OFFICE OF FIELD SERVICE I35 



capture and securing of documents, equipment and facilities; intelligent 

 investigation of files, laboratories and workers; translation and evaluation 

 of a mass of correspondence and records; and finally an orderly reporting 

 to the authorities in America. 



Initiation of OFS Aid in the Pacific 



In contrast to the situation in the Atlantic, when OFS began functioning 

 there was no precedent for the widespread acceptance in the Pacific area of 

 civilian scientists from OSRD. It was difficult in the early days of the war 

 for theater commanders in that area to secure adequate transportation, sup- 

 plies and weapons. They were reluctant to permit civilian "super-salesmen" 

 to come out and increase their problems of housekeeping and transporta- 

 tion, only to whet their appetites for equipment which might not reach 

 them for many months. Moreover, the officers for the most part were not 

 familiar with benefits which were being derived on the other side of the 

 world from close co-operation between scientists and military men. It was 

 therefore decided at the beginning that OFS would take the primary re- 

 sponsibility for missions to Pacific areas and that one of its first obligations 

 would be to establish appropriate liaison with the operational commands, 

 a major undertaking in itself. 



In order to explore the possibilities of OFS activities in Pacific operations, 

 Compton undertook a series of conferences with the Commanders in Chief 

 and other high officers of both Services in the Central, South and Southwest 

 Pacific beginning in December 1943. He returned from this tour of the 

 Pacific with what he described as "a pocketful of requests" for help from 

 OSRD and from the Services. Many of them would involve field service ac- 

 tivities. Some were for development work by NDRC; some were merely for 

 the latest information on equipment. The stage was now set for extensive 

 activity in the Pacific and the greater part of OFS attention during the next 

 fifteen months was devoted to filling these requests and the numerous 

 others which developed out of them as the personnel dispatched to the 

 theater became active. Two major branch offices of OFS were to be set up, 

 one in Oahu and the other in Australia. These would logically become foci 

 of OFS in the respective theaters and their first functioning would relate 

 to these requests. The OFS group in Hawaii retained its base of operations 

 at Oahu to the end of hostilities and functioned as a closely knit, coherent 

 unit. The OFS office in the Southwest Pacific, on the other hand, moved 

 from Brisbane, Australia, to HoUandia, New Guinea, then on to Leyte and 

 finally to Manila. Men sent through that office were detailed to duty which 

 often took them thousands of miles from the OFS headquarters for many 

 months. They were widely dispersed through the theater and had to operate 

 almost independendy. 



