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'Intrepid' to be added to city's citizens hall of fame

By: Staff Writer

Posted: 09/12/2012 9:58 AM | Comments: 0

Canadian-born spymaster Sir William Stephenson, shown in a file photo, was dubbed 'Intrepid' by Sir Winston Churchill. (THE CANADIAN PRESS)

The man called Intrepid is about to take his place alongside Winnipeg’s most famous citizens.

William Stephenson, who downed at least 16 enemy aircraft in the First World War and then oversaw an intricate intelligence network for the British government during the Second World War, will be immortalized in the Citizens Hall of Fame.

A bronze bust in his likeness will be unveiled at the Citizens Hall of Fame site – located in the southeast corner of Assiniboine Park – on Saturday at 10 a.m. The public is invited to attend the ceremony.

Born in 1897 in Winnipeg, he grew up in Point Douglas before enlisting in Winnipeg’s 101 Battalion. He transferred to the Royal Flying Corps in 1917, where he earned the Military Cross.

Between the wars, he patented wireless photography and became a wealthy industrialist in Britain.

When the Second World War broke out, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill invited Stephenson to be his personal emissary to Franklin D. Roosevelt, the U.S. president.

Stephenson ran a covert intelligence operation in New York City a year prior to the U.S. entering the war. His mission was to create a secret British intelligence network throughout the Western hemisphere and operate it on behalf of the British government and the Allies during the war.

Stephenson ended up overseeing a vast intelligence network which deciphered the German Enigma code, an accomplishment said by historians to have helped end the war earlier and save countless lives.

Ian Fleming, author of the James Bond books, was a graduate of one of Stephenson’s training schools in Europe and was reportedly inspired by him to write his spy novels.

By the end of the war, Stephenson, who acquired the code name Intrepid, was considered the single most powerful intelligence operative in the Western hemisphere.

He died in 1989 at the age of 92.

The Citizens Hall of Fame was established in 1986 by WinnipegREALTORS as a way of honouring outstanding citizens who either brought recognition to the city or made outstanding contributions to its way of life.

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