Kids & Family

Former World War II Intelligence Agent Honored in Lake Ridge

Elizabeth Peet McIntosh was honored in a special ceremony by the Library of Virginia at Westminster at Lake Ridge, where she now lives.

On Feb. 29, Elizabeth Peet McIntosh, 97, was honored by the Library of Virginia for her work in World War II intelligence with a brief ceremony at , where she lives.

Librarian of Virginia Sandra Treadway presented a commemorative plaque to McIntosh and spoke briefly of women's role in history.

"The role that they have played hasn't always found its way into the history books," she said. For the past six years, they have been honoring Virginia women who played a role in history. 

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"We receive suggestions, nominations, and do some research about Virginia women who should be honored," she said. Eight women are then placed on a poster which is distributed to schools around the state. They are also honored in exhibits. 

McIntosh's ceremony kicks off March as Women's History Month for the Library of Virginia. Her writings about her time in the Office of Strategic Services, including Undercover Girl and Sisterhood of Spies: The Women of the OSS, helped to spark a conversation about women's roles in WWII intelligence, "a story that until that book came out and others began to talk about it, had really been forgotten in Virginia history and our nation's history," Treadway said. 

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McIntosh thanked the Library for honoring her, and described herself as "the daughter of a true Virginian."

"My mother always kept a picture of Robert E. Lee on her dresser," she said. Though her mother was happily married to a man from New York, "in rare moments of pique, she referred to him as a 'damn Yankee.'" 

From the Library of Virginia materials: 

Born in Washington, D.C., and raised in Hawaii, Elizabeth "Betty" Peet (b. 1915) was working as a correspondent for the Scripps Howard news service near Pearl Harbor when the Japanse attacked the naval base on Dec. 7, 1941.

After the United States entered World War II, she returned to Washington, where she covered Eleanor Roosevelt and government activities. Fluent in Japanse, Peet was recruited in January 1943 to join the Office of Strategic Services, the country's wartime intelligence agency whose ranks included actress Marlene Dietrich and chef Julia Child.

Operating in Burma, China, and India, Peet was one of the few women assigned to Morale Operations, where she helped produce false news reports, postcards, documents, and radio messages designed to spread disinformation that would undermine Japanese morale. 

After the war McIntosh wrote a memoir of her OSS experiences, published in 1947 as Undercover Girl. She also wrote two children's books, Inki (1957) and Palace Under the Sea (1959). 

McIntosh continued in public service and worked on assignments for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Voice of America, the State Deparment, and the United Nations. In 1958, she joined the Central Intelligence Agency, successor to the OSS, where she worked until her retirement in 1973. Her book Sisterhood of Spies: The Women of the OSS (1998) describes the adventures of the brave women who served in the Office of Strategic Services during World War II.

McIntosh was nominated by Linda McCarthy. 


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