What Did Your Dad Do In The War?

[10ClarionSt]

Some years ago, a former financial director of a famous global company finally got to speak with his dad about a small part of his war service. As he was virtually at deaths' door, his dad felt he should tell his son something about his war service. He said he had been in the SOE at the start of the war, so obviously could say very little, but what he told him made his jaw drop. He said he was called to a meeting in Whitehall in 1942. When he went into the meeting, there was only one person in the room, none other than Winston Churchill. Churchill told him that their conversation would not be recorded or written down. He said that the USA had agreed to supply large amounts of aid to Britains' war effort and Mr. Roosevelt would only accept gold as the method of repayment. The task he was given was to acquire as much gold as possible from mainland Europe and arrange for it to be transported to the USA. In 1943, he acquired 23 tons of gold from inside Nazi Germany and had it transported to Lisbon, where it was loaded onto a Pan American Catalina, then flown to Iceland, from where it was further transported to the USA. He managed to acquire further amounts from Austria and Norway, amongst other places. Is this all true? There are still many facts about WW2 that we are unaware of. And there is no record that this meeting, or these events, ever took place. But I would guess that is true of many events in WW2.