John Myers OISE (retired)

Section 5 Going Further and Deeper

The resources for exploring the topic of secrecy in WW2 are not so secret anymore. 

For more on Macalister and Pickersgill online sources include Requiem for the Brave | By Bruce Rolston | Soldiers Tower Ceremony, John Kenneth Macalister, Frank Pickersgill, Alumni who fought in World War Two | University of Toronto Magazine – University of Toronto Magazine

Behind Enemy Lines | By Alec Scott | U of T during World War Two, Espionage Stories | University of Toronto Magazine – University of Toronto Magazine

from Military Wikipedia  Frank Pickersgill

from Macleans magazine They were ‘to set Europe ablaze’ – Macleans.ca

and from The Globe and Mail https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/a-canadian-spy-story-courage-snafus—and-death/article1199233/

There is a whole series of films on aspects of the war from a Canadian perspective courtesy of the King and Empire Foundation. https://kingandempire.ca/the-king-country-television-series/ and https://kingandempire.ca/striking-back/

Outside of Canada you can search, in addition to the International Spy Museum in Washington the following

The larger world of secrets in WW2 can be explored in www.secret-WW2.net

There were other espionage groups including The Ritchie Boys from the US, featured in books, movies, and in a recent episode of CBS’ 60 Minutes. 

PBS also featured the “Ghost Army” whose last surviving veteran who died in August 2021 at age 106 was a Canadian, Gilbert Seltzer.  Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to find out more about Mr. Seltzer and the “army” he was in.

Contributing Writer
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