News flash: Julia Child, international spy

Julia Child = world renown chef, author, TV personality and WWII SPY?

Sure, she makes a mean Lobster Thermidor, but it’s the Tommy Gun under her apron you’ve really got to watch out for.

Crazy, but true. Read it on CNN.com today.

Julia Child, along with Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg and Chicago White Sox catcher Moe Berg, served in an international spy ring under the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), an early version of the CIA created during WWII by President Roosevelt.

This week the U.S. government is releasing the names of almost 24,000 spies who were part of the first centralized intelligence effort.

“They were soldiers, actors, historians, lawyers, athletes, professors, reporters. But for several years during World War II, they were known simply as the OSS. They studied military plans, created propaganda, infiltrated enemy ranks and stirred resistance among foreign troops.”

Best quote of the story:

"I was told to keep my mouth shut," said 93-year-old Walter Mess, who handled covert OSS operations in Poland and North Africa.

Mess kept the secret for over 50 years, but is now finally able to tell his wife of 62 years everything he’s been up to all this time.