The unit had its barracks at Camp Forrest, Tennessee, and was fully formed at Camp Pine, New York (now Fort Drum), before sailing for the United Kingdom in early May 1944. Inspiration for the unit came from the British units who had honed the deception technique for Operation Bertram during the battle of El Alamein in late 1942. Army planners Ralph Ingersoll and Billy Harris, and led by Colonel Harry L. In February 2022, members of the Ghost Army were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, citing their unique and highly distinguished service. The unit was the subject of a PBS documentary The Ghost Army in 2013. Their story was kept a secret for more than 50 years after the war, until it was declassified in 1996. During their tenure, the Ghost Army carried out more than 20 deception campaigns, putting on a "traveling road show" using inflatable tanks, sound trucks, fake radio transmissions, scripts and pretense. Activated on January 20, 1944, the Ghost Army arrived in Europe in May shortly before D-Day and returned to the US at the end of the war in July 1945. The 1100-man unit was given a unique mission: to deceive Hitler's forces and mislead them as to the size and location of Allied forces, while giving the actual units elsewhere time to maneuver. The Ghost Army was a United States Army tactical deception unit during World War II officially known as the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops. Ghost Army insignia, not used by the actual unit, but associated with the unit after the war For no-show soldiers, see Ghost soldiers.
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