In November 1944, a Time magazine reporter named Theodore White, who would become famous himself as the author of books about the presidential elections from 1960-80, started writing articles about the exploits of Gleason in China. 

“After the war, White wrote a non-fiction book about Gleason’s China campaign,” Hickman said. “This, in turn, provided the basis for White’s 1958 novel, ‘The Mountain Road’ with Gleason inspiring the main character, Major Baldwin. Two years later, ‘The Mountain Road’ was made into a feature film with fellow Pennsylvanian Jimmy Stewart, a one-time war hero himself, in the starring role as Major Baldwin.” 

When the OSS was dissolved in September 1945, Gleason went back to the Army Corps of Engineers. During the Korean War he helped build anti-aircraft installations in Alaska and during Vietnam he was in charge of an Army supply installation at Cam Ranh Bay near the South China Sea. He retired as a full colonel in 1971. Two years ago, he and other OSS colleagues were awarded a Congressional Gold Medal in recognition of their World War II feats. He lived a long and fascinating life, passing away on January 27, 2019. 

The still unnamed exhibit will be located in the changing exhibition space on the second floor of the museum shared with the football recruiting lounge. It will look similar to the two previous exhibits in this same space with five large panels and six memorabilia display cases. Since April 2019, this area has featured the popular “Unbeaten & Uncrowned” exhibit featuring the several Penn State football teams denied national championships over the decades. It was also the location of the award-winning World War I exhibit, “Field to the Front: Nittany Lions at War – 1917-1919,” that was open from April 2017-19. “Field to the Front” is now a road show on temporary display for various periods at Penn State branch campuses throughout the state.

“I think this will be a bigger draw than the World War I exhibit if only because our country had a much bigger role in the conflict,” Hickman said. “It really is the United States’ big war, a big global conflict, and that’s been reinforced in film and pop culture. We all have relatives, parents, grandparents and friends who played some role.”

Penn State sports historian Lou Prato was the first director of the Penn State All-Sports Museum.