439: Doris Bohrer
Allied Spy during World War II
Born: 5 February 1923, Basin, Wyoming, United States of America
Died: 9 August 2016, Greensboro, North Carolina, United States of America
Doris worked in helping plan the invasion of Sicily and also tracking movements of concentration camp victims.
Doris reportedly asked for a hand grenade and was denied one during the war, despite another woman (from Yugoslavia) being given one to carry. So, Doris had a fake fashioned instead, which she pulled out during lunch one day. One of the guys said he would take it from her before she could hurt herself, so Doris slammed it against the table and watched as the men all fled out the windows; then she finished her salad and that was that.
She would go on to become Deputy Head of Counterintelligence of the CIA. Doris’s husband worked as the director of the CIA’s office of Medical Services. They had one son together. In all, Doris spent twenty-seven years working in the intelligence field. After retiring from the CIA, she worked in real estate.
Doris spent her twilight years in the same retirement home as another female OSS agent during the war, Elizabeth McIntosh, and they became friends despite not knowing one another during the war. Elizabeth worked in China as a propaganda campaign creator while Doris focused on the European theatre.
Badges Earned:
Find a Grave Marked
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/23/us/doris-bohrer-world-war-ii-spy-for-allies-dies-at-93.html
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/171893020/doris-arlene-bohrer