Einar Skinnarland

Who was Einar Skinnarland?

Einar Skinnarland DCM was a Norwegian resistance fighter during the Second World War.

Einar Skinnarland was born in Vinje, in Telemark county, Norway. Skinnarland graduated from Telemark Engineering College in Porsgrunn.

He reached Aberdeen with the hijacked coastal steamer Galtesund in 1942, and was soon enrolled as a member of the Norwegian Independent Company 1 under the SOE. He participated as a wireless operator in the Norwegian heavy water sabotage at the Vemork hydroelectric plant, site of the heavy water production at Rjukanfossen in Telemark. He was the first agent to be sent to Rjukan, dropped on the Hardangervidda on 28 March 1942. He had lived near the factory almost all of his life. His brother and several of his friends also worked at the factory.

Skinnarland moved to Toronto in Canada in 1965 and helped build some of the world's largest dams.