Canadian Counter Security

When we were sent up into London, and I worked in London, I went in to what they called the underworld, the "soho" district which is the the under world, used to be the under world of London. And we were at the time trying to ferret out some of the people that were enemy agents. And if I showed you the picture of me where I could not, we could not have the military crew cuts. We had to have our hair full and nicely done up. so we blended, we were in civvies, so we blended in with the people. We used brylcreem like the boys did. I was not a spy, but we worked with the motto of, “See all, hear all, say noth!” That was our motto.

Mr. Decker explains that during his work with the counter intelligence they would often disguise as civilians.

Ted Decker

Ted Decker was born in 1918 in Gravelbourg, Saskatchewan. His father was an an immigrant from Austria, and worked in a coal mine in Drumheller at first, before working on farms in Southern Saskatchewan. His Mother was a district midwife who delivered over 60 babies in the area. Mr. Decker grew up with two brothers and three sisters,in a community where a Germany pastor taught him on Saturdays to read and write different languages including German. He went to school until grade seven and worked on a farm until he was seventeen. In 1940 Mr. Decker went into Yorkton to enlist and was denied, he was finally sworn in on February 5,1941 as a volunteer with the south Saskatchewan regiment as a reinforcement. After his father disowned him for joining the army he took an non-commissioned officer's course and he worked as a firing range instructor at Fort Osborne,Winnipeg until he left for overseas on December 13.