COOL DUDES I ADMIRE: FREDERICK MAYER

frederick mayer managed to escape nazi germany while the majority of his family was deported to auschwitz. when he found refuge in the us, he decided to join the united states army eventually leading to his legendary status in the office of strategic services. being multilingual, mayer was sent to a german operation group— an elite team of spies who worked behind enemy lines and provided intel to the office.

on his way to north africa in 1944, there was a miscommunication which resulted in him being dropped off in the wrong port— he improvised and started to sell surplus military gear in the area, then used that money to buy train tickets to the closest oss station in algiers.

a few months upon arriving, he was transferred to italy where he parachuted onto a 10,000 foot glacier in the dead of night near the austrian border. Mayer walked all the way to the bottom where he disguised himself as an injured german officer— while on his stay in the hospital, he listened to their conversations where he would radio back to the oss. he later changed his disguise, pretending to be a french electrician where he continued to hide in plain sight— unfortunately, he was eventually picked up by the german ss. despite the beatings, he maintained that he was working alone.

during mayers time in capture, another captured agent, hermann Matull, was being INTERROGATED. the gestapo showed matull a picture of mayer asking if he knew him. matull strategically told them he was high ranking in the american command (though he was just a SERGEANT) as to scare the hell out of the ss for interrogating him. he went on to convince them that mayer was so high ranking, he could only be interrogated by his direct counterpart. this brought on an invitation to dine with franz hoffer— the governor of the alpine redoubt. mayer convinced hoffer to surrender to the us.

explaining to him that the nazi supremacy was ending, it would be in his best interest to surrender to the allied forces. on may 3, 1945, the entire city of INNSBRUCK was surrendered to a jewish american sergeant. what makes mayer all the more badass is this encounter:

as the same very gestapo officers who beat the hell out of mayer plead with him to spare their lives, mayer very simply responded to them with “who do you think we are, nazis?”

he was awarded a purple heart, and the legion of merit. mayer returned to west virginia until he passed in 2016.