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Douglas Elton Fairbanks, Jr., KBE, DSC, K.st.j.
(December 9, 1909 – May 7, 2000) was an American actor and a highly
decorated naval officer of
World
War II. |
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In 1941,
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt appointed him a special envoy
to South America.
Although celebrated as an actor, Fairbanks most enduring legacy was a
well-kept secret for decades. At the onset of World War II, Fairbanks
was commissioned a reserve officer in the U.S. Navy and assigned to
Lord Mountbatten's Commando staff in England.
Having witnessed (and participated in) British training and
cross-channel harassment operations emphasizing the military art of
deception, Fairbanks attained a depth of understanding and
appreciation of military deception then unheard of in the United
States Navy. Lieutenant Fairbanks was subsequently transferred to
Virginia Beach where he came under the command of Admiral H. Kent
Hewitt, who was preparing U.S. Naval forces for the invasion of North
Africa.
Fairbanks was able to convince Hewitt of the advantages of such a
unit, and Admiral Hewitt soon took Fairbanks to Washington, D.C. to
sell the idea to the Chief of Naval Operations, ADM Ernest King.
Fairbanks succeeded and ADM King issued a secret letter on 5 March
1943 charging the Vice Chief of Naval Operations with the recruitment
of 180 officers and 300 enlisted men for the Beach Jumper program.
The Beach Jumpers mission would simulate amphibious landings with a
very limited force. Operating dozens of kilometers from the actual
landing beaches and utilizing their deception equipment, the Beach
Jumpers would lure the enemy into believing that theirs was the
location of the amphibious beach landing, when in fact the actual
amphibious landing would be conducted at another location. Even if the
enemy was less than 100-percent convinced of the deception, the
uncertainty created by the operations could conceivably delay enemy
reinforcement of the actual landing area by several crucial hours.
U.S. Navy Beach Jumpers saw their initial action in Operation Husky,
the invasion of Sicily. Throughout the remainder of the war, the Beach
Jumpers conducted their hazardous, shallow-water operations throughout
the Mediterranean.
For his planning the diversion-deception operations and his part in
the amphibious assault on Southern France, Lieutenant Commander
Fairbanks was awarded the U.S. Navy's Legion of Merit with bronze V
(for valor), the Italian War Cross for Military Valor, the French
Legion d'Honneur and the Croix de Guerre with Palm, and the British
Distinguished Service Cross. Fairbanks was also awarded the Silver
Star for valor displayed while serving on PT boats.
He was made an Honorary Knight Commander of the British Empire (KBE)
in 1949.
It is not a stretch to say that Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. was the father
of the United States Navy's Information Operations. As for the Beach
Jumpers, they changed names several times in the decades following
World War II, expanded their focus, and are currently known as the
Navy Information Operations Command. Fairbanks stayed in the Naval
Reserve after the war and ultimately retired a captain in 1954.
Many of the Navy's most important information operations since World
War II remain classified, but it is clear that the U.S. military
retains its interest in this art of war.
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