Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
MY SECRET HERO
Tributes to spy who hid role in WW2 for 50 yrs
A WARTIME spy who kept his exploits hidden for 50 years – even from his wife – has died aged 93.
John Potter was just 18 when he was smuggled into France by submarine on a mission to lead resistance groups.
He reported personally to Winston Churchill and later witnessed the liberation of Dachau concentration camp and served at the Nuremberg war trials.
But, bound by the Official Secrets Act, he did not tell wife Mildred about his remarkable service until decades later. Mildred, who met John in Vienna in 1973, said: “He deserves to have his story told. It was an incredible life he lived.”
John, of Worthing, West Sussex, was not fit for combat duties during the Second World War as he was born with a club foot. He planned to defer service until he finished his maths and chemistry studies.
But the fluent French and German speaker was earmarked for the topsecret Special Operations Executive. In 1942, he was to assume the identity of a young Frenchman who had been
killed at Saint-flour, southern France. There, he would help to set up resistance groups. Mildred explained: “He was just 18 when asked to do this and couldn’t tell anyone about it, not even his family.”
John regularly returned to share intelligence with Churchill.
Mildred said: “Winston always gave him a brandy before he went off again and wished him luck. The last time he visited him it was before D-day and he said, ‘You have done so well for all this time’.”
John never lost a man in France, until one of his force was shot by an American in 1945. US Army chiefs then asked him to help troops liberating towns and camps to prevent further accidents.
Mildred said: “He joined the Americans as they swept through France and Germany. He was there when they liberated Dachau and he said the smell and sights were just horrific.”
John continued to Nuremberg, where he acted as a liaison for a chemist who was eventually cleared of producing deadly gas. Mr Potter later resumed his university education in Britain and worked in chemistry for most of his life.
He died in a care home and is survived by his widow, five children, 10 grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren.
He deserves to have his story told... It was an incredible life he lived MILDRED POTTER WIDOW OF LATE WAR HERO JOHN