Bill Sparks volunteered for dangerous work against Germany after his brother died aboard HMS Naiad. When he and Hasler reached Gibraltar, Hasler was urgently flown home and Sparks remained behind awaiting orders. Officials who could not identify him detained him as a suspected absentee. After returning to Britain, he slipped away to spend two days with his father, who had been told that he was missing and possibly dead. The Admiralty and Combined Operations headquarters also struggled to establish who he was. One account has a visiting officer recognize his face; another has a WRNS personnel officer identify him through his name and service details. The personnel officer account is considered the more plausible explanation, although both versions survive. Sparks later served in North Africa, Italy, and Burma, then worked in civilian transport and as a police lieutenant during the Malayan Emergency.
Chapter · 1:06:09-1:14:33
Bill Sparks survives the raid and its bureaucracy
The twenty-year-old Marine joined from a desire for revenge, escaped with Hasler, and then repeatedly had to convince British authorities that he was not absent without leave.