10. This Double Agent’s Extraordinary Feat of Deception Earned Him Medals From Both Sides
Operation Bodyguard and Juan Pujol Garcia’s double-cross and feat of deception worked so well that the Germans stayed put in the Pas de Calais for seven weeks instead of the two weeks that the Allies had hoped for as a best-case scenario. That bought the Allies the necessary time to secure their beachhead in Normandy, then use it as a springboard from which to breakout and liberate France and Western Europe. As to Pujol, he gained the distinction of receiving an Iron Cross from Germany, plus a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) from Britain.
After the war, Pujol feared reprisals from the Nazis, so he faked his death in Angola in 1949, then moved to Venezuela, where he ran a gift shop and book store. He led an anonymous life until 1984 when he agreed to be interviewed for a book about agent GARBO. Afterward, he was received at Buckingham Palace, was lionized in Britain, and on the 40th anniversary of D-Day, he traveled to Normandy to pay his respects to the dead. He died in Caracas four years later.
