 In 1942 he traveled to Lhasa with Ilia Tolstoy, a grandson of Leo Tolstoy, as a member of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), to meet with the Tibetan government.On December 20, 1942, they met the young 14th Dalai Lama and his Regent, the 3rd Taktra Rinpoche.They were the first Americans ever to meet a Dalai Lama.