Vivian Dykes

Who was Vivian Dykes?

Brigadier Vivian Dykes, was the Director of Plans, War Office 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 USA 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 and head of US intelligence, on a fact-finding tour of the Mediterranean.

Dykes died in 1943 on approach to RAF Talbenny on a flight from Casablanca. On hearing the news Winston Churchill sent a telegram to Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Portal asking him to send his condolences to his relatives.

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.