25 Facts About Boris Pash

Boris Theodore Pash was a United States Army military intelligence officer.

Boris Pash commanded the Alsos Mission during World War II and retired with the rank of colonel.

Boris Pash's father was Reverend Theodore Pashkovsky, a Russian Orthodox priest and later archbishop who had been sent to California by the Church in 1894.

Boris Pash's mother was Serbian American Ella Dabovich, niece of Sebastian Dabovich, a monk who lived in America and was canonized in September 2015 as an Orthodox saint.

Boris Pash's father was recalled to Russia in 1906, and the entire family returned to Russia in 1913.

Boris Pash saw action against the Bolsheviks at sea, and in March 1920, he was awarded the Cross of St George, fourth class.

Boris Pash taught and coached baseball at Hollywood High School in Los Angeles from 1924 until 1940, where students included Lana Turner, Judy Garland, and Mickey Rooney.

Boris Pash joined the United States Army Reserve, and was assigned to the Infantry Intelligence Branch.

Boris Pash was called to active duty with the Army in 1940, and became chief of counterintelligence at the IX Corps Area headquarters at the Presidio of San Francisco.

Boris Pash felt that Oppenheimer's personal honor and concern for his reputation would deter him from such action.

Boris Pash therefore did not recommend Oppenheimer's removal from the Manhattan Project, merely that Oppenheimer be accompanied by counter-intelligence agents.

Boris Pash was the military leader of the Alsos Mission, an Allied operation established in late 1943 to determine how far the Axis had progressed toward developing nuclear weapons by seizing facilities, materiel, and scientists related to the German nuclear energy project.

Boris Pash served under General Douglas MacArthur in Japan in 1946 and 1947.

Boris Pash served as Special Forces planning officer with the US forces in Austria from 1952 to 1953.

On leaving the Army, Boris Pash became chief of the Eastern European and USSR Division of the Quartermaster Technological Intelligence Agency.

Boris Pash retired from the civil service in June 1963.

In retirement, Boris Pash published The Alsos Mission, a book recounting his wartime experiences in Europe, in 1980.

Boris Pash was one of the few officers alive to be brought to testify.

Boris Pash was inducted into the Military Intelligence Hall of Fame in 1988.

Boris Pash's decorations included the Army Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Order of the British Empire and the Order of St George.

Boris Pash was one of the few White Russian veterans to live to see the end of Communist Party rule in Russia.

Boris Pash died on 11 May 1995 in Greenbrae, California at the age of 94, and was buried in the Serbian Cemetery in Colma, California.

Boris Pash was survived by his wife Gladys and son Edgar.

Boris Pash's papers are in the Hoover Institute at Stanford University.

Boris Pash was played by Casey Affleck in Christopher Nolan's 2023 film Oppenheimer.