REMARKABLE STORY ABOUT A RAILWAY WORKER WHO STOPP
HHis instinct told him the well-dressed femfemale and her male companion, who spospoke with a thick gutteral accent, were not what they seemed.
It was at the height of World War II and the British government, on high alert for GerGerman spies, had issued warnings to mmembers of the public to report anyanything suspicious.
John, the porter at Port Gordon station near Buckie, Banffshire, kept the pair t a l k ing whi le a local policeman was hauled out of bed.
The woman he had spotted was former dancer Vera Eriksen – one of Germany’s top spies.
Thanks to John’s quick- thinking, she became the first female secret agent snared in Britain.
His descendants have now called for the Government to honour John, who died in 1967, as a new book reveals that Russianborn Eriksen may have been recruited as a double agent for MI6 after her arrest.
The porter’s grandson John Geddes McIntosh, 66, said: “As a chi ld, my grandad told me the story of the capture of the German spies at Port Gordon station.
“But it wasn’t until I was much older that I realised what a big deal it was and what a huge part my grandfather had played.
“His intuition led to the capture of the only female spy to be apprehended on British soil during World War II as well as the other two dangerous men. He was the first to raise the alarm yet was the only one not to receive an award or recognition for the part he played, which is really sad and something the family have tried to rectify.”
Nazi commanders believed it would be easier to get spies into Scotland and for them to then travel south by train.
Eriksen was with fellow spy Karl Drucke. They had travelled by f lying boat from Nazi- occupied Norway with accomplice Werner Walti the night before their capture. The trio had rowed ashore in a dinghy, landing at the Burn of Gollachy, near Buckie, earlier that morning.
Their luggage was later found to contain a Mauser pistol and a flick-knife, wireless equipment, a list of RAF bases, batteries, a Bohemian-made torch and about £ 400 in Bank of England notes.
John said: “My grandfather was sweeping the station when Eriksen and Drucke came along.
“He said to them, ‘ Nice morning.’ Eriksen replied, in very good English, ‘ Yes, it is’, then Drucke s gutteral way that m straight away there w
“He suspected they and raised the alarm an eye on them until t were sitting outsid grandfather offered waiting room.
“It was 35 minut constable Robert Gr been in bed and had
“My grandfather h