Brigadier Brigadier is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several thousand soldiers. ...

Vivian Dykes, (9 December 1898 in

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 87,889 as of 2011. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, c ...

, Kent – 29 January 1943), known as Dumbie Dykes, was a British civil servant and officer of the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is head ...

, who ultimately died serving in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

Military career

He was director of Plans,

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...

between 1939 and 1941 and became the first Chief Combined Secretary British Joint Staff Mission Washington in 1942. He was described as being "at the heart of allied military policy making." 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 The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was the intelligence agency of the United States during World War II. The OSS was formed as an agency of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) to coordinate espionage activities behind enemy lines for all branc ...

(forerunner to the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

) and head of U.S. intelligence, on a fact-finding tour of the Mediterranean. Dykes died in 1943 on approach to

RAF Talbenny Royal Air Force Talbenny or more simply RAF Talbenny is a former Royal Air Force station located north west of Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire and south west of Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, Wales It was operational between May 1942 to Dec ...

on a flight from

Casablanca Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...

. On hearing the news,

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...

sent a telegram to Air Chief Marshal

Sir Charles Portal Marshal of the Royal Air Force Charles Frederick Algernon Portal, 1st Viscount Portal of Hungerford, (21 May 1893 – 22 April 1971) was a senior Royal Air Force officer. He served as a bomber pilot in the First World War, and rose to become fi ...

asking him to send his condolences to Dykes' relatives. He was buried at St Michael's Churchyard, Yorktown, Surrey.CWGC casualty record
/ref> 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 Distinguished Service Medal (DSM) is a high award of a nation. Examples include: *Distinguished Service Medal (Australia) (established 1991), awarded to personnel of the Australian Defence Force for distinguished leadership in action * Distinguishe ...

and was given a memorial service at

Washington Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in the City and Diocese of Washington, commonly known as Washington National Cathedral, is an American cathedral of the Episcopal Church. The cathedral is located in Washington, D.C., the cap ...

in Washington, D.C., attended by British ambassador

Lord Halifax Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax, (16 April 1881 – 23 December 1959), known as The Lord Irwin from 1925 until 1934 and The Viscount Halifax from 1934 until 1944, was a senior British Conservative politician of the 19 ...

, General

George Marshall George Catlett Marshall Jr. (December 31, 1880 – October 16, 1959) was an American army officer and statesman. He rose through the United States Army to become Chief of Staff of the United States Army, Chief of Staff of the US Army under Pre ...

, Admiral

Ernest King Ernest Joseph King (23 November 1878 – 25 June 1956) was an American naval officer who served as Commander in Chief, United States Fleet (COMINCH) and Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) during World War II. As COMINCH-CNO, he directed the U ...

, Admiral Sir Percy Noble and many other dignitaries. The D.C. correspondent for ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

'' called Dykes "one of the most popular British officers who ever came to Washington." His war time diaries were edited by Alex Danchev and published under the title ''Establishing the Anglo-American Alliance: The Second World War Diaries of Brigadier Vivian Dykes'' in 1990.

Family

Dykes married Ada Winifred (''née'' Smyth) in 1922. Dykes was uncle to

Michael Swann Michael Meredith Swann, Baron Swann, FRS, FRSE (1 March 1920 – 22 September 1990) was a British molecular and cell biologist. He was appointed chairman of the BBC, awarded a knighthood and subsequently a life peerage. Early life Swann was bo ...

, former chairman of the BBC and

Hugh Swann Hugh Sinclair Swann (11 March 1925 – 13 June 2007), otherwise known as Tim Swann, became the cabinet maker to Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. His work was inspired by his admiration for Barnsley, Gimson and Russell. He fitted many of the m ...

, cabinet maker to Queen

Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

References

External links

*
Generals of World War II
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dykes, Vivian 1898 births 1943 deaths People from Bromley Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in the United Kingdom Royal Engineers officers Foreign recipients of the Distinguished Service Medal (United States) Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Recipients of the Distinguished Service Medal (US Army) British Army personnel killed in World War II Military personnel from Kent British Army personnel of World War I British Army brigadiers of World War II War Office personnel in World War II