Dudley Wrangel Clarke
Dudley Wrangel Clarke was an officer in the British Army and a pioneer of military deception operations during World War II. He also helped found three famous military units: the British Commandos, the Special Air Service, and the United States Army Rangers. In October 1941, Clarke was traveling through Spain on his way to Egypt, by way of the British colony of Gibraltar. His instructions were to maintain a low profile throughout his trip, during which he posed as a foreign correspondent for The London Times. However, soon after arriving in Madrid, Clarke was arrested for appearing in a busy street dressed as a woman. Clarke told the police he had dressed as a woman in order to “study the reactions of men to women in the streets.” The police did not buy his story and charged him with “engaging in homosexual behavior”. Back home, the potential for embarrassment was considered so great that Prime Minister Winston Churchill was informed and instructions were sent to get Clarke to the safety of Gibraltar as soon as possible. In “Operation Mincemeat,” Ben Macintyre writes that the incident “did his career no long-term damage, but Dudley Clarke’s strange episode of cross-dressing remains an enduring mystery.”