Ken Macalister

From Toronto, he was elected as one of Ontario's two Rhodes scholars in 1937, and studied at the New College, Oxford until 1939, graduating with one of the six first-class honours degrees awarded in a cohort of 200.

However, fluent in French, Macalister volunteered for the Special Operations Executive (SOE) F Section where as an agent in France, his thick glasses would actually add to his disguise.

Together with fellow Canadian, Frank Pickersgill, Ken Macalister was parachuted into occupied France on June 15, 1943, to work as wireless operator for the "Archdeacon" network in the Ardennes area.

Macalister steadfastly refused to reveal his security checks to the Germans who had his codes and were anxious to send misleading messages back to the SOE's London headquarters.

Unable to get anything of value from him, the security forces shipped Macalister, along with Frank Pickersgill and Roméo Sabourin to Buchenwald concentration camp on August 27, 1944.