Kenneth Bruce Dowding (4 May 1914 – 30 June 1943) was an Australian who worked for the British Directorate of Military Intelligence as a MI9 agent and was involved in the French Resistance during World War II under the alias of "André Mason".
In January 1938, Dowding left Australia and travelled through the South Seas and Panama Canal to Marseille and Paris, where he had enrolled to undertake a course in French language and civilisation at the Sorbonne.
As part of that work, he liaised with a Toulouse-based group of Spanish exiles under the leadership of Francisco Ponzán Vidal, which provided the guides necessary to help servicemen cross the Pyrenees.
When Albert Guérisse (Pat O'Leary) joined the escape line in June 1941, Dowding impressed him as having "lived for years in the south of France, spoke perfect French, combined a deep interest in music with the physique of a policeman, and had become one of the most active and daring members of the organisation".
[3] Soon after Dowding's arrival in Marseille, he also met Varian Fry, Albert O. Hirschman and others working for the Emergency Rescue Committee to help leading European intellectuals, artists and writers, mostly Jewish, escape from persecution by Nazi Germany and reach the USA.
[4] In both Marseille and Perpignan, Dowding became associated with many involved in the French Resistance including Louis Nouveau, George Rodocanachi, Roland Lepers, Daniel Bénédite, Denyse Clairouin and Paulette Gastou.
Subsequently described as "the worst traitor of the war",[6] Cole helped the Germans arrest dozens of French Resistants including helpers of the Pat O'Leary Line.
By 12 February 1948, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Fourth French Republic had sought clearance from the Australian Government to confer the Legion of Honour on Dowding.