouth partook. His droopy, sad eyes were partially hidden by the thick glasses that he wore all the time. His left eye drooped lower. His mouth was full-lipped and never closed, and as he spoke, I expected him to drool, which he didn’t. His hearing was impaired, but he was surprisingly alert, not missing much. He had a full head of grey hair. Bill looked older than he was. The outstanding feature though was his deeply cleft chin, deeper than any I ever saw. The chin was so deeply recessed that he appeared almost chinless, like the characters seen on the many subjects in Norman Rockwell paintings. On most occasions, he wore a suit and tie. My first impression: this is simply an unassuming, friendly, quiet old man. I think I underestimated him.

Six years later in 1990 in preparation for the keynote speech for the award presentation, I approached Dolores, Bill’s wife, for details about his past so I could deliver a more meaningful, interesting speech. I asked for facts about his childhood, family life, vocations, anything. She looked at me with a blank stare and said, I know very little about his past, but I know he had infantile paralysis when he was a kid. That was it. Was that all she knew of Bill’s past? So I pulled together some pieces of information that he provided during the many conversations over the years: MIT, University of Chicago, the United States Navy, and track star.

We know now why Bill kept a low profile. I wonder what he was thinking as he was standing at the podium on that day in front of all those American Rotarians, standing, applauding, honoring him.

How could I, a close friend for almost twenty years, unknowing of his past, come to terms with initial shock and anger and justify forgiving him for what he attempted to do to my beloved nation? We will try to answer these questions.

No one knew Bill’s age, and when asked, his answer was evasive. He was good at evasion and obfuscation. He had to be, to hide his past. When you think of it, he had no choice. No American organization or community member would welcome and befriend a known convicted American Nazi spy.

A close call came for Bill in 1997 when a fellow Rotarian happened to read a book about contemporary American history and was shocked when he saw a spy’s name of William Curtis Colepaugh. When confronted by the Rotarian, Bill simply stated that was not he, but his cousin. The Rotarian bought the explanation, not giving it another thought until that fateful day, February 27, 2002.

He evaded a lot of questions about his life. He acted mysteriously when discussing his past, like someone who worked on top-secret government projects and cannot yet discuss his work, but sort of alluded to it, just to whet your appetite. He said he was an MIT graduate (he was not). Other Rotary members and occasional guests at our weekly meetings who were MIT graduates never questioned his veracity. They had no reason to. As an engineer myself, I was curious as to what he did for a living when he was younger and specifically what he did during WWII. He would never answer these questions directly, like Prof. Harold Hill avoiding the townsmen’s questions about his credentials in The Music Man. Change the subject and move on.

Here was a well-educated, well-rounded individual who was versed on many subjects. He loved to read, travel, fish, and work in the garden. He could talk intelligently about almost any subject as our local geologist/hydrologist Grover Emrich would attest. There seemed to be no end to his interests. After many discussions with Bill, having no success in getting the answers that I wanted, frustratingly I said to him more than once, Bill, I want to read your book. No response. If you looked up the word enigma in the dictionary, there would be a picture of Bill. It may have been easier to unravel the proverbial Gordian knot than to figure out this simple, yet puzzling and perplexing old man.

Little did I know at that time that it would be I, twenty-seven years later, who would be trying to unravel the knot and write his book.

Was there not a high probability that his past would be uncovered eventually? There must have been some reason why Bill didn’t change his name when he was released from prison. Isn’t that what you do when you attempt to hide your past?

Our relationship grew as the years went by, as did my curiosity about him. Interestingly, Bill suffered a brain tumor that was successfully removed in the 1970s. The operation left him with that droopy eye. He would brag that it was the largest brain tumor ever removed successfully in this country. It was probably not.

Over the years from 1984 through the mid-1990s, Bill and his wife Dolores, Joan, and I would socialize away from Rotary quite often. We got to know some of Dolores’s family. We visited at their home on Holstein Road near King of Prussia many times. Our close relationship continued until I left Rotary. In the mid-1990s, Bill and his wife sold their home in King of Prussia and moved to a retirement community in Paoli. Dolores would call us from time to time to stop for a visit, but we never did.

February 27, 2002! That is the day an equivalent 9.0 magnitude on the Richter scale earthquake emotionally hit me, the King of Prussia Rotary members, and other members of the community. Members of Dolores’s family were shocked. Excluding his wife and the president of the metal fabricating firm where he was first employed in 1960, no one knew of Bill’s past. This was a very, very well kept secret.

I now knew an historic figure albeit an infamous one. A Benedict Arnold in some respect. Arnold was also born in Connecticut in the town of Norwich not too far from East Lyme where Bill was born. As upset with Arnold’s actions that I would have been had I personally knew him—is that how I should feel about Bill now? Is there anything worse that a person could do than betray his own country? Later on though, through much research, the comparison between the two individuals may not be quite as clear. Arnold sold out for cash and was almost responsible, through his betrayal, for the loss of West Point during the revolution. Furthermore, had not Maj. John Andre of the British Army been captured with a damning memo written by Arnold, hidden in his boot, the entire war effort may have had a different ending. Had Arnold’s plan been carried out, not only West Point would have fallen, but Washington and his staff may have been captured. Arnold escaped capture by a matter of minutes and later commanded a portion of the British Army as they invaded Virginia, killing many patriots and destroying much of Virginia, then sailed to England where he and his wife lived until his natural death in 1801. Bill, on the other hand, received no direct financial remuneration for defecting and caused no known harm to the United States, and for some reason gave himself up to the FBI before his mission was carried out. In fact, he actually helped the American cause with the information that he provided to the FBI after his capture. For example, he precisely described Erich Gimpel, his German espionage companion, so that his capture by the FBI took only four days. He named and described the Germans with whom he interfaced while being trained in Germany. He pinpointed locations of key German military and nonmilitary targets accurately. One could argue that, in fact, he could be construed as being as useful as an effective double agent had not his real intentions been known. After all, because of his surrender, Nazi agent Gimpel’s alien activities, whatever they may have been, were never carried to fruition.

As the months followed after Bill’s exposure in 2002, one older member of Rotary, who happened to be born in Germany, came across an old motion picture about Operation Magpie that was made in Germany in 1955 with German actors speaking German and no English subtitles. Magpie, or Elster, was the code name for Bill and Gimpel’s mission. Bill was portrayed as a bungling drunken, woman-crazy oaf, while his German partner, Erich Gimpel, was smooth and cool and calm. Was it the intent of the German movie producer to blame the failure of the mission on the pathetic American and not the German?

It remains for us to attempt to form an accurate as possible picture of this Yankee-born, hardworking youth who failed to fulfill his dreams of becoming a naval officer and marine engineer, ending up betraying his country in time of war, paying the price for this betrayal, and in his later years seeking the American Dream. He obviously received redemption from his wife Dolores and the few who knew of his past before February 2002 as they aided him in accomplishing his goals.

The opening of the investigation of Bill by the FBI in 1940 was the beginning of a long, complex sequence of events that did not conclude until his release from prison in 1960. Bill himself was interviewed several times by the FBI and was under surveillance for five years before he surrendered. The FBI observed his mother and sister. Their mail and telephone were monitored. Neighbors and friends were used as informants. The FBI interviewed fellow students at Admiral Farragut and MIT extensively. Bill’s uncles were interviewed. Bill was under surveillance wherever he went, including overseas as a merchant marine. Besides the FBI, State Police and local officials were involved. Bill’s home was searched thoroughly, perhaps illegally, in 1942 unbeknownst to Bill and his family. As a result of the FBI investigations, several thousand pages of FBI reports were created. His trial resulted in several thousand pages of testimony and supportive materials. There are over one thousand pages of official prison records.

This story is as close to a factual account of Bill’s life that is possible today. When I make a conjecture, it is so noted. So let us get on with this unbelievable story, and like most stories are started, let’s go to the very beginning.

Chapter 1

Roots

American citizen William Curtis Colepaugh Jr. was born on March 25, 1918, to Havel (Schmidt) and William Curtis Colepaugh Sr. in the tranquil community of Black Point in the heart of Yankee territory in the state of Connecticut. This community is located in the county of New London, town of East Lyme, within the village of Niantic, on Long Island Sound.

image004.jpg

His maternal grandparents, Henrietta and Wilhelm Schmidt, were born in Central Germany near Darmstadt, Hesse. They immigrated to the United States in 1888 and 1889 respectively, marrying in 1889. Havel, Bill’s mother, was born at sea on December 10, 1892, aboard the ship Havel shortly before landing at New York Harbor. Bill said that the Havel was a rescue ship that took survivors, including his grandmother (pregnant with his mother) and two sons William and Lewis, from the ill-fated Bremen that had collided with a Russian steamer in the mid-Atlantic. (I have found no record of this accident). Havel later claimed that the hearing problems that she suffered her entire life were a result of that collision. Havel’s brothers William and Louis were born in May 1890 and May 1891 respectively in New York, which raises the question, How could Havel be born at sea coming from Germany after her brothers’ births in New York? The answer is, according to Bill, part of the family returned to Germany to get their belongings while Havel’s father stayed in New York, working. The ship’s manifest in 1892 noted the presence of Havel’s mother Henrietta and brothers William and Louis. Havel was named after the ship on which she was born, although the ship’s register on line 0489 of the manifest lists her name as Gerlrud (probably misspelling of Gertrud), born at sea. Later, the Schmidts gave birth to Otto in December 1895, Emile Frederick in October 1899, and Louise in 1904, all in New York. The Schmidts therefore had a total of six children that were all born in New York with the exception of Havel. Later, the U.S. census records in several locations indicate that Havel’s first name was Lena or Hovel, but her tombstone in the Union Cemetery in Niantic reads Havel G. Colepaugh. Incidentally, her tombstone erroneously gives her birth date as 1893. Henrietta, Havel’s mother died in 1905 at the age of forty-one. Wilhelm then remarried the following year to German-born Augusta Herrman (or Herman), a widow with three children of her own. Wilhelm died before 1930. Augusta was Bill’s step-grandmother, a fact that should be noted since she expressed strong German sentiments that may have influenced Bill, according to his later testimony to the FBI. The date of her death is not known, but she probably lived until at least 1935.

Bill’s paternal grandparents were Curtis E. and Louise (Prevot) Colepaugh. The Colepaugh branch of the family tree was from New York as far back as the available records indicate. The earliest known record is that of his great-great-grandmother Elizabeth, born in 1776 in New York. The family, in 1850, like most families in those years were farmers, owning three horses, three milking cows, two working oxen, twenty-one sheep, two swine, with just under one hundred acres of improved farmland in Gallatin, Columbia, New York. Gallatin is halfway between Albany and Poughkeepsie, ten miles east of the Hudson River. This area is very close to the Connecticut border and is where Bill’s grandfather Curtis was born and spent his younger years. His grandfather’s country of origin has not been established, but he is thought to be of Dutch decent. Louise, his grandmother, was born in France in 1857. Her father, Frederick Prevot, and mother, Susan (Conlon) Prevot, were both born in France. Curtis Colepaugh and Louise Prevot were married in 1876 and lived in New York, employed as servants. Curtis was a doorman at the famous upscale New York City jewelers Black, Starr, and Frost. Louise was a house servant for Mr. Clifford Black, one of the owners of the jewelry store. Curtis was a strong big doorman that ably handled the customers’ horses as they arrived at the front of the store. Mr. Black must have thought highly of Curtis and Louise Colepaugh because in 1900, he loaned them money to purchase beachfront property in East Lyme and construct or modify a large hotel that they named the Point View House Hotel, in the exclusive summer beachfront community of Black Point. This is how the Colepaughs came to settle in East Lyme. The resort community consisted of mostly large single homes that crowded up in the summer with wealthy, affluent vacationers. In the early 1900s, the homes were mostly used only during the summer, but today the majority are permanently occupied. In the early 1900s, the summer elitist residents of Black

image005.jpgimage006.jpg

Top: The Point View House Hotel post card in Black Point,

Connecticut, circa 1910

Bottom: Reverse side of post card

Point considered people not acceptable, according to some local residents, if they were not members of this exclusive community, known as the Black Point Association. The word snobbery may apply here. Mr. Black would occasionally visit in the summer and stay at the Colepaugh hotel, enjoying the cool waterfront breezes and sampling Mrs. Louise Colepaugh’s renowned cooking.

The family owned the Point View House Hotel for about twenty years. However, during that period,