Albert Materazzi, 92; Served in OSS During World War II

Albert R. Materazzi, 92, a retired graphic arts professional and an Office of Strategic Services commando during World War II, died March 14 of congestive heart failure at his home in Bethesda.

Born in Hershey, Pa., to immigrant parents from the Tuscany region of Italy, Mr. Materazzi was an ideal candidate for one of the Operational Groups of the OSS -- teams of ethnic Americans fluent in their families' native tongues and trained for guerrilla fighting behind enemy lines. With 15 to 30 men in each group, they were forerunners to the Green Berets.

Mr. Materazzi volunteered for the Army and then the OGs after receiving his undergraduate degree in chemistry from Fordham University in 1936 and an advanced degree in chemistry from the University of Rome in 1938.

"He was an excellent operations officer, a spymaster, if you will," said Arlington writer Patrick K. O'Donnell, author of two books about OSS operations in the European theater.

Based in Corsica, the young Italian American -- nicknamed "The Brain" for his keen intellect -- planned a number of OG operations to disrupt German battle plans and to provide support for Italian resistance efforts. One of the operations, code-named "Ginny," was to destroy a critical railroad tunnel at Stazione Framura in March 1944.

Mr. Materazzi described the operation to O'Donnell for his book "Operatives, Spies, and Saboteurs: The Unknown Story of the Men and Women of World War II's OSS" (2004): "I felt we could damage both ends of the tunnel and booby-trap the rail. We could keep it out of operation for maybe a week, and in the meantime our aviation would have a field day because there'd be a lot of traffic backed up in both directions."

Mr. Materazzi's team -- he was not with the group -- went ashore in three rubber boats. Italian fascist sympathizers discovered the boats and alerted German soldiers in the area, who captured the American commandos. They were forced to dig their own mass grave and then were executed.

Mr. Materazzi was awarded the Legion of Merit and other commendations, including two awards from the Italian government. He also testified against a number of Nazi officers in postwar trials, including the officer who had ordered the execution of Mr. Materazzi's men.

"He looked at it as a vendetta," O'Donnell said. "He was relentless about it, and yet he went about it in the right way."

After his discharge, Mr. Materazzi worked as a graphic arts technical specialist for the Army Map Service (now the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency). In 1953, he joined the Litho-Kem Corp., a printing and lithography supply company, and became vice president of research and development.

In 1973, he became director of research and quality control at the Government Printing Office. He retired in 1980 but continued working for a number of years as a consultant in the graphic arts industry.

He was a former president of the Technical Association of the Graphic Arts and of the Research and Engineering Council of the Graphic Arts. He also was a founder of the Washington School for Printing and chairman of the National Scholarship Trust Fund of the Education Council of the Graphic Arts.

He received a number of honors from the industry, including the Outstanding Service Award of the Education Council of the Graphic Arts for his role in establishing a fellowship program.

He remained active with his fellow OG alumni, helped compile the history of the OSS with fellow members of the OSS Society and, as writer O'Donnell noted, assisted countless researchers without any credit for himself.

"You know 'Tuesdays with Morrie.' Till the day he died, it was Tuesdays with Albert," said O'Donnell, who relied on Mr. Materazzi's extensive files and memories for his books about the OSS. "He was a remarkable man."

Survivors include his wife of 62 years, Edea Materazzi of Bethesda; a son, Robert P. Materazzi of Washington; and two grandchildren.