MIT Student Who Became a Nazi Spy and Caught Because He Being Too American
Let me tell you a story, of one Willaim Colepaugh. Willaim Colepaugh was an American born, educated in MIT, a defector to the Nazis, and a spy.
Willam Colepaugh was born on March 25, 1918, to William C. and Havel G. (Schmidt) Colepaugh. He went to the Massachusetts Institution of Technology for his college years. At there, he first saw Hitler’s ideas and beliefs. While he openly said that his ideas were ludicrous, it was merely a ruse; he loved his ideas. When he finished his education, he took a little visit to Spain, which back then was ruled by a dictator, Franco, which meant Spain had big ties with Germany. When he landed in Spain, he went to the German embassy and asked for asylum, which he did get.
After his asylum, he volunteered as a spy. However, there was one problem. While his mother was German (this is why Germany accepted him), he did not speak ANY German. So, during his special training, he met his translator: Erich Gimpel. Even though his views were wrong, he was still pretty smart, and he quickly became an expert plastic explosives technician. After their training, Gimple and Colepaugh were assigned to the U.S. They sneaked into the states by a U boat and landed in Boston. The German government had given them US$48,000 ($697,100 today).
You won’t believe what I am about to say, but it is true
The first mission that Gimpel and Colepaugh were assigned to is to sneak intel about the Manhattan Project. Must say, not the best mission for rookies. If you do not know what the Manhattan Project was, to simplify, it was to make the atom (nuclear)bomb.
To get intel, Colepaugh went to bars where high ranking officers are said to go often. When he went back to the house that Gimpel and he was using, he would be wasted every night.
To not get caught, Colepaugh and Gimpel separated and would meet every week to discuss what they found. And this is where the fun begins.
Colepaugh…kinda abandons the mission and would drink and carouse with local women. After a month and spending $1,500 ($21,800 today!), Gimpel found that the money given to him by his government was not used for espionage by Colepaugh. After confronting about his action, Gimpel threatened that he will tell the high command. This of course worried Colepaugh.
He tried to run away, but he figured that Gimpel might kill him, so he gave Gimpel away to the government, but the U.S. government not being dumb, figured out that he was also a spy. So he was also arrested. They were actually were sentenced to be hanged, but President Truman stops that act.
More interesting, Gimpel and Colepaugh were both released after the war. They were both paroled, Gimpel in 1955 and Colepaugh in 1960. Colepaugh actually married and somehow attained a job in Pennsylvania. Colepaugh actually died pretty recently in 2010, while Colepaugh died in 2005.
And that is the story of an MIT student who became a Nazi spy and caught because he was too American.
