Are you willing to undertake a dangerous mission behind the enemy lines, knowing you may never return alive?

This was the question asked of men and women, ordinary citizens. Those who said yes became part of the Office of Strategic Services. They risked their lives in dangerous missions and formed a powerful spy system throughout Europe and Asia which would be key to Allied success in World War II.

During the War, the stories of their adventures - of their courage and their sacrifice - remained closely-guarded military secrets. When the War came to its end, their story began to be told in the 1945 book Cloak and Dagger by Lt. Colonel Corey Ford and Major Alastir Macbain.

That book inspired Cloak and Dagger, a radio series dramatizing cases from the OSS’s Washington, D.C. files. It aired from May to October 1950 on the NBC network. As the late old time radio historian John Dunning observed, the series opened a Sunday afternoon mystery block "of far inferior quality," receiving little media attention and no sponsorship.

On paper, it looked like another low-budget, network-sustained placeholder. It was an anthology program starring a solid group of New York radio regulars who reliably turned in great acting performances for union scale. On paper, it looked like one of those cheap network-sustained placeholder.

The series disappeared from the air, unlamented and unremembered. However, according to Dunning, contemporary researchers discovered a nearly complete run of the series. What was discovered was a "gripping show with every story an unpredictable departure from formula." The twenty circulating episodes live up to Dunning's praise, and then some, while celebrating the vital clandestine work of the OSS.

Adam Graham is your guide through all circulating episode of this amazing series of courage and adventure.

Chart: Apple Podcasts – United States – Performing Arts

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