Published in the Winnipeg Sun; 1997; written by Nadia Moharib
A bronze sculpture of Winnipeg-born war hero Sir William Stephenson arrives here next month, but no one is sure where it will stand.
Britain’s wartime prime minister, Winston Churchill, first dubbed spymaster Stephenson “Intrepid.”
Sculptor Leo Mol, who has created likenesses of Queen Elizabeth and former U.S. president Dwight Eisenhower, is in Munich putting the finishing touches on an eight-foot-tall Stephenson statue called Intrepid.
Although Mol and members of the Intrepid Society would ideally like to see the piece stand in the rotunda of the Via Rail station, neither the city nor the province has committed to funding a site.
“It’s going to take some fighting on our Society but that’s what we’re here for,” said Intrepid Society founder Sid Davey, adding that Mol has forgone the $80,000 he would normally commission for the work.
Davey formed the Society in 1994 to ensure Stephenson is remembered.
About 150 members celebrate Stephenson’s birthday every January, but the hero’s exploits get only quiet recognition here.
Little attention
A $1.6-million library in his name opened this June with virtually no media attention and few Winnipeggers even know Stephenson was born here.
“I hate to see this man to be unknown, unheard of. If he was born in Toronto or America everyone in the world would know about him,” said Davey.
Stephenson joined the Royal Canadian Engineers when the First World War broke out in 1914 and was disabled in a gas attack about a year later.
Next he joined the Royal Flying Corps and is credited as one of Canada’s aces shooting down 26 German planes.
Working counterespionage for British Security during the Second World War, Stephenson took on the role of security coordinator for the Western Hemisphere.
If there is no funding for a prominent site for the statue, it will likely end up in the Leo Mol Sculpture Gardens at Assiniboine Park, said Davey.
“But we’d like to see it in the Via station because that is where all the soldiers left for the war — the last place where they saw loved ones,” said Davey. “Many shed tears because they figured they wouldn’t see each other again and they were right.”
Sun photo by CHRIS PROCAYLO
Sid Davy and Col. Gary Solar with model of Intrepid statue.
Stephenson: The fax
Some details of Sir William Stephenson’s life:
- Born in Winnipeg Jan. 11, 1896. Raised in Point Douglas.
- Joined Royal Canadian Engineers when First World War broke out in 1914.
- Flew as a fighter pilot with the Royal Flying Corps, earning himself several medals for bravery.
- In the 1920s Stephenson invented the wire and radio facsimile method of transmitting pictures without the need of a phone or telegraph — earning his first million before he was 30.
- British security co-ordinator in the Western Hemisphere during the Second World War and dubbed with the code name “Intrepid” by Winston Churchill.
- King George knighted Stephenson in 1946. In 1947 Stephenson became the first foreigner to be given the U.S. Medal of Merit.
- In 1989, Stephenson died at age 93 in Bermuda.