Today’s #VeteranOfTheDay is Navy Veteran Spiro George Cappony. Spiro served during World War II from 1942 to 1945.

In an interview with the Veteran’s History Project, Spiro discusses how he was selected for the Office of Strategic Services because of his Greek language skills. He found himself working with movie star Sterling Hayden as part of his special intelligence team.

Spiro was sent to Istanbul and partook in several undercover intelligence operations to discover and stop Turkey’s ore shipments to Germany. Spiro was then sent to Greece and worked with Greek guerilla fighters to fight against the Nazis. During his time in Greece, Spiro convinced the Greeks to fight the Germans and destroy critical bridges in exchange for weapons.

Spiro was deployed to other areas in Eastern Europe, including Palestine and Bulgaria. He took part in many critical missions and operation, such as in Bulgaria, when Spiro discovered letters from an Axis spy in a British Embassy.

After the war, Spiro was not allowed to talk about many of the missions that he’d taken part in of to protect American interests in Eastern Europe. Spiro received a Bronze Star for his service.

Spiro passed away on Nov. 8, 2012.

We honor his service.


Nominate a Veteran for #VeteranOfTheDay

Do you want to light up the face of a special Veteran? Have you been wondering how to tell your Veteran they are special to you? You’re in luck! VA’s #VeteranOfTheDay social media feature is an opportunity to highlight your Veteran and his/her service.

It’s easy to nominate a Veteran. All it takes is an email to newmedia@va.gov with as much information as you can put together, along with some good photos. Visit our blog post about nominating to learn how to create the best submission.

Veterans History Project

This #VeteranOfTheDay profile was created with interviews submitted to the Veterans History Project. The project collects, preserves, and makes accessible the personal accounts of American war Veterans so that future generations may hear directly from Veterans and better understand the realities of war. Find out more at http://www.loc.gov/vets/.


Graphic By Lilian Vo: Lilian Vo is an undergraduate senior at George Mason University studying Global Affairs and Intelligence Analysis.

Topics in this story

Leave a comment

The comments section is for opinions and feedback on this particular article; this is not a customer support channel. If you are looking for assistance, please visit Ask VA or call 1-800-698-2411. Please, never put personally identifiable information (SSAN, address, phone number, etc.) or protected health information into the form — it will be deleted for your protection.

More Stories