Smithsonian Magazine ·Smart escape
This American Commando Parachuted Behind Enemy Lines in Both the European and Pacific Theaters of World War II
Published 2026-08-27 12:33:42+00:00
What happens to a goodbye letter when the man who wrote it actually comes home?
0:00 / 13:04 · Narrator Vindemiatrix
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Context
Before Francis Lowell Coolidge jumped from a heavy bomber over occupied France, he wrote a five-page letter to his wife in Massachusetts. Smithsonian Magazine published that letter for the first time on 27 August 2026. It anchors a story that bypasses the usual mythology of early American espionage, asking a much quieter question about the absolute cost of leaving a family behind to disappear into the shadows.
Show notes
A profile of Francis Lowell Coolidge, an Office of Strategic Services agent who parachuted behind enemy lines in both France and China during World War II. The account details his 1944 deployment with the French Resistance, his 1945 imprisonment by Chinese Communist forces, and his postwar career as a CIA station chief. It includes excerpts from a previously unpublished goodbye letter written to his wife before his European mission.