- George Dupre
George Dupre is a Canadian man who falsely claimed to have been an
Special Operations Executive operative duringWorld War II .In
1953 Quentin Reynolds , an ex-war correspondent , had written a book "The Man Who Wouldn't Talk" about George Dupre's alleged wartime experiences. Dupre claimed that he had been working forSpecial Operations Executive and theFrench Resistance during World War Two. He had masqueraded as a village idiot and had been captured andtorture d byGestapo . He had been telling his story in Canadian service clubs and Boy Scout meetings for years. Any loopholes in his story he (and his listeners) attributed to wartime trauma and still existing security restrictions.Random House published the book and it appeared in November 1953. There was also aReader's Digest condensation. Dupre himself said he wanted no money, that only the message to trust in God was important. He gave the money toScouts Canada . The book was a sensation.The
hoax began to unravel when aretire dRoyal Canadian Air Force officer appeared at the offices of the "Calgary Herald ". He had served with Dupre in Winnipeg in1943 , when Dupre claimed he was workingundercover in France. Three other officers admitted that they had sailed with him to Britain at the same time."Calgary Herald"
reporter Douglas Collins, himself a former intelligence man, tricked Dupre by dropping fictitious names Dupre claimed to recognize. Eventually Dupre confessed. Reynolds was rather disappointed and Reader's Digest published a three-page retraction. Unfazed, Random House representativeBennett Cerf recommended that stores move the book to the fiction section. The book continued to sell well.Further reading
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Nigel West , "Counterfeit Spies." St Ermin's Press, London, 1999. ISBN 0-7515-2670-3
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