He was a naval officer, and a member Norwegian Independent Company 1 a part of Special Operations Executive (SOE).

After primary school, he completed (in 1929) the seaman's course on Statsraad Lehmkuhl and started serving on vessels in international trade.

[1] Left Tromsø 6 June, escape to England via Shetland - Scotland, Rosyth Naval Station, Edinburgh before he came over to the UK.

Then he was a gunner on the merchant ship SS Marita, which went in convoy traffic between Canada and the United Kingdom.

[1] After he recovered, he was ordered to serve on the corvette Eglantine, which was transferred to the Royal Norwegian Navy and was outfitted in Belfast before the ship was put into escort service in the Atlantic convoys.

[citation needed] Under the alias "Otto Borgen" Rist was in December 1944 appointed Secretary at the Norwegian legation in Stockholm.

From Sweden Rist participated in the Polar Bear expeditions, a series of operations aimed to secure Norwegian ports during an invasion or German withdrawal.

Early in 1945 Rist served as Head of Polar Bear 1, where the goal was to protect the port of Narvik.

[2] During a mission across the border to Norway Rist and other participants were discovered by a German patrol on 13 April 1945 and engaged in a fire-fight.