William Colepaugh

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William Colepaugh
Conspiracy
Criminal penaltyDeath; commuted to life imprisonment; further commuted to 30 years imprisonment

William Curtis Colepaugh (March 25, 1918 – March 16, 2005) was an American who, following his 1943 discharge from the U.S. Naval Reserve ("for the good of the service", according to official reports), defected to Nazi Germany in 1944. While a crewman on a repatriation ship that stopped off in Lisbon, Colepaugh defected at the German consulate.[1] Colepaugh had attended Admiral Farragut Academy in Pine Beach, New Jersey.[2]

Early years

Colepaugh was born in Connecticut. His mother didn't send him to public school. She instead sent Colepaugh to the Admiral Farragut Academy.[3] He flunked out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Colepaugh was remembered there for being rabidly anti-Semitic. He would launch into a tirade against the Jews at the slightest provocation.[4]

Secret agent

Main article: Operation Elster

Colepaugh was given extensive

agent Erich Gimpel, he was transported back to the United States by the U-1230, landing at Hancock Point in the Gulf of Maine on 29 November 1944. Their mission, Operation Elster ("Magpie"), was to gather technical information on the Allied war effort and transmit it back to Germany using a radio
they were expected to build.

Together Colepaugh and Gimpel made their way to

coastline (indicating a U-boat had been nearby) and reports of suspicious sightings by local residents. The FBI interrogated
Colepaugh, which then enabled them to track down Gimpel.

After their capture, the pair were handed over to U.S. military authorities on the instructions of the

paroled in 1960.[7]

Last years

After his release, Colepaugh moved to King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia, where he worked in a print shop. He subsequently owned and operated a retail business that sold office furniture. He married and participated in community activities, volunteered with the Boy Scouts and became a member of Rotary.[2] He died of complications from Alzheimer's disease in 2005.[8]

Gimpel and Colepaugh are believed to have been the last Nazi German spies in World War II who reached the United States.[2]

See also

References

  1. ISBN 978-0-306-80949-1.[permanent dead link
    ]
  2. ^ a b c d e f Willing, Richard (February 27, 2002). "The Nazi spy next door". USA Today. Retrieved March 11, 2011.
  3. ^ Dixon, Mark E. (6 September 2018). "One Lower Merion Man's Secret Double Life". mainlinetoday.com. Main Line Today. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
  4. ^ "Colepaugh & Gimpel". www.globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 2022-09-03.
  5. ^ "The Secret Life of Erich Gimpel". HistoryNet. 2018-04-27. Retrieved 2022-08-25.
  6. ISBN 0-312-30797-7
  7. ^ "William C. Colepaugh, Appellant, v. Chesley H. Looney, Warden, United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth, Kansas, Appellee, 235 F.2d 429 (10th Cir. 1956)". Justia Law. Retrieved 2022-04-18.
  8. ISBN 1-466-98219-5

External links
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