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When Nazi Germany’s Buchenwald concentration camp was liberated in 1945, its
records revealed that two young Canadians, Ken Macalister and Frank Pickersgill,
were among its countless victims. At 30 and 31 years of age, they had been
agents of Britain’s Special Operations Executive (SOE ), an undercover unit
established by Winston Churchill that used sabotage and subversion to bring down
the Nazi regime from within.
Jonathan F. Vance brings us the dramatic, untold story of two
men who were the most unlikely of soldiers. Pickersgill, an up-andcoming
journalist, and Macalister, one of the finest law students ever to attend the
University of Toronto, were both living in France when the Nazis seized power.
Pickersgill, arrested as an enemy alien, spent two years in prison before escaping to England.
The men’s intelligence, resourcefulness and familiarity with
French customs and language caught the attention of the SOE. Trained in
special-operations techniques, from radio control to killing, they were paired
together and parachuted into France—just as the underground network they were to
join was cracked open by the Germans.
Unlikely Soldiers is an extraordinary tale of unsung
heroes, intrigue and tragic error. With access to the recently opened SOE
archives, Vance draws new material into a fascinating narrative that will appeal
to anyone interested in military history, the evolution of espionage, or simply
the remarkable story of two heroic Canadians.
Above the village of Châtillon-sur-Cher on the night of June 15/16, 1943,
Frank and Ken sat in the fuselage of the Halifax and watched as the dispatcher
hooked their parachutes to the static line. Seconds later, the red light blinked
on, the dispatcher pulled the cover off the chute in the floor, and the two
Canadians sat down. . . . Then the green light flashed . . . and Ken and Frank
were gone.
—From Unlikely Soldiers
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