by Purchase included homicides committed by John Christie and John Haigh. Also as coroner, Purchase provided a corpse in 1943 for use in Operation Mincemeat. The World War II special operation centered on the release in Spanish territorial waters of a body dressed in the uniform of a British marine officer-courier. The body was supposed to be carrying top-secret planning documents in preparation for Anglo-American operations in the Mediterranean Sea. As a counter-intelligence initiative, the operation pointed German military intelligence, the Abwehr, toward locations far away from the Allies' true target of Sicily. The German armed forces did not take steps to establish tactical air command over Sicily at the time of the Allies' amphibious assault, and Operation Mincemeat is said to have saved thousands of lives. Legacy and honours During his active life in London, Bentley Purchase was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1949. Upon the winding-down of his responsibilities in 1958, he accepted a knighthood. After his death in 1961, a friendly biography (Robert Jackson, Coroner: the Biography of Sir Bentley Purchase, London: George G. Harrap and Co.), was published in 1963. Purchase was played by Paul Ritter in the 2022 film Operation Mincemeat. References 1890 births 1961 deaths British coroners British Army personnel of World War I Royal Artillery officers Recipients of the Military Cross Alumni of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge People from Luton Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Members of the Inner Temple