Sun columnist Peter Lucas was part of a group of American veterans of Albanian descent who made the trek from Boston to Korc to participate in the
Sun columnist Peter Lucas was part of a group of American veterans of Albanian descent who made the trek from Boston to Korc to participate in the ceremony honoring those members of the OSS who helped the Albanian partisans take on the German war machine during World War II. courtesy photo

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By Peter Lucas:
KORCE, Albania -- You may never get a chance to see it, but in the Albanian town of Korcë, up by the borders of Macedonia and Greece, now stands a granite memorial to the Americans of the famed OSS --Office of Strategic Services -- who fought there during World War II.
We, fellow veterans from Boston and elsewhere, dedicated it on May 8, which was VE Day.
The "we" consisted of a small group of American veterans of Albanian descent -- a couple of whom were accompanied by their sons -- who made the trek from Boston to Korcë to participate in the ceremony honoring the men, most of whom were of Albanian descent themselves.
The funds for the monument were privately raised from donors who felt it was time to honor these men before they disappeared into the dustbin of history.
During World War II the OSS, which was the wartime forerunner of the CIA, had a secret program of enlisting and training American immigrants, or their sons, to be sent back to their country of origin to aid partisans fighting the German occupation in Europe, as well as the wartime enemy elsewhere.
Thus, young Greek American OSS agents were sent to Greece, Italian Americans to Italy, French Americans to France, Serbian Americans to Yugoslavia, Albanian Americans to Albania, and so on.
Gen. Bill "Wild Bill" Donovan, a personal friend of President Franklin Roosevelt, who ran the OSS, believed that these ethnic Americans, given the proper training, would be most effective fighting the enemy behind the lines in their countries of origin. He was proven right.
The men he brought into the OSS spoke the language of their country of origin, knew the country and its history, were familiar with local customs, could bond with guerrilla leaders and, in many cases, had relatives still living there who could serve as their eyes and ears.
In Albania's case, the immigrant population in the U.S. before the war was so tiny as to be unrecognizable. In 1930, there were fewer than 3,000 Albanians then living in Massachusetts. The center of the population was in Greater Boston, and that is where the recruiters of the OSS came to get its men.
One of the men was Capt. Tom Stefan, who was born and reared in Laconia, N.H. Before joining the Army and the OSS in 1942, Stefan attended Suffolk University while he worked nights in a Boston restaurant.
Stefan commanded the 30-member force, made up mostly of Albanian-Americans, that secretly landed along the Karaburun Peninsula in Albania, after being ferried over German-infested waters in the Adriatic Sea from Bari, Italy, in 1943-1944. They first operated out of a series of caves before marching inland, where Stefan bonded with Communist partisan leader Enver Hoxha, who provided Stefan with enemy intelligence in exchange for weapons and supplies.
The rest, as they say, is history.
That history was in the air during the dedication, which fell on a sun-drenched day after days of pouring rain, which turned the countryside into Ireland.
The event took place in a park near City Hall. Traffic was halted, and people lined both sides of the street to witness the event in a town where, granted, not much happens. But it is a place where the Americans of the OSS had their roots, and where the partisans found sanctuary in nearby mountains.
A volunteer band played the national anthems of both countries. Wreaths were laid at the monument and a moment of silence took place.
Former Albanian President Alfred Moisiu, a retired general, gave a fiery speech, remembering how his father had fought with the partisans and how he as a boy had met Capt. Stefan in the mountains of Albania.
Albanian Army Chief of Staff Gen. Jeronim Bazo impressed the visitors with his knowledge of English, his charm and his understanding of the importance of the American World War II commitment.
U.S. Ambassador to Albania Alexander Arvizu smoothly charmed the crowd with an all-inclusive speech that stressed the importance of the event in further bonding relations between the two countries. 
But while people clapped and cheered when the monument was unveiled, they were moved to silence when Jorgji Qirjako, the master of ceremonies, read the names of the Americans who were bronzed atop the stone, all but three of whom are now dead. Many of the Korcë-sounding names were quite familiar.
And then Master Sgt. Robert Newlin of the U.S. Embassy played taps, and you could have heard a pin drop. Eyes watered.
It was a good day to be an American.
Peter Lucas' political column appears Tuesday and Friday. Email him at luke1825@aol.com. He is the author of "The OSS in World War II Albania."