After decades of secrecy, the 'Ghost Army' is honored for saving U.S. lives in WWII

After decades of secrecy, the 'Ghost Army' is honored for saving U.S. lives in WWII Enlarge this image toggle caption Mark Schiefelbein/AP Mark Schiefelbein/AP Members of the so-called "Ghost Army" used inflatable tanks, phony uniforms, fake rumors and special effects to deceive German forces during World War II, diverting attention from larger units and saving hundreds of thousands of American lives in the process. "It has been 80 years since the Ghost Army landed in France, 19 years since I came to this story, nine years that I've been working on the gold medal," said Rick Beyer, president of the nonprofit Ghost Army Legacy Project. Enlarge this image toggle caption tompkins/National Archives/Ghost Army Legacy Project via AP tompkins/National Archives/Ghost Army Legacy Project via AP Present at Thursday's event were: 100-year-old Bernard Bluestein, who joined the visual deception unit from the Cleveland Institute of Art and went on to pursue a career in industrial design; 99-year-old John Christman, who served as a demolition specialist and 100-year-old Seymour Nussenbaum, an avid stamp collector who joined the Army from the Pratt Institute. Young creatives used their skills to trick Nazis and save lives Enlarge this image toggle caption National Archives/Ghost Army Legacy Project via AP National Archives/Ghost Army Legacy Project via AP Beyer, who also produced a 2013 PBS documentary on the Ghost Army and co-authored of The Ghost Army of World War II, told New Hampshire Public Radio in 2015 that U.S. Army planners in London were inspired by how the Allies' used deception to mislead the Germans about the location of the D-Day landings.