Those who practice to deceive: New Mexico native among those honored for service with World War II's Ghost Army

It takes strategies and tactics of all kinds to win wars — especially a conflict such as World War II, which involved most of the globe’s countries and all its major powers.

Think of the Navajo Code Talkers, who used their native language to relay information America’s enemies were unable to decipher. Or the Normandy landing, the largest seaborne invasion in history. The atomic bomb, of course, remains the most deadly weapon ever employed in warfare.

And then there was the Ghost Army, so called because its men and its mission were invisible to most until 1996, when information about it was declassified.

The Ghost Army consisted of the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops, 1,100 men operating in France, Luxembourg, Belgium and Germany, and the 3133rd Signal Service Company Special, 200 soldiers in Italy. Members of the Ghost Army used inflatable tanks and sound effects, created misleading communications and military unit markings and put lower-ranking men in the uniforms of colonels and generals in elaborately planned schemes designed to deceive the enemy.

In March 1945, for example, 23rd Headquarters Special Troops created illusions that pulled German units away from the location the U.S. 9th Army used to cross the Rhine.

It has been estimated that tricks played by the Ghost Army saved the lives of 15,000 to 30,000 members of the Allied Forces during World War II.

Last month, during ceremonies at the U.S. Capitol, Ghost Army veterans at long last were recognized for their contributions to victory with a Congressional Gold Medal.

Only seven members of the Ghost Army are known to survive, and only three of those attended the ceremonies. Most Ghost Army veterans were honored posthumously. Among the latter was New Mexico native Abelicio Baca Barela.

Vow of silenceBarela was born in 1918 and grew up in La Joya in Socorro County before moving to and raising a family in Abeytas, also in Socorro County. He would later move to Albuquerque, where he died in October 2009.

Members of the Ghost Army were sworn to keep their roles in World War II a secret, so Barela’s family knew nothing about his role with the Ghost Army until after his death.

“About two years ago, I got a call from the New Mexico Military Museum inviting us to a program honoring members of the Ghost Army,” Albuquerque’s Jennifer Montaño, Barela’s daughter, said. “Dad told us he was a typist during the war and worked in an office.”

Which appears to be true, as far as it goes. According to information on the Ghost Army Legacy Project website, Barela was a clerk/typist with the 23rd Headquarters Company in the late summer of 1945 in New York. The site indicates Barela likely did not go overseas with the company.

“I did ask him once if he had been to Europe during the war,” Barela’s son, Dan, said during a phone interview from his home in Boulder, Colorado. “He said no, he just stayed stateside.”

Montaño imagines her father rattling off memos, letters and press releases — maybe legitimate ones needed in every kind of operation, or perhaps false ones intended to fool the enemy.

“Dad could speak fluent English and Spanish, and he could type like nobody’s business,” she said. “I would say he was a simple man, although very bright. He had a lot of integrity. He was easygoing and had a good sense of humor.”

In addition to Montaño and Dan Barela, Abelicio and his wife, Beneranda (Bennie), had four other children, Esmerlindo J. Barela, a Vietnam veteran; Abelicio Barela Jr.; Francine (Fran) LaJeunesse and Berlinda Barela, who is deceased.

“He encouraged us all to get educated,” Montaño said. “His focus was to work hard and get educated.”

Barela had completed a year of college before he was inducted into the Army in February 1942. After his service, he earned a bachelor’s degree in agriculture from what is now New Mexico State University and did graduate work at New Mexico Tech in Socorro and the College of St. Joseph on the Rio Grande, which would later be known as the University of Albuquerque.

He taught high school in La Joya and Cuba, New Mexico, and elementary school and with the Job Corps in Albuquerque. He also worked many years for the Federal Housing Authority.

“My dad was always a busy person,” Montaño said. “He always had a garden going. After he retired, just to have something to do, he worked as a crossing guard at an elementary school in Albuquerque. I remember one Christmas he gave a dollar to every kid who crossed.”

The big day“It was all pomp and circumstance,” Dan Barela said of the Ghost Army Congressional Gold Medal ceremony March 21 in Washington, D.C.

Dan; his sister, Fran; Fran’s daughter, Olivia Oshiro; and Montaño’s son, Mario Montaño, represented the family at the ceremony, which was hosted by House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana.

“Several hundred people were bused over to the Capitol grounds from the hotel,” Dan said. “We walked over to the Capitol and went to Emancipation Hall.

“There were white marble walls, statues of historic figures, lots of chairs for the audience. Congressional staffers, young people were milling around, a lot of security was standing around. The program started sharply at 11 (a.m.).”

Dan said he was struck by seeing people in attendance he is accustomed to seeing on the daily news. He saw Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky; Sens. Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Susan Collins of Maine and Chuck Grassley of Iowa; House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York and Rep. Annie Kuster of New Hampshire.

Only one medal was presented, and it was accepted by the three surviving Ghost Army members in attendance.

“We (family members) received replicas of the medal later during dinner at the hotel where we were staying,” Dan said.

As impressive and dizzying as Washington political luminaries and the functions at the Capitol were, Dan said there is something else he can’t get his head around.

“The idea that the whole role of this unit would remain secret so long is sort of surprising — and that dad was part of it,” Dan said. “He never mentioned a word.”