Hope someone can find a home for this listing. its already listed in
Specific Veteran Memorials by myself, but was rejected in Monuments > Citizen Memorials.
Uh-oh! Your waymark, 'The Man Who Never Was - Aberbargoed - Wales.' has been denied by the category owner. The following reason/comments for the denial was given:
Your waymark was voted on by the category managers,
for Monuments > Citizen Memorials, here are comments made about your waymark by them:
Initial vote call comment:Military memorial or citizen memorial?
Vote comments:
[nay] Leans towards a military memorial. He was a major who died in the service of the UK during the Second World War.
[nay] I feel this is a military memorial.
[nay] military.
Perhaps a re-write, as he was not a Major in the Army. but he was buried in Spain as Major Martin.
The citizens of of Aberbargoed wanted people to know his real name, & his family wanted a plaque to remember him in their home Town.
Below is my failed attempt.
The plaque to the Man who never was is mounted on a side gate to a tiny memorial park, the main gates are decorative iron gates which Commemorate the First World war.
Glyndwr Michael was buried in Huelva Spain. His grave stone reads:-
"William Martin, born 29 March 1907, died 24 April 1943, beloved son of John Glyndwyr and the late Antonia Martin of Cardiff, Wales, Dulce et Decorum est pro Patria Mori, R.I.P.
The latin phrase translates as "It is sweet and fitting to die for one's country." In 1998, however, the British Government revealed the body's true identity. The following text was added to the gravestone":-
"Glyndwr Michael; Served as Major William Martin, RM;"
Source:- (
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"Early morning on the 1st of May 1943, a Spanish fisherman discovered a corpse clothed in British military attire which had washed ashore. Apparently a casualty of an airplane accident at sea, he had a briefcase chained to him. Identified as Major William Martin of the British Royal Marines, the body and the briefcase was demanded by the British Admiralty.
Spain, technically a neutral party during WWII, turned them in, but not before letting the Abwehr– the German intelligence organization– examine everything. Inside the suitcase was the letter from Sir Archibald Nye, vice chief of the Imperial General Staff to Sir Harold Alexander, the British commander in North Africa, which outlined the Allies’ plans to invade Europe from Sardinia, Corsica and Greece. This vital information was rushed to Berlin.
On May 12th, Hitler sent an order: “Measures regarding Sardinia and the Peloponnese take precedence over everything else,” diverting resources away from Sicily, through which the Allied Forces eventually invaded. This was because Germans had fallen for an elaborate deception: Major Martin never existed, and was part of a ruse named, “Operation Mincemeat”.
The British Intelligence procured the body of a 34-year-old man who had recently died with pneumonia, with lungs full of fluid as a drowned man’s would. To create the aura of authenticity, the corpse was given IDs, keys, personal letters, and other possessions such as overdue bills and a letter from his fiance."
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