RICHARD S. GREENLEE WAS ONE OF TWO OSS CIVILIAN OFFICERS INFILTRATED INTO JAPANESE-OCCUPIED BANGKOK IN JANUARY 1945 TO ESTABLISH LIAISON WITH LUANG PRADIT, REGENT OF THAILAND, WHO ALSO HEADED A PATRIOTIC CONSPIRACY OF HIGH GOVERNMENT OFFCER

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP83-00036R001000120008-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 18, 2013
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: February 22, 1945
• Content Type: REPORT

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/11/18: CIA-RDP83-00036R001000120008-2
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Richard S. Greenlee was one of two OSS civilian officers
infiltrated into Japanese-occupied Bangkok in January 1945 to
establish liaison with Luang Pradit, Regent of Thailand, who
also headed a patriotic conspiracy of high government officers
working to unseat their enforced allies, the Japanese. Through
a third-party arrangement of by no means assured security the
two were flown from Madras in an RAF Catalina flying boat
which set down in the Gulf of Siam, where they were transferred
to a Thai customs launch, landed at King's Wharf Bangkok, and
driven through the city in daylight to a secluded house. Here,
confined to a single room, they set up shop as the U.S. "mission"
to Thailand.
The Regent had a scheme for armed uprising against the
Japanese with the help from outside of several U.S. divisions,
and he was anxious that his plans be presented to the U.S.
government. In early February, accordingly, Greenlee was picked
up by Catalina and flown to Washington. The matter was import-
ant enough that General Donovan kept President Roosevelt himself
informed:
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22 February 1945
MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT
A representative of ours, an American sent in especi-
ally for the purpose, has just returned here from Bangkok,
where he conferred personally with several high Thai offi-
cials, including Luang Pradit, Regent of Thailand.
He brought with him certain political intelligence
and proposals, including a proposal of the Regent for the
formation of a provisional Free Thai government in this
country, which have been referred to the State Department.
He also brought with him certain military intelli-
gence and proposals, including a detailed account of
Japanese forces in Thailand, the potentialities of the
Thai armed forces for aid to the Allies, and a war plan
based on these dispositions which are being referred to
the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
An American officer is at present in Bangkok, where
he has personal access to the Regent, and his principal
aides in the Free Thai movement, and radio communication
to our base on Ceylon. (He constitutes a channel of
communication to the Regent.) He is sending to us infor-
mation received directly by him, and by this means also
we hope to establish an additional line of penetration
to Japan.
William J. Donovan
Director
5 March 1945
MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT
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Luang Pradit requested one of the 088 representatives
to return to the United States as soon as possible in
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order to inform our State Department of his sympathies
with the cause of the United Nations. In addition, he
asked this officer to present to The President of the
United States this gold cigarette case. This gift has
especial significance because of the affixed Royal
Siamese Crown and the inscribed Royal Siamese initials.
In making this gift, the Regent stated that he wished
this present to be conveyed as a mark of his esteem
for the United States and for The President.
The OSS officer complied with the Regent's request.
He is presently in Washington and is expected to leave
the country enroute to Bangkok on or about 9 March 1945
William J. Donovan
Director
Commissioned a major, Greenlee did get back to Bangkok,
again by Catalina, on the first of April, accompanied by a
third officer (and $50,000 in gold). It shows something of
the strain they were under in their clandestine activity that
the man left in charge during February and March, now that he
had someone there to take over, succumbed to a nervous break-
down and had to be evacuated. The mission was, however, moved
to roomier and better-protected quarters at about this time.
Greenlee had to tell Luang Pradit that there was not much
chance the Joint Chiefs would approve his plan for a U.S.
assault on the Japanese positions in Thailand, but he managed
it with such understanding and helpfulness in other respects
that the Regent remained encouraged and cooperative. He also
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managed to heal a detrimental breach between the Regent and
his somewhat less cooperative police chief. In the three
months of his second stay he perfected the mutually beneficial
arrangements under which the Siamese got instructors for guer-
rilla training, arms dropped for them by parachute, and assur-
ances of U.S. sympathy tangibly reinforced by drops of medical
supplies for Bangkok hospitals, while the Americans got the
release of captured officers and agents, a measure of control
over the underground movement, and a copious flow of some of
the highest-level intelligence of the war, including informa-
tion on Japanese dispositions and plans communicated to the
Siamese "allies."
Both parties to this bargain sought to honor the man who
had brought it about. The Thai government, after the Japanese
surrender, presented him with The Most Sacred Order of the
White Elephant. This he had officially to refuse under U.S.
regulations, because Thailand could not be called a co-bellig-
erent power. But he could accept from the U.S. Theater Command
the order of the Legion of Merit, presented him on 15 November
1945 by General Magruder.
WrIMMie
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