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WWII spy Patricia Warner, 98, gets surprised with a Congressional Gold Medal

Congress first recognized the Office of Strategic Services with the Congressional Gold Medal in 2018

Former WWII spy Patricia Warner, 98, receives a Congressional Gold Medal in Lincoln, Mass., Tuesday. (Courtesy of Rep. Katherine Clark)
Former WWII spy Patricia Warner, 98, receives a Congressional Gold Medal in Lincoln, Mass., Tuesday. (Courtesy of Rep. Katherine Clark)

Rep. Katherine Clark surprised former World War II spy Patricia Warner, 98, with a Congressional Gold Medal on Tuesday.

“We’d like to present to you a Congressional Gold Medal that we made for you to thank you for your service,” Clark said at a small gathering at the Lincoln Local Library in her Massachusetts district. 

“Well say it louder so everybody can hear,” Warner, of Lincoln, Mass., replied to laughter.

Warner signed up to collect intelligence for the Office of Strategic Services after her husband died in combat in 1942, WBZ reported

“My husband was killed in the war and I wanted to do something useful,” Warner said, according to WBZ.

Congressional Gold Medal with
Congressional Gold Medal with “OSS” engraved on it as presented to former OSS officer Patricia Warner Tuesday. (Courtesy of Rep. Katherine Clark)

Warner was a spy for the Allies for two years, Clark said. She was sent to Spain, which was sympathetic to the Nazis. Her task was to infiltrate high society and report back what she heard, WBZ reported.

Her duties included collaborating with the French resistance through Morse code to help American pilots escape Nazi-occupied France.

Clark said the honor is part of a growing effort to recognize the women who had a role in the WWII war effort.

“So many stories of historic and heroic women go untold. Today, I had the honor of giving Patricia Warner the recognition she deserves for her fearless service as a spy in WWII,” Clark said in a tweet.

Congress first recognized the OSS with a Congressional Gold Medal in a Capitol Hill ceremony in 2018. The information gathering network was the forerunner to the Central Intelligence Agency and the military’s Special Operations Forces, according to the CIA.  

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