The Intrepid statue depicts Sir Stephenson dressed in a First World War flight suit. He wears a standard aviator's hat with fleece and heavy elbow-length aviator gloves. His silk aviator's scarf is blowing slightly and his flight suit is tucked neatly into his flight boots. In his right hand he holds his flight book and his left arm is at his side, fist clenched. The statue was created by Winnipeg sculptor Leo Mol and unveiled by Princess Anne in 1999.
Sir William Stephenson was born in Winnipeg on January 23, 1897. He was orphaned as a young child, fascinated with Morse code as a teenager and was good at boxing. He enlisted in the First World War and is confirmed to have shot down twelve enemy planes, after just five hours of flying instructions. Taken prisoner of war, he escaped after three months. He returned to his squadron in 1918 where he was awarded the Military Cross, Distinguished Flying Cross, the Legion of Honour and the Croix de Guerre with Palms – all while still in his early 20s.
Stephenson moved to Britain where he invented the process for sending photographs over the wire electronically. He purchased a radio manufacturing company that made him a millionaire before he was thirty and then diversified into film, coal and oil refining, steel industry, television and aircraft production. He also helped found the British Broadcasting Corporation.
He was a soldier, airman, businessman, inventor and a true spymaster. Stephenson was pivotal in the creation of Special Operations for Canada and the Allied war efforts worldwide. One of his greatest successes was the establishment of a secret spy-training school during the Second World War that bordered Whitby and Oshawa, Ontario, known as Camp X. More than 2000 covert operators were trained at this school including Ian Fleming, author of the James Bond novels. Fleming said he used about 15 different spies as models for his character James Bond and William Stephenson was definitely one of them.
Spying was Stephenson’s greatest gift and he landed a position as Sir Winston Churchill’s most trusted confidant. As early as April 1936, he began voluntarily passing confidential information to Winston Churchill about how Adolf Hitler was building up his armed forces while hiding his military expenditures. He was given the name Intrepid by Churchill after he led the team that broke Enigma, the essential German coding machine.
He travelled between London and Washington, to convince President Roosevelt to join the Second World War. Stephenson was a key player in the establishment of an American intelligence service during the Second World War, which eventually became the CIA. There is a bronze statue of Stephenson at the CIA Headquarters in Washington, DC. This statue was also created by Leo Mol. He died at Paget, Bermuda on January 31, 1989.
Sir William Stephenson's medals confirmed as being awards or decorations he was entitled to are: Military Cross (ref London Gazette 30761); Distinguished Flying Cross (ref London Gazette 30913), British War Medal and Victory Medal (per UK Air Ministry Medal Roll); Queen Elizabeth Silver Jubilee Medal and the US Presidential Medal for Merit, the Companion of the Order of Canada, Knight Bachelor and Military Order of Malta insignia.