Juan Pujol Role Model

World War II was a dark, terrible time in history. It was a time when maniacal, fascist dictators terrorized the masses, and showed signs of growing more powerful by the second. It was a time when citizens lived in fear of armies looting and burning their cities, and sought protection from bombs dropping mercilessly from the sky. It was a time when corruption ran deep into the government, and every official had suspicions about the others leaking information to the enemy. People were afraid, distrustful, and would resort to anything to save themselves. This is exactly what made Juan Pujol Garcia, a double agent for the MI5, so special in the eyes of others. He was a role model in both his actions and words, and was a beacon of hope for those …show more content…
D-Day was the date when the Allies invaded northern France and took it over from the Nazis, changing the course of the war, confirming that the Nazis would face a total defeat. In order for this invasion to succeed, a highly advanced deception plan called Operation Fortitude was created in order to mislead the Nazis about the invasion plan. Pujol, of course, was involved in this scheme. Adam Lusher, a journalist for The Independent, reports that Pujol was "culminating in the ultimate triumph: a leading role in securing the success of the D-Day landings by convincing the Germans the main invasion would happen around Calais, not in Normandy" (Lusher 1). Pujol was trusted enough at the time by the MI5 that he was assigned this extremely important task, and used his talent and immense popularity with the Nazis in order to fulfill it. As quoted from an article from “The Independent”, "By June 1944 . . . Operation Fortitude had managed to persuade the German high command that the Normandy landings were merely ‘a starter before the main course’. That, the Wehrmacht believed with ‘unshakeable’ conviction, would take the form of a massive invasion of the Pas de Calais across the narrowest point of the Channel by an (entirely fictional) First US Army Group under General …show more content…
Yet, barely any people know about him in the United States to this day. Even with all the struggles he faced, the operations he helped with, and the milestones he set, he is still not commonly recognized by the average American citizen. Too many potential role models like Pujol are discarded or unrecognized like this, which is truly something society should be ashamed of. Although he was not a citizen of the United States, he was still a very important figure during World War II, and made it possible for many plans of the Allies to be carried out. History should not forget a man like Pujol, nor forget any of the other incredible people who had survived and fought back against the Axis regime. Society should collectively broaden its horizons on forgotten people in history, in order to bring their stories into the spotlight and find new role models to follow, instead of having them be forgotten simply because of their different