Canadian Military Personnel Attached to the BSC

A number of Canadian Army and Air Force personnel were attached to the BSC. For instance, in November 1944, six Army officers and seven other ranks were on loan in New York, and the BSC sought an additional five Canadian soldiers for special purposes.

The soldiers themselves may not have known much about the nature of their assignments in advance. Privates Chartrand and Presseault arrived in New York with steel helmets, gas masks, no American money, and no accommodation lined up.

Once Canadian servicemen had been exposed to technologies like Pat Bayly's Rockex cypher machine, the BSC recommended against their reassignment to operational areas overseas. These personnel had knowledge of the Allies' "most secret telecommunications equipment," and could not be risked in the field.