Ken Macalister
 | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (January 2013) |
John Kenneth Macalister (July 19, 1914 – September 14, 1944) was a Rhodes Scholar and a Canadian hero of World War II.
Biography
[edit]Born in Guelph, Ontario, Canada, Ken Macalister graduated from the Guelph Collegiate Vocational Institute (GCVI) and from the University of Toronto, where he studied law and won first-class honours in every subject in every year. From Toronto, he was elected as one of Ontario's two Rhodes scholars in 1937, and studied at the New College, Oxford until 1939, graduating with one of the six first-class honours degrees awarded in a cohort of 200.
He was expanding his education further at the Institute of Corporate Law in Paris, France when World War II began in 1939. When he took the bar exam, Macalister placed first among over 150 candidates in the British Empire. Macalister tried to join the infantry but his eyesight was such that he needed thick glasses and as such could not be placed on active duty. However, fluent in French, Macalister volunteered for the Special Operations Executive (SOE) F Section where as an agent in France, his thick glasses would actually add to his disguise.
Together with fellow Canadian, Frank Pickersgill, Ken Macalister was parachuted into occupied France during the night of June 15/16, 1943, to work as the wireless operator for the "Archdeacon" network in the Ardennes area.[1] Three days prior to their scheduled arrival, French SOE agent Pierre Culioli had requested the operation be cancelled because of many German soldiers in the area. His SOE leader, Francis Suttill, declined the request and the two Canadians parachuted into France as planned.[2]
Both men were picked up by Culioli and the agent Yvonne Rudellat (codename 'Jacqueline'). They stayed a few days with Rudellat and Culioli near Romorantin to get their French identity papers in order. On June 21, Culioli and Rudellat drove the Canadians toward Beaugency but they were stopped at a German checkpoint in Dhuizon. The four were ordered out of the car for their papers to be examined. Rudellat and Culioli were cleared and returned to the car, but the Germans were suspicious of the two Canadians. While they were waiting for the Canadians to be released, a German soldier ordered Culioli and Rudellat to get out of the car for more questioning. Culioli sped away, chased and shot at by Germans in another car. Rudellat was seriously wounded and they were captured when they ran into another checkpoint about 10 kilometres away. Rudellat subsequently died in Bergen-Belsen; Culioli survived the war.[3][4]
The two Canadians were taken to Fresnes prison where they were interrogated and tortured repeatedly. Macalister steadfastly refused to reveal his security checks to the Germans who had his codes and were anxious to send misleading messages back to the SOE's London headquarters. Macalister gave his interrogators nothing and when his captors tried to send messages, SOE recognized them as fake.
Unable to get anything of value from him, the security forces shipped Macalister, along with Frank Pickersgill and Roméo Sabourin to Buchenwald concentration camp on August 27, 1944. They were known as the Robert Benoist group, executed at Buchenwald on September 14, 1944.[5]
Captain Ken Macalister is honoured on the Brookwood Memorial, Surrey in Brookwood, Surrey, England and as one of the SOE agents who died for the liberation of France, he is listed on the "Roll of Honour" on the Valençay SOE Memorial in the town of Valençay, in the Indre département of France. He is commemorated by an obelisk at Romorantin-Lanthenay, where he is one of 4 members of SOE to be listed.[6] In Guelph, there’s a park named after him with a maple tree representing his time in Canada, an oak his British sojourn, and a linden his time in France. The University of Toronto has designated a Pickersgill-Macalister garden on the west side of the "Soldiers' Tower" monument.
Further reading
[edit]- His story, and that of Frank Pickersgill is told in Unlikely Soldiers: How Two Canadians Fought the Secret War Against Nazi Occupation, by Jonathan Vance (HarperCollins, 2008). This book uses material from SOE files to tell the story of their endeavours.
- A first-hand account can be found in the letters of Frank Pickersgill, selected and published as The Making of a Secret Agent: Frank Pickersgill by George H. Ford, McClelland & Stewart, 1978.
Notes
[edit]- ^ Scott, Alec (2007). "Behind Enemy Lines". University of Toronto. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
- ^ Marnham, Patrick (2020). War in the Shadows. London: One World. pp. 118–122. ISBN 9781786078094.
- ^ King, Stella, 'Jacqueline', Pioneer Heroine of the Resistance, Arms and Armour Press, 1989, pp 313-316
- ^ Foot, M.R.D. (2004). SOE in France. London: Frank Cass. p. 279. Revised edition. Originally purchased in 1966.
- ^ King, p 395
- ^ King, p 411
External links
[edit]| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
- 1914 births
- 1944 deaths
- Canadian military personnel killed in World War II
- Executed spies
- Spies who died in Nazi concentration camps
- Canadian Army officers
- Canadian Intelligence Corps officers
- Special Operations Executive personnel
- University of Toronto alumni
- Canadian Rhodes Scholars
- Canadian military personnel from Ontario
- Canadian people who died in Buchenwald concentration camp
- Canadian people executed in Nazi concentration camps
- Canadian Army personnel of World War II