I Was Trained to Be a Spy: a True Life Story

An American-born boy grew up in a small village on the Greek island of Crete. In his last year in high school, he witnessed the German invasion of Crete, in May of 1941, during the early days of WW II. At the age of eighteen, he joined a resistance group headed by his brother, and supplied crucial information to the SOE, the arm of the English Intelligence Service. This resistance group is uncovered, resulting in their hasty evacuation by the SOE, to Cairo, Egypt.

In Cairo, the author and his brother were asked to join the English Intelligence Service, but rather, pursued the American OSS, or Office of Strategic Services, the newly formed American intelligence counterpart. They were enlisted into the US Army, and attached to the OSS, where the author was trained in the SI, or Secret Intelligence sector, which included parachute jumping, wireless/Morse code training, commando/defense training, locks/safe-cracking techniques, escape methods, and environment assimilation techniques.

After being transformed into a skilled "spy", the author was sent back to Greece undercover, and along with a Greek naval intelligence officer, set up a communications cell in Salonica, Greece's second largest city, whereby daily coded messages to OSS Headquarters in Cairo were sent. One such message describes the course of events surrounding the bombing of the main railroad yard in Salonica, and the loss of thousands of German troops, as well as recalling the near-capture encounters with the German Gestapo and the Greek police. The author also recounts his personal experiences of his escape from Crete through the mountains, the evacuations by an English torpedo boat, his OSS training, the return mission to Greece, and his final return to the United States.


Review:

Not every hero of World War II was forcing their way forward on the front lines. "I Was Trained To Be a Spy" is the true life story of Helias Doundoulakis, who served as a spy during the thick of World War II. Witnessing the early days as a citizen... was trained as a spy, then found himself blending among the Greek people, whom he lived with during much of his life. Telling his full story from his early life to his life after, "I Was Trained To Be a Spy" is the exciting story of a real spy.

- The Midwest Book Review, by Michael Dunford