I couldn't believe all this was happening to me. London – No. 1 Ryder Street, was our office. A lot of espionage novels mention that address. (Hedvig Johnson Allen)
1 Ryder Street “My office in England. British Intelligence on the 1st floor. 2nd floor … American Intelligence.”
This photograph of 1 Ryder Street in London was taken a few years ago by a friend. Hedy noted in the top corner that her office was on the 2nd floor – above the British Intelligence office.
This was not by accident. The British and the American intelligence services had a close working relationship.
Hedy worked in the counterintelligence division of the OSS, known as X-2. Of course, she could never tell anyone outside the organization where she worked. It was top secret. When she took a taxi, she had to give them an address on Regent Street, a few blocks away, and then walk the rest of the way.
Her boss, for at least part of the time she was there, was William T. “Bill” Carlson. Bill joined the OSS in early 1943. His parents had both been born in Sweden. Bill was fluent in Swedish and German, and he had a fair proficiency of French and Spanish. All very valuable for a job in wartime intelligence.
What is interesting is that Hedy had not been in London for even a month before she entered the Berlitz School of Languages in order to brush up on her Swedish. Her parents, Swedish Finns, had spoken Swedish in their Minnesota home. Hedy only began to speak English when she entered the 1st grade.
So a move to Sweden was already on the agenda …
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