During the Korean War, the First Marine Division met the enemy at Chosin mountain reservoir in subfreezing temperatures.  Out of ammunition, Marines called in for 60mm mortar ammo; code name “Tootsie Rolls.”  The radio operator did not have the code sheets that would tell him what a “Tootsie Roll”  was, but knew the request was urgent; so he called in the order.  Soon, pallets of Tootsie Roll candies parachuted from the sky to the First Marine Division!  While they were not ammunition, this candy from the sky provided well needed nourishment for the troops.  They also learned they could use warmed Tootsie Rolls to plug bullet holes, sealing them as they refroze.

Over two weeks of incessant fighting, the 15,000-man division suffered 3,000 killed in action, 6,000 wounded and thousands of severe frostbite cases.  But they accomplished their goal and destroyed several Chinese divisions in the process.  Many credited their very survival to Tootsie Rolls.  Surviving Marines called themselves “The Chosin Few.”

The Ghost Army was a United States Army tactical deception unit during World War II officially known as the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops. The 1100 man unit was given a unique mission within the Allied Army: to impersonate other Allied Army units to deceive the enemy. From a few months after D-Day, when they landed in France, until the end of the war, they put on a “traveling road show” utilizing inflatable tanks, sound trucks, fake radio transmissions, scripts and pretence. They staged more than 20 battlefield deceptions, often operating very close to the front lines. Their story was kept secret for more than 40 years after the war, and elements of it remain classified. The unit was the subject of a PBS documentary The Ghost Army in 2013.

Aided by engineers from Bell Labs, a team from the 3132 went to Fort Knox to record sounds of armored and infantry units onto a series of sound effects records that they brought to Europe. For each deception, sounds could be “mixed” to match the scenario they wanted the enemy to believe. This program was recorded on state-of-the-art wire recorders (the predecessor to the tape recorder), and then played back with powerful amplifiers and speakers mounted on halftracks. The sounds they played could be heard 15 miles (24 km) away.

To complement existing techniques, the unit often employed theatrical effects to supplement the other deceptions. Collectively called “atmosphere”, these included simulating actual units deployed elsewhere by the application of their divisional insignia, painting appropriate unit insignia on vehicles and having the individual companies deployed as if they were regimental headquarters units. Trucks/Lorries would be driven in looping convoys with just two troops in the seats near the rear, to simulate a truck full of motorized infantry under the canvas cover. “MPs” (military police) would be deployed at cross roads wearing appropriate divisional insignia and some officers would simulate divisional generals and staff officers visiting towns where enemy agents were likely to see them. A few actual tanks and artillery pieces were occasionally assigned to the unit to make the “dummies” in the distance appear more realistic.