The Why Files

Operation Mincemeat: The Shadow Catalyst for CIA's Dark Age

On April 30, 1943, in the middle of World War II, a body washed up on the shore of Huelva, Spain. The deceased man was wearing a British military uniform. There was a briefcase strapped to his body containing British and American military secrets. The man was Major William Martin, a British Royal Marine who was the single victim of a fatal plane crash at sea. He had just returned from temporary leave in London, where he had gone to the theater and purchased an engagement ring for his fiancee, Pam. But there was something very strange about Major William Martin. He didn’t exist.