 There are two different and mutually incompatible accounts of Russell's military service during World War II.The official, well-documented version is that he served with the Royal Air Force, with whom he saw active service in Europe as a member of a Mobile Signals Unit.However, in the introduction to the 1986 Del Rey Books edition of Russell's novel "Wasp", Jack L. Chalker states that Russell was too old for active service, and instead worked for Military Intelligence in London, where he "spent the war dreaming up nasty tricks to play against the Germans and Japanese", including Operation Mincemeat.