US Army MG William Wild Bill" Donovan: Medal of Honor of Honor Recipient

Welcome back everyone. I wanted to thank everyone who gave me positive feedback about adding the story of Marine Corps Sgt. Major John Canley at the beginning of last week’s episode.  So going forward I’ll continue to feature a Medal of Honor story at the beginning of each episode, that way I can share just one more hero's story with you each week. 

With that being said, this week’s Medal of Honor short is about Army Captain Florent Groberg and what he did while he was serving in Afghanistan. 

[Florent Groberg Short] 

The one thing the audio of the short doesn't tell you, but the images do, is that Captain Groberg survived his wounds and was later medically discharged from the Army.  

Now on this week’s episode of Duty & Valor you’ll hear the story of US Army Major Gen. William "Wild Bill" Donovan, the man often hailed as the father of American intelligence. From his heroic exploits on the battlefields of World War I to his pivotal role in establishing the Office of Strategic Services, “Wild Bill” Donovan's life is a testament to courage and leadership, and this is his story.   

William was born on January 1, 1883 in Buffalo, NY to parents Anna and Timothy Donovan.  The family is of Irish descent and were actually named the O’Donovan’s, but William’s grandfather dropped the ‘O’ from their name after they emigrated to the US.  After graduating from high school, William attended Niagara University as a pre-law student before attending Columbia University and then Columbia Law School where he was a classmate of Franklin D. Roosevelt.  He later moved back to Buffalo where he co-founded a successful law firm.  

In 1912, William was instrumental in forming a troop of cavalry of the New York National Guard and would become its first leader at the rank of Captain. He married Ruth Rumsey in 1914, and the two would go on to have two children, David and Patricia.  

Capt Donovan and his unit were mobilized during the military operation against Pancho Villa in 1916 and served under General John J. Pershing.  He served with distinction and received a field promotion to Major before returning to Buffalo.  There he joined the 69th Infantry Regiment, known as the “Fighting Irish Regiment”.  The regiment was later redesignated the 165th, and began training for the US entry into WWI.  It was also around this time that Donovan was promoted to Lt. Col.  

When the US entered WWI, Col. Donovan was a battalion commander, leading the 1st Battalion, 165th Infantry, 42nd Division.  When they arrived in France in October 1917, Col. Donovan wasn’t happy with the lack of training and fitness of his men.  To get them into shape physically and mentally, he had all his men run a three mile obstacle course with full packs.  The course took them over walls, through cold streams, under barbed wire and he forced them to run up and down hills.  By the end of the run, nearly all of his men collapsed in exhaustion. In a book titled Wild Bill Donovan by author Douglas Waller, he quotes Col. Donovan as yelling at his men 'What the hell’s the matter with you guys?’.  At that time a soldier yelled back “But hell, we are not as wild as you are, Bill.”  From then on the nickname Wild Bill stuck.   

In speaking to Major Donovan’s character, after a rescue mission conducted under heavy fire, the French honored Major Donovan and others with the French Cross of War.  When Major Donovan found out they did not offer the medal to a soldier because he was jewish, he turned down the medal.  It wasn’t until this was corrected, and the soldier properly recognized, that he accepted the medal.

By July 1918, Col. Donovan had already been awarded a Silver Star when he was recognized again for his valor in combat during the Aisne-Marne Campaign.  From July 28-31, Col. Donovan led his battalion across a river to capture multiple enemy strongholds.  Over those four days, he kept his battalion moving ahead of the rest of the division, even while surrounded on three sides and under heavy shell and machine gun fire. During the fighting, Col. Donovan was wounded twice and his fearless leadership saw him being awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.  The citation actually references his coolness while in combat, a trait that is said of him many times.  

On October 14, 1918, Donovan was now the 165th Regiment commander and led them in fighting during the Meuse-Argonne Campaign.  Early attempts at an assault proved deadly and the regiment suffered heavy casualties.  With their men pinned down by heavy enemy fire, Col. Donovan exposed himself to deadly fire, even being hit in his knee by machine gun fire, running from position to position, which inspired his men to rally forward. He refused medical evacuation until the assault was over and his regiment was moved to a safer position.  For his leadership over the two day assault, Col. Donovan was awarded the Medal of Honor.  After he was awarded the medal, he refused to keep it as he felt it didn’t belong to him, rather it belonged to all the men who fought in the war.

By the end of WWI, Col. Donovan had been wounded three times and was awarded the four highest medals a soldier could receive at the time, the Medal of Honor, the Distinguished Service Cross, The Distinguished Service Medal, and the Silver Star.        

After the war he was promoted to full bird colonel, entered the reserves, and held multiple federal roles where he traveled extensively.  This gave him a broader view of the political climates abroad.  In the 1920’s he split time between practicing law at his law firm in Buffalo and multiple assistant attorney general roles during the Coolidge presidency.

On July 11, 1941 President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the position of Coordinator of Information, or COI, and appointed Col. Donovan, his old classmate, to take that role.  This position was created to do exactly what its title suggests.  At a time when the US had no formal spy agency, it was Col. Donovan’s job to coordinate all information gathered abroad and present it to the president.  Not one year later, the COI was renamed the Office of Strategic Services, or OSS, and Col. Donovan remained in charge.  In March 1943, he was promoted to Brigadier General and then to Major General in November 1944.

Under Gen. Donovan, the OSS focused on developing clandestine operations utilizing new techniques and equipment.  He allowed the OSS to recruit a broad group of unlikely agents.  He even allowed women to become agents, which wasn’t a popular decision at the time.  Though many would go on to be great spies, including Virginia Hall , who Gen. Donovan personally awarded the Distinguished Service Cross to.

The work of the OSS, and Gen. Donovan specifically, was credited with developing the espionage networks in Europe that aided in the Allied invasion of France and their victory in WWII.

Even prior to the end of WWII, Gen. Donovan was urging FDR to begin the groundwork for prosecuting war criminals.  This was something he felt strongly about as many OSS agents had been captured, tortured, and killed.  Due to his lobbying, Gen. Donovan joined the staff of Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson and aided in prosecuting Nazi war criminals during the Nuremberg trials. 

 The OSS was later abolished in Sept. 1945, but its role in American overseas intelligence work set the stage for the formation of the CIA two years later in 1947.

Gen. Donovan wanted to be the first director of the CIA, but with the death of FDR, he didn't have quite the same political backing and President Truman appointed Admiral Roscoe Hillenkoetter to lead the organization. Gen. Donovan went on to serve as the Ambassador to Thailand from 1953-1954.

On February 8, 1959 Gen. William “Wild Bill” Donovan died at the age of 76 and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Major General William “Wild Bill” Donovan was more than just a name. He was a visionary, a patriot, and an indomitable spirit. From the battlefields of World War I to the clandestine realm of intelligence, Donovan's life was a testament to courage, unwavering determination, and a profound commitment to his country. 

While we've highlighted some of the most pivotal moments of Gen. "Wild Bill" Donovan's extraordinary life, there are countless other stories and achievements that we couldn't cover in this episode.  So if you found what you heard intriguing, please look further into his story, you definitely won’t be disappointed.     

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To read more about this week’s hero, check out the sources used in today's episode in our show notes and at dutyandvalor.com.

Remember, we release new episodes on the Duty & Valor YouTube channel on Fridays at 5 pm. On our channel, we also release daily YouTube shorts that highlight our Nation’s heroes, many of whom haven’t been featured on the show yet.

Please join us for our next episode, where we'll be sharing the inspiring story of another American hero who served with pride and lived with humility.