Glyndwr Michael

Glyndwr Michael (4 January 1909 – 24 January 1943) was a semi-literate homeless man whose body was used in Operation Mincemeat, the successful World War II deception plan that lured German forces to Greece prior to the Allied invasion of Sicily. The invasion was a success, with Allied losses numbering several thousand fewer than would have been expected had the deception plan failed.

Michael was born in Aberbargoed in Wales. His father Thomas, a coal miner, committed suicide when he was fifteen years old; his mother later died when he was thirty-one. Michael, homeless, friendless, depressed and with no money, drifted to London where he lived on the streets. He was found in an abandoned warehouse close to King's Cross, having ingested rat poison which contained phosphorus. This may have been suicide, although an alternate theory suggested he may have simply been desperately trying to scrounge something to eat, as the particular poison he ingested was a paste smeared on bread crusts to attract rats.

When Bentley Purchase, coroner of St. Pancras District in London, obtained the body of the 34-year old Welsh man, it was identified as in suitable condition for a man who would appear to have floated ashore several days after having died at sea by hypothermia and drowning. After being ingested, phosphide reacts with hydrochloric acid in the stomach, generating phosphine, a highly toxic gas. Coroner Purchase explained, “This dose was not sufficient to kill him outright, and its only effect was so to impair the functioning of the liver that he died a little time afterwards”, leaving few clues to the cause of death.

Before Michael, finding a usable cadaver had been difficult, as indiscreet inquiries would cause talk, and it was impossible to tell a dead man's next of kin what the body was wanted for. The dead man's parents had died and no known relatives were found. The body was released on the condition that the man's real identity would never be revealed. Ewen Montagu later claimed the man died from pneumonia, and that the family had been contacted and permission obtained, but none of this was true.

On 30 April, Lt. Jewell, captain of the submarine Seraph, read the 39th Psalm and Michael's body was gently pushed into the sea where the tide would bring it ashore off Huelva on the Spanish Atlantic coast.

Michael's body was picked up by a fisherman and he was buried as Major William Martin with full military honours. His grave lies in Huelva's cemetery of Nuestra Senora, in the San Marco section. The headstone, reads William Martin, born 29 March 1907, died 24 April 1943, beloved son of John Glyndwyr and the late Antonia Martin of Cardiff, Wales, Dulce et Decorum est pro Patria Mori, R.I.P. The Latin phrase translates as "It is sweet and fitting to die for one's country." In 1998, however, the British Government revealed the body's true identity. To the gravestone was added, ''Glyndwr Michael; Served as Major William Martin, RM; A plaque commemorating Glyndwr Michael is now also on the war memorial in Aberbargoed. It is headed "Y Dyn Na Fu Erioed" (translation - "The Man Who Never Was").