Vivian Dykes

He was director of Plans, War Office between 1939 and 1941 and became the first Chief Combined Secretary British Joint Staff Mission Washington in 1942.

"[1] In the winter of 1940–41, before the U.S. had formally entered the war, Dykes was selected for an unusual, but important mission: to escort Colonel William Joseph Donovan, soon to become head of the Office of Strategic Services (forerunner to the CIA) and head of U.S. intelligence, on a fact-finding tour of the Mediterranean.

On hearing the news, Winston Churchill sent a telegram[2] to Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Portal asking him to send his condolences to Dykes' relatives.

[3] At the time of his death, Dykes was serving as senior British secretary to the combined Chiefs of Staffs.

He posthumously received the Distinguished Service Medal and was given a memorial service at Washington Cathedral in Washington, D.C., attended by British ambassador Lord Halifax, General George Marshall, Admiral Ernest King, Admiral Sir Percy Noble and many other dignitaries.

American and British military leaders at the Casablanca Conference , January 1943. Brigadier V. Dykes is sat fifth from the left.