OSS and Free Thai - WW2 and Today [Archive]

GWR

20-11-05, 07:30 PM

Bob Bergin is a former Foreign Service officer who
served in Thailand; and who continues to visit it frequently
on business. He works closely with Thailand’s Foundation
for the Preservation and Development of Thai Aircraft,
and has published articles about the history of aviation in
Southeast Asia and China. His specialty is the American
Volunteer Group (AVG) “Flying Tigers.” He has also written
two novels set in Southeast Asia:-

Sites in Bangkok Today: OSS and Free Thai Memories
WWII OSS headquarters in Bangkok as it appears today. OSS Society - Spring 2005
By Bob Bergin

Wartime buildings used by OSS and Free
Thai in Bangkok still stand today, and
probably look little different from the way they
did in 1945. In February I visited the sites in
the company of retired, officer Piya
Chakkaphak, who remembers fondly his OSS
wartime service.
Thammasat University, which has produced
many Thai leaders is particularly significant
in the Free Thai story. The founder, Pridi
Phanomyong, was also Regent to the Thai King.
In OSS he was code-named Ruth, the leader of
the Free Thai movement. In March 1945, Piya
and six other Free Thai were summoned to
Pridi’s office at Thammasat, where Pridi selected
them for OSS training in Ceylon. Pridi’s
office at Thammasat is much as it was then,
and has become a small museum honoring Pridi
and Free Thai.
A short walk from Pridi’s office was another building
that once housed Allied POWs, including AVG Flying
Tiger Pilot William “Black Mac” McGarry. The Thais
were concerned about the safety of these POWs and
worked out a deal. The Japanese would be in charge, but
the POWs would be under control of Thai guards. The
arrangement assured that POWs were safe, and that at
least one of them, “Black Mac” was returned to Allied
hands before war ended.

Just outside the University on Phra Athit Road is
Pridi’s residence where much Free Thai business was conducted.
This house is an important symbol of the Free
Thai Movement, and a replica of it was built to house
Bangkok’s new Free Thai Museum. A few doors beyond
Pridi’s residence is another house that the Free Thai used
to conceal people awaiting exfiltration.
A pier near the back of the property on the river
gave easy access to Thai Customs Department boats that
regularly transported OSS and Free Thai officers and
equipment up and down the river and through Bangkok
system of canals. The use of these boats was one of the
Free Thai’s most effective operations. The Japanese apparently
never suspected and no one was ever caught. The
Thai Customs Department and its boats were under the
command of Pao Chakkaphak, a Free Thai and the father
of Piya.

Some distance north of Phra Athit Road, in a park-like
setting near the Dusit Zoo, is the Wang Suan Kulab,
the Rose Garden Palace. It’s a sizable compound with two
primary buildings, one with a very distinctive tower. This
was OSS Bangkok headquarters, where the OSS officers
lived and worked. The building with the tower was the
office. The second building, an elegant two-story residence,
was the living quarters for the OSS officers. The Japanese
troops had the OSS surrounded, but didn’t know it. The
Palace was crown property, and the Japanese did not have
access to it and apparently never suspected OSS was there.
Not too far away from the OSS compound, just off
from the Rama V Road and across from Watchirawut College
was a Free Thai safehouse, a wonderful old Teak residence
of Charn Bunnak. The house still stands, now a Royal Thai
Army facility. It was in this house in February 1945, Piya
and his older brother were formerly inducted into the Free
Thai movement. The house has served as the residence of
several Free Thai members who had been trained both by
OSS and the British SOE and were infiltrated.
After visiting the sites with my friend Piya it seemed
remarkable how well the Free Thai and OSS were organized
in Japanese-occupied Bangkok. Piya believes a lot
of this was due to Japanese feelings of superiority and their
attitudes toward the Thai. The Japanese could never believe
that the friendly Thai among whom they lived could
be capable of such skillful subversion.