# Posted 12:49 PM by Patrick Belton  

A CHARMING STORY, CARE OF OXBLOG'S FRIENDS IN THE OSS SOCIETY:

You never know when that old Boy Scout manual will come in handy.

Dan Pinck was 18 when he joined the Office of Strategic Services, America's first spy agency in World War II. Pinck was barely trained when he left on his first mission. His job was to slip behind Japanese lines near Hong Kong. He was to liaise with Chinese guerillas and gather intelligence about Japanese forces along the South China Coast. He was the only [non-Asian] hiding in a Chinese town surrounded by hundreds of Japanese troops. Trouble was, no one in OSS had shown Pinck how to draw a map.

How did he get out of this fix? Pinck leafed through an old copy of the Boy Scout handbook and innovated his way to success. A neighbor gave Pinck the scout handbook before he went overseas. "The neighbor was a retired public health official who served in the Philippines. He said it would be useful anywhere and told me to take it along. For some strange reason, I took his advice," said Pinck, now 79, who wrote about his life in a recent memoir: Journey to Peking, A Secret Agent In Wartime China.

The neighbor was right. One of Pinck's most daunting tasks was mapping Japanese artillery positions so they could be destroyed or skirted by U.S. forces. Not knowing the first thing about maps, he consulted a section of the scout handbook called "Getting to Mrs. Nestor's Farm." It's an exercise where scouts find their way to an imaginary farm by drawing in local landmarks and other details. "Mrs. Nestor's farm gave us notations for streets, streams, houses...even rough elevations," Pinck said.

"Mrs. Nestor's Farm" has been removed from latter editions of the scout handbook. But at the time, Pinck followed its instructions to pinpoint the location of Japanese guns based on information he got from Chinese agents. He also mapped out ports and routes used by Japanese ships in his area.

Pinck's maps helped sink several Japanese vessels. His data on Japanese artillery also helped the U.S. plan for an invasion of China which was called off when Japan surrendered.

Pinck relied on his scout handbook so much he once caught a Japanese spy trying to steal it. "(The spy) probably thought it was an American code book stuffed with secret messages," Pinck recalled.

Communicating well with Chinese allies was Pinck's other ace in the hole. He says when serving behind enemy lines, a trusting relationship with locals often spells the difference between success and failure. Pinck came across as an honest communicator committed to helping China defeat Japan. The Chinese respected that. "In special ops, it's not the 'thing' that counts, it's the 'who.' The human dimension is the prime consideration," Pinck said. "If you have good people who can pick good people, you also have a good chance to succeed."

What are some other secrets....? "Always have back up and be ready to pull out instantly. Also, doubt everything and believe only what you see."... "Always go into a situation with two or three people covering you. And always have two or three alternative schemes," Pinck said. "Things rarely happen the way they're conceived. Try to have as many variations as possible and act quickly if the situation demands it."

For instance, I had three different ways planned to finish this post, but I'm in the end selecting lunch. (0) opinions -- Add your opinion