Manitoba to honour veterans for wartime spy efforts

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This article was published 12/07/2023 (872 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

One of the real life inspirations for James Bond and 26 fellow Manitobans who served with the British military’s secret Special Operations Executive are to be honoured Thursday with the unveiling of a plaque at the provincial legislature.

More than 100 people (roughly half are family members of the deceased Second World War veterans) are expected to attend the ceremony, which is closed to the public.

It will be hosted by Special Envoy for Military Affairs MLA Len Isleifson. Also in attendance will be Manitoba Lt. Gov. Anita Neville, and Lt. Col. Robert Nash, on behalf of the Canadian Military Intelligence Association.

CMIA advocates for veterans who served in the intelligence branch of the Canadian Armed Forces. It also works to educate people on the history of Canadian military intelligence.

“All of our history is important… This was an opportunity to highlight the activities of some Manitobans who have gone unnoticed since the war,” Nash said Wednesday.

CMIA spearheaded the initiative to get a plaque dedicated to the Manitoba SOE veterans. It was originally planned for 2019, but repeatedly delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

While serving with the SOE, officers were bound by the Official Secrets Act, which forbade them from disclosing their efforts. The Royal Air Force didn’t release its official records about the special duty operations until 1979, and the SOE released the last of its files in 2000.

Of the 27 Manitobans, two were undercover intelligence agents in occupied France and two were women in administrative, training and communications work at SOE headquarters in London.

Sir William Stephenson (1897-1989, born William Stanger in Winnipeg) served as a British spymaster during the Second World War, and was known by his code name “Intrepid.” He helped establish the SOE training ground near Oshawa, Ont., known as Camp X.

Author Ian Fleming later said Stephenson was among the inspirations for his fictional British spy James Bond.

John Wickey served in the Political Warfare Executive, which was affiliated with the SOE but became a separate entity in 1941.

The remaining 21 Manitobans served with the Royal Canadian Air Force on “special operations” of the SOE, including nighttime flights behind enemy lines to deliver supplies and equipment to agents.

“They would have been recruited for a wide range of skills: sabotage, communications, leadership. Their language abilities wouldn’t have been the first reason why they were recruited,” Nash said.

Both SOE officers who were employed as intelligence agents in France already knew how to speak French, but were given specific training in how to act as locals, in addition to training in weapons, communications and explosives.

Both, however, captured by German forces within days of their arrival.

Capt. François Deniset, was executed at the Gross-Rosen concentration camp at the end of 1944. Capt. Frank Pickersgill was executed at Buchenwald in September 1944.

All 27 veterans are deceased, but with the assistance of the Manitoba Genealogical Society, Nash was able to track down family members of 17 of the 21 RCAF pilots and both agents who served in France.

Family members of 13 of the veterans being honoured will be present. Unfortunately, Deniset’s descendants now live in the United Kingdom and are unable to attend, Nash said.

The date of the installation of the plaque at the Manitoba Legislative Building has not yet been determined.

graham.mcdonald@freepress.mb.ca