Evening star., 1951-08-16
Text of Defense Department Statement on Staying of OSS Major

Here are the fantastic de-
tails OF the alleged cold -blooded
cloak-and-dagger Staying OF a
maritime Office OF Strategic
Seruices major in Italy as re-
Uealed yesterday in the Defense
Departments memorandum on
the H0lohdn case" 1Dhich 1OaS
handed to reporters at nelOS
conference:
In the latter part of 1914 the
whole northern industrial region
of Italy, with most of the war
factories, was still in Axis hands.
Italian partiSans, however, were
actually in control of many of the
rural areas north of the battle
lines. A National Committee of
Liberation supposedly directed the
partiSanS, but in practice the
partisan bands represented many
different political colors, the larg-
est of which was the Communist.
The National Committee con-
tinually pressed the American
command to drop arms behind the
German lines to enable partiSanS
to attack Nazi communications
and transport. The big question,
however, was whether the Com
munistS would use the arms
against the Germans or stock pile
the equipment for a possible civil
war later on. The boss of the
Communist partisanS was called
Capt. Giro. His real name was
Vlncenzo MoScatelli.
On September 26, 1914, Maj.
William V. Holohan was dropped
on Mount Mottarone, about 1OO
miles north of the battle line. Mai
Holohan. an OSS officer, became
the highest ranking American Of
flcer operating behind the Ger
man lines in Italy. He was accom-
panied on the drop by 1t. Aldo
1cardi, age %, and a first-genera-
ton American from Pittsburgh,
where he had been a law student
before entering the service.
"Icardi was fluent in Italian and
could speak even the idiom of the
region in which he landed. He was
known for his daring and had,
In fact, been picked to command
this particular assignment which
was secretly known as the Chrys-
ler Mission. Because of the i'm
portance of the operation, how
ever, Maj. Gen. William Dono-
van. then chief of the OSS
personally decided that an older
and more experienced officer
should be in command.
Maj. Holohan was 40. He was
graduate of Manhattan College
and the Harvard Law School and
had served as an attorney for the
Securities and Exchange Com
mission. He was a reserve officer
and had never married. He was
also a very big man and was
known for his strength and gen.
eral calmneSS of temperament.
The other principal in the mis-
sion was Sergt. Carl G. LoDolce
of Rochester, N. Y. LoDolce also
was an Italian-American anc
spoke Italian f1uently. Maj. Holo-
han did not. A fourth member o1
the dropped party was Tullio
LuSSl who went under the resist
ance name of Capt. Landi.
100000 in Gold.
The parachute party took ln
a radio sending set along with
arms and about 100000 in gold
American currency, and Swiss
francs. The chief purpose of the
mission was to get the loW-doWn
on the partisan units and to make
sure that help was going to the
groups that would best fight the
Germans.
"Holohan kept in communica-
ton with his headquarters by "a
dio but only asked for one air
drop Of arms and explosives be-
tween the time he landed and
the time of his reported disap-
pearance on December 6, 1914.
1t was 1t. Icardi who sent the
December radio message an
nouncing the majors disappear
ance.
Later, in January or February
of 1945. a courier arrived at OSS
headquarters in Siena with a
fuller story. The Chrysler team
then occupied the Villa Castel-
nuovo, 22-room mansion on Lake
Orta. According to this tale, par
tiSan friends had informed Holo-
han that the German-Fascist
forces were preparing a mop-up in
that area and apparently had got
ten wind of the ChrySler mission.
The partisans recommended that
Holohan move his headquarters
"Holohan demurred at first but
chose new location Just in case
1t was finally decided to move
across the lake that night but
before the party could take off
volley of shots, apparently from
enemy sources, were heard. All
of the men went in different di-
rectionS with the understanding
that they would regroup at the
new hideout. All of them arrived
safely at the new hideout except
Holohan. who was never seen
again. They presumed that he
had been killed or captured.
Lieutenant Icardi then took
charge of the mission and it be-
came extremely active. Between
December and April, Icardi called
for so air drops of arms. This
became known as Operation
PINEAPPLE. After the war, Ital-
ian Police, searching for buried
Communist arsenals. dug up quite
a bit of this materiel.
LODOlce Evacuated.
During the winter of 1945, Sergt.
LoDolce had nervous break
down and Icardi had him evacu-
ated to neutral Switzerland. After
the war, LoDolce received the
Distinguished Service Cross on the
recommendation of Icardi.
After the war the OSS and the