Covert Operations
When my paternal grandfather died the federal govt reached out to do a state funeral. He’d been career army and a colonel, so we didn’t question it. Then the funeral came and they went ALL OUT! Huge procession, people showing up who are really big names, like heads of dept’s, senators, retired senators, people from the CIA and State Dept, it was nuts and we were all super confused.
Turns out he was a key dude in the OSI during WWII and when the OSI splintered into the CIA and Secret Service, he went the Secret Service route. He wasn’t on White House detail, but instead worked in a covert office that dealt with counterfeiting and currency. He went blind when I was a toddler and retired from ‘the Army.’
For whatever reason, he told no one about all his covert work with the OSI and Secret Service and the only person who knew (my grandmother) was sworn to secrecy and never told anyone. My father grew up thinking he was just a colonel working on base. Only after his death were we given all sorts of cool stuff, like publications by him, lectures given by him, and all kinds of things from various things he did and was known for.
All I knew him as was a blind old man who was perpetually smoking, drinking and being a crotchety SOB. Turns out he was a bad mother- and all but none of us knew.