Nicholas Leo was only 19-years-old when he joined the U.S. Army during World War II. The now 99-year-old was a member of the 23rd Headquarters Special Troop, which along with the 3133 Signal Service Company became known as The Ghost Army.
According to the National WWII Museum, The Ghost Army was activated in 1944 to become the “first mobile, multimedia, tactical deception unit in US Army history.” The top-secret command decepted the German forces into thinking their thousand man unit actually consisted of two whole divisions, about 30,000 men. They also used inflatable tanks and artillery, radio deception, sound equipment, and impersonation to confuse the Axis soldiers about where actual Allied fighting units were. They carried out more than 20 top-secret deception missions, risking their lives to divert enemy attention from real operations and save thousands of lives.
Veteran Nicholas Leo served as a private in the Signal Company Special, the radio deception arm of the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops. He and his fellow radio deceivers established phony radio networks and transmitted fake messages to fool the Germans.
Veteran Nicholas Leo was honorably discharged on April 17, 1946.
Congress has honored Nicholas “Nick” Leo and his fellow comrades-in-arms by awarding a Congressional Gold Medal to these units, collectively known as The Ghost Army, for their “unique and highly distinguished service during World War II.”