I was a clerk — just a low level clerk at a trust company in Calgary.. Sir William StephensonSir William Stephenson . Marion de ChastelainMarion de Chastelain .I was one of those lugs who had arrived in the late 1970s, who, after graduating with a university degree, tried to find fame and fortune in Alberta's then-booming economy.Heady times, for sure, and lots of great bars and clubs, as I recall. All of them, gone now, of course. Long gone.Anyway, on lunch hours, I would wander down 8th Avenue, to a quiet mall, that had a nice restaurant. Sometimes, I would just have lunch by myself, with a beer or two.In those days, nobody cared if you had a few brewskies at lunch hour. Sometimes, one of the pretty single ladies who worked with me, would join me.Anyway, I paid no attention, to anyone else at this particular restaurant. But perhaps I should have.Years later, I would learn that an older woman, a very distinguished lady, would frequent the same establishment. More often than not, sitting by herself.How was I to know that this woman was in fact, the real "Miss Moneypenny" from the James Bond 007 novels and movies, I absolutely adored.She worked for Westburne Petroleum Services, a company which my trust firm handled, with regard to issuing shares, annual reports and possibly also dividend cheques.The mall has since been demolished, replaced with yet another high-rise office building lining Calgary's "tombstone alley."Her name was Marion de Chastelain, and her story was remarkable.At the outbreak of the Second World War, she would obtain a highly classified job as a cipher clerk with none other than super spy Sir William Stephenson, then head of British Security Coordination (BSC) as a cipher clerk. The man who Sir Winston Churchill gave the code name, "Intrepid" — viewed as the most important link between the British leader and President Franklin D. Roosevelt.Also, very likely the man who author Ian Fleming would later use as the model agent, James Bond in his highly successful spy novels.According to the story, one day the telephone rang and a voice asked if Marion would care to do something for King and Country. "Why not?" she replied.According to the Canadian Encyclopedia, Stephenson assigned her to "run" a spy in Washington named Betty Thorpe Pack, a glamorous and daring woman code-named Cynthia. France, which was run by the Nazi-directed Vichy government, had an embassy in Washington. Cynthia spoke fluent French and was assigned to penetrate the Vichy French embassy. De Chastelain and Cynthia were instrumental in helping Stephenson establish covert co-operative relationships between British and American intelligence agencies.Marion, who could speak 7 languages, would later move to London in November 1943, where she worked for Section 5 of MI6 — the counter-intelligence group in the Charity Commissioner's office building on Ryder street.There, she worked hand in hand with the "ego-driven" Hugh Trevor-Roper, and infamous Russian KGB mole Kim Philby.Fleming, who was a British naval intelligence officer and later helped create the modern-day Central Intelligence Agency, was often asked if Bond was based on Sir William.His response was straightforward.“To begin with, James Bond is not in fact a hero, but an efficient and not very attractive blunt instrument in the hands of government. He remains, of course, a highly romanticized version of the true spy. "The real thing, who may be sitting next to you as you read this, is another kind of beast altogether ... “Such a man is [Sir} William Stephenson …. He is the man who became one of the great secret agents of the last war, and it would be a foolish person who would argue his credentials …"Stephenson would live at the luxurious Hamilton Princess Hotel in Hamilton, Bermuda after the war, and later buy a home and retire there in quaint Paget Parish. The basement of the hotel, was actually a massive mail sorting centre, where every piece of mail heading to North America or Europe was covertly scrutinized.I must admit, I did have a steak and a drink or two at the hotel's famous Gazebo bar, which featured a giant fish tank, similar to that featured in the secret underwater lair of Fleming's villain, Dr. No.I had ventured to Bermuda, on my own, after being quite intrigued after reading the popular 1976 book, A Man Called Intrepid, hoping I could snag an interview with the great man.It was not to happen. My skills as an investigative journalist were just not sharp enough.It is also there, at the Hamilton Princess, that British agents routinely intercepted coded messages between Nazi agents in America and their German spymasters in the transatlantic mail.It is also a fact of history that Sir William would secretly transport all BSC records for safe storage into Canada one evening, without the knowledge of FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, who despised the British, and wanted them out of the United States.This was reported by author Jennet Conant in the very compelling biography, The Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington.It is not known where those records reside today — I believe it still to be a state secret.Some history authors have alleged that Intrepid and BSC secretly manipulating the media to get the US involved in the Second World War.According to The Washington Post, the British planted propaganda in American newspapers, covertly manipulating radio stations and wire services, harassed their political enemies in Congress and the labor movement and plotted against American corporations that were unfriendly to British interests.They also pushed for creation of an American intelligence agency and helped install William J. Donovan — whom the British referred to as "our man" — at its head. Marion, who had access to conversations from BSC agents monitoring Japanese special envoy Subur Kurusu, said on November 27, 1941, Stephenson sent a telegram to the British government, stating: "Japanese negotiations off. Expect action within two weeks."The attack on Pearl Harbor would take place on December 7, 1941. She later recalled: "If they were monitoring a lot, it is hard to see how they missed it. My opinion is that they did know, and unfortunately the poor admiral and general in Pearl Harbor took the blame."After the war, Marion would often travel to Bermuda to visit Stephenson and his wife, Mary, remarking, "Mary didn't particularly care for Bermuda ... she loved New York and she had lots of friends ... "She found Bermuda fairly boring ... it must have been difficult for her, because Bill was not a man to socialize. You know, go to big parties." Intrepid would even keep his death a secret, said author and journalist Henry Hemming.“It is perhaps fitting that in the days before his death in 1989, he managed one final act of press manipulation,” said Hemming. “Fearing a media circus might follow the news, he arranged for the announcement to be held back for three days so his funeral could take place in peace."Fewer than 20 people attended the simple church service. Local policemen served as pall bearers, the funeral director told media outlets.Marion, who retired from Westburne in 1987 as executive assistant to the president, would move to Canmore following the death of her husband, Lt. Col. A.G. de Chastelain, formerly the head of Special Operations Executive (SOE), Istanbul during the war.She died at Canmore General Hospital on January 17, 2000.Her son, Canadian Gen. John de Chastelain, would play a key role in forging the Belfast Agreement, the blueprint that brought peace to Northern Ireland.In addition to receiving the Order of Canada, he has also received numerous Canadian and international awards, decorations and honorary degrees.He said his mother never, ever spoke of her Second World War exploits.Not me, and not the waitresses serving her in that mall on 8th Avenue, ever knew what a remarkable woman she truly was.
