Boris Pash - Biography

Biography

He was born in San Francisco, California, on June 20, 1900. His father was Rev. Theodore Pashkovsky (would become Most Reverend Metropolitan Theophilus from 1934–1950), a Russian Orthodox priest who had been sent to California by the Church in 1894. Because his father had been recalled to Russia, the entire family returned to Russia in 1912. Boris attended Seminary school and graduated in 1917. During the Russian Revolution, he served in the White movement navy. In 1920, he married Lydia Ivanov, and chose to return to the United States when the Bolshevik consolidation of power became apparent. He was able to secure employment with the YMCA in Berlin where his son (Edgar Constantine Boris Pashkovsky; aka Edgar C.B. Pash) was born on June 14, 1921. Upon returning to the United States with his family, he attended Springfield College, in Springfield, Massachusetts, where he graduated with a B.A. in physical education. It was during this time that he changed the family name from Pashkovsky to Pash.

Before World War II, Pash taught at Hollywood High School in Los Angeles. He continued his education, and received an M.A. from the University of Southern California. A reserve officer, he was called to active duty in 1940. He was a security officer for the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos, and, toward the end of the war, the military leader of the Operation Alsos. Its purpose was to determine how far the Axis had progressed toward developing nuclear weapons, and to secure atomic material and capture the scientists working on the Nazi atomic project.

After the war, Pash served in various military intelligence positions. He served under General Douglas MacArthur in Japan (1946–47). From 1948-51, he served as a military representative to the Central Intelligence Agency, and during this time, he was in charge of a controversial CIA program PB/7, also known as Operation Bloodstone which involved recruiting former German officers and diplomats who could be used in the covert war against the Soviet Union. This included former members of the Nazi Party such as Gustav Hilger and Hans von Bittenfield.

He also served in Austria (1952–53), and in Washington, D.C. (1953–57) and in 1954, he testified in the Dr. Robert Oppenheimer security investigation. He would also appear before the Church Committee in 1975.

He retired from the Army in 1957. He died on May 11, 1995 in Greenbrae, California. Colonel Pash is a member of the Military Intelligence Hall of Fame.