Record date:
Richard “Dick” Andrew Dolejs, Special Agent
As a special agent in the Counterintelligence Corps in Occupied Japan, Richard Dolejs admits that his time there was not a glamorous James Bond experience. Yet, he easily developed a rapport with informants in addition to personal friendships with the local Japanese. More importantly, Dolejs' work contributed to the “community accumulation of information” intended to counter communism.
Richard Dolejs was born and raised in Chicago in the North Lawndale neighborhood to a Czech family, the youngest of five sons. From a young age, Dolejs was interested in Central European history and reading. A month after completing his degree at Millikin University, Dolejs joined the US Army. Serving in the military was not uncommon for the Dolejs family. His father served in his youth and his older brothers served during World War II; one of whom is sadly buried in France.
Dolejs trained at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri. During his basic training, Dolejs took a series of test to determine his loyalty to the U.S and his character. Based on the results of said test Dolejs and eight other service men were sent to Fort Holabird, Maryland. At Fort Holabird, Dolejs learned investigative and other skills to gain and vet informants. After his training, Dolejs joined the ranks of the 191st CIC [Counterintelligence Corps]. Dolejs served in Korea, reporting on security at Pusan, and later served in Hokkaido, Japan. The daily tasks of a CIC agent are very different from what people see on the screen. Dolejs investigated potential threats to military security, completed reports, and met potential informants.
One of his informants, from Japan, lied about the death of a relative. This made Dolejs and his fellow special agents suspicious. Dolejs further investigated the informant until they discovered that he had worked for Romanoff, a Russian intelligence agent. While some investigations were fruitful, others did not produce anything concrete such as his surveillance of an American pianist who played in the Chinese Embassy, but nothing pointed to any association of this musician to communism. Dolejs explains Intelligence requires the coordination of information from many sources.
In his free time Dick played in a football league with the 7th Calvary of the 1st Calvary Division. Dolejs’ service ended in 1955. He used the GI Bill to attend law school. Dolejs did not complete his degree, but dedicated his efforts to insurance and later, to real estate. In this latter realm, he achieved much success.
