Basic Parachutist, SACEUR, Army Distinguished Service Medal with three oak clusters, Navy Distinguished Service medal, Air Force Distinguished Service Medal, Silver Star, Legion of Merit degree of Officer(a mistake but not rescinded by FDR), legion of Merit degree of legionnaire, World War 1 victory medal(even though he was barely a cadet at academy), to name a few and that smile. The satisfaction oozlfinching off his entire face. This is the smile of a man who has lost battles but believes he is winning the war. One should note that in this official Supreme Allied Commander EURope photo, he is not wearing his wedding ring but rather his Masonic ring. Also FYI, the flag in the back left is the SACEUR flag, because if you are somebody you have a flag, and on the right is NATO.
Lymnan Lemnizter was born in a small town in Pennsylvania, whose motto is "A great place to visit; A better place to live!", and joined the military right out of high school in 1917. He attended West Point and graduated in 1920 after which he attended the Coast Artillery School and joined what was they known as the Coast Artillery, which was a branch of the service that existed from 1901-1950.
The Coast Artillery was created in response to the lessons learned during the Spanish American war and it was Chester A. Arthur that was responsible for the creation of what became the Army Coast Artillery Corps, which still exists today as the Air Defense Artillery and operates anti Air weapons platforms like THAAD and various other weapon systems.
After Lem graduated, apparently there was an incident that caused many in his graduating class, Lyman included, to be demoted from 1st lieutenant to 2nd lieutenant. After this incident, he was deployed to the Philippines; Lyman would actually deployed twice to the Philippines, the first time in the 1920s and again in 1934 -1935.
This second tour was an interesting time to be deployed there because this was the year that the Tydings-McDuffie Act was passed which was a pivotal moment in the history of the country. The proper title for the United States of America should actually be these United States, Domestic Dependent Nations, and Insular areas of America. Most are aware of the middle one there under a different euphemism: Indian Reservations but it seems that many often forget that Puerto Rico is an Organized unincorporated Territory, an insular area.
Within ten years, if not for WW2, of that act, the Philippines would become a free and independent country after having been a military dictatorship run by the US Department of War, then the Insular government, and finally ending with the Commonwealth. He was in the country for the writing of the constitution and the first direct election of the president, who had been appointed up to that point by the reigning US official.
The US military presence was a remnant of the Spanish-American War when several former colonies of Spain became properties of the United States. This is also the reason that there is an American Military presence on the island of Cuba to this day at Guantanamo Bay.
Lyman served in WW2 eventually being attached to the staff that helped plan the invasion of Africa called Operation Torch. He would also come in contact with the OSS and be a part of Allen Dulles’ negotiations for the surrender of the fascist in Italy called Operation Sunrise as well as the invasion of Sicily.
He seemed to be close and simpatico with Mr Dulles to be included in such negotiations which may or may not have been sanctioned by the president. Immediately after the war, he was part of the team that stayed in Europe to set up what became NATO. He did such a good job during the War that after setting up NATO, he was given command in Korea as CINCFE(Commander in Chief of the Far East).
After serving superbly, I mean just look at all those medals! Lyman was appointed to be the Chairman of the JCS in 1960, serving after Nathan Twinning of the famous Twinning memo, and was involved in many of the ongoing operations of the Intelligence Community, of which the JCS is a crucial tactical component. Having had already worked with Allen Dulles, who was now the DCI, which at the time meant that he was both the director of CIA and the principle intelligence adviser to the president, in Italy, this new post was just like old times as they got to working on the details of what was being called the Cuba Project or Operation Mongoose.
A brief note about what terms the Intelligence Community uses from the Church Committee Report:
A Collection of Projects becomes an operation and an operation becomes a Mongoose when there is a problem. Operation Mongoose, otherwise known as the Cuba Project, came into being when the ideas in Cuba became a problem.
The conflict that defined a majority of the 20th century was the tension between socioeconopolitical systems of capitalism and communism. It was the main focus of the foreign policy apparatus of the United States, private and public. Most famously the case in Vietnam, Nicaragua, Chile, and Cuba but also in many other locals that are too numerous to recount here.
Cuba was and is important to the power projection of the United States in the Americas. In the past, it served as a coal refueling station for the Navy and today houses the prison at Guantanamo Bay where terrorists suspects are held indefinitely and without charge. The base in Cuba was perfect launching point for any operation that might be needed in pursuit of the Monroe Doctrine which had the Roosevelt Corollary attached by President Theodore Roosevelt. Do remember that Roosevelt was Asst. Secretary of the Navy where he was able to seize upon the sinking of the USS Maine in Havana Bay as a reason to invade Cuba, dressed as liberating the island from Spanish Dominion of course, even going so far as to resign that post so he could lead the infamous Rough Riders himself(which you have to respect that he did at least walk the imperial walk; a son of his would die in WW1 after he encouraged him to join the service).
In fact, problems with revolution and sugar production in Cuba caused a re-invasion in what is known as the Sugarcane Intervention. A communist revolution 40 years after that led to a renewed desire to help the Cuban people realize how awesome American capitalism is.
Enter Operation Northwoods. This is a collection of project suggestions aimed at solving the problem. Much of the solutions to this problem had been written earlier by Brig. Gen. William H. Craig and then passed onto Edward Lansdale, Chief of Operations for the Cuba Project. From there, it would be given to the Chairman, Lemnitzer, who would either sign off and send to the Secretary of Defense or kill the proposal. Lyman signed off on these solutions and sent them to Robert McNamara, the SecDef at the time.
This is standard operating procedure for the military, and CIA, as they can theoretically can be called upon to perform any task so they have to have plans for all eventualities, however unlikely. For example, the United States Military had/has? plans to invade Canada in the extremely unlikely event that it is required. This was known as War Plan Red. It would be a surprise if a plan didn't exist today as well but that it remains classified, as it should be, as it is current strategy and revealing it would actually damage national security(however unlikely open conflict between Canada and the US is).
General Lymnitzer is notable among Chairman of the JCS because he is the only Chairman of the JCS to not retire after their term as chairman ended. Instead he was given command as Supreme Allied Commander EU at NATO, which is where our picture of Lem comes from. It is suggested that he was not allowed another term as a result of the taste the Operation Northwoods memo left in the Kennedy Administration’s mouth. Later, He was in charge during several key moments in NATO, including France withdrawing its forces from NATO as well as other French Shenanigans but eventually retired from the military in 1969; however, the war was not over.
Later, he was appointed to the Rockefeller Commission by "President" Gerald Ford which looked into the intelligence activities of the United States and also if the CIA agents Howard Hunt, of Watergate, and Frank Sturgis were involved in the murder of JFK. Guess what they found?
Chapter 19 of the report states that Hunt, who was the Executive Assistant to Allen Dulles at one point, and Sturgis denied being involved in one of the significant murders in the last 100 years. The Commission accepted the accounts of Hunt and Sturgis and reaffirmed the Lone gunman Magic bullet theory of the Warren Commission, of which Allen Dulles was a leading member.
So what exactly were the proposals that made him infamous?
Read for yourself. Does anything sound familiar?
Sokath, his eyes uncovered.
If you want me to read you the juicy bits, go here:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
The full, well at least what us plebs are allowed to read of it as parts are still redacted to this day over 50 years later, document can be found, read, and downloaded : https://documents.theblackvault.com/documents/jfk/northwoods-NARA-FullDocument.pdf