Date of birth:

June 27th, 1902 ( St. Louis/Missouri, United States of America )

Date of death:

September 7th, 1944 (Mauthausen KZ, Austria)

Buried on:

Air Forces Memorial Runnymede

Service number:

71123

Nationality:

British

Field name: Alexandre
Aka: Edward Paul Monfort

Born in St Louis from a British father and a French mother whose family ran a restaurant in Paris, Edward studied at the Lycee Henri IV in Paris after which he returned to the USA and became a racing driver. After living a period in France he fled to England in 1940 and joined the Royal Air Force. As he was fluent in French he was subsequently recruited by SOE.

On the night of 1st June 1943 "Ted" and Benjamin Cowburn, were parachuted into France.
Instead of landing near Bellac, they found themselves near the Grand-Bourg, 65 km from their intended landing place. Together, they went to Lyon to meet Virginia Hall, an SOE Radio Operator whose Codename was "Mary". The trio then moved to Paris where they helped to organize an initial resistance network. "Alexander", as Ted was known, then took the train to Angers, where, despite the risk, he began to build a small network with the help of his wife. He returned occasionally to Paris to meet his radio operator. Eventually, in August 1942, Ted and Richard Heslop, codenamed "Fabien" were arrested in Limoges but were later released and managed to enter Spain. Ted returned to Limoges in June 1943 but is believed to have been betrayed and was arrested by the Gestapo. He was eventually taken to Mauthausen Concentration Camp in Austria, and it was there that he was executed.

Sadly, he had two brothers who both lost their lives in WW2. George, who was also an SOE agent, was parachuted into France, captured by the Gestapo in June 1944 near Orleans, and hanged at Buchenwald on the 6th September 1944, the day before Ted. His other brother, Herbert, was a fighter pilot in the RAF and was killed in combat in Tunisia in April 1943 .

Ted Wilkinson is remembered on the F Section Memorial, Valencay, France, and on the Runnymede Memorial, Surrey.

Do you have more information about this person? Inform us!

• - JOHN GREHAN & MARTIN MACE, Unearthing Churchill's Secret Army, Pen & Sword Military, 2012.
  - https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/37598/supplement/2817
  - The Commonwealth War Graves Commission | CWGC
  - Special Forces - Roll Of Honour | Special Forces Roll Of Honour
  - Coldspur | Personal Research on Intelligence Matters
  - Remember Them
  

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