Glyndwr Michael Glyndwr Michael ( 4 January 1909 – 24 January 1943 ) was a semi - literate homeless man whose body was used in Operation Mincemeat , the successful World War II deception plan that lured German forces to Greece prior to the Allied invasion of Sicily . The invasion was a success , with Allied losses numbering several thousand fewer than would have been expected had the deception plan failed . Michael was born in Aberbargoed in Wales . His father Thomas , a coal miner , committed suicide when he was fifteen years old ; his mother later died when he was thirty - one . Michael , homeless , friendless , depressed and with no money , drifted to London where he lived on the streets . He was found in an abandoned warehouse close to King ' s Cross , having ingested rat poison which contained phosphorus . This may have been suicide , although an alternate theory suggested he may have simply been desperately trying to scrounge something to eat , as the particular poison he ingested was a paste smeared on bread crusts to attract rats . When Bentley Purchase , coroner of St . Pancras District in London , obtained the body of the 34 - year old Welsh man , it was identified as in suitable condition for a man who would appear to have floated ashore several days after having died at sea by hypothermia and drowning . After being ingested , phosphide reacts with hydrochloric acid in the stomach , generating phosphine , a highly toxic gas . Coroner Purchase explained , “ This dose was not sufficient to kill him outright , and its only effect was so to impair the functioning of the liver that he died a little time afterwards ” , leaving few clues to the cause of death . Before Michael , finding a usable cadaver had been difficult , as indiscreet inquiries would cause talk , and it was impossible to tell a dead man ' s next of kin what the body was wanted for . The dead man ' s parents had died and no known relatives were found . The body was released on the condition that the man ' s real identity would never be revealed . Ewen Montagu later claimed the man died from pneumonia , and that the family had been contacted and permission obtained , but none of this was true . On 30 April , Lt . Jewell , captain of the submarine " Seraph " , read the 39th Psalm and Michael ' s body was gently pushed into the sea where the tide would bring it ashore off Huelva on the Spanish Atlantic coast . Michael ' s body was picked up by a fisherman and he was buried as Major William Martin with full military honours . His grave lies in Huelva ' s cemetery of Nuestra Senora , in the San Marco section . The headstone , reads " William Martin , born 29 March 1907 , died 24 April 1943 , beloved son of John Glyndwyr and the late Antonia Martin of Cardiff , Wales , Dulce et Decorum est pro Patria Mori , R . I . P . " The Latin phrase translates as " It is sweet and fitting to die for one ' s country . " In 1998 , however , the British Government revealed the body ' s true identity . To the gravestone was added , " Glyndwr Michael ; Served as Major William Martin , RM ; A plaque commemorating Glyndwr Michael is now also on the war memorial in Aberbargoed . It is headed " Y Dyn Na Fu Erioed " ( translation - " The Man Who Never Was " ) .