Shortly after the end of World War Two the author of The Winking Fox tried to identify the crew who dropped him in occupied France 20 miles off target. Because of the Top Secret classification of these operations, the US Air Force which succeeded the Army Air Corps would not help in his inquiry. Eventually, unbeknownst to him, the classification was lifted.
While searching for his French resistance comrades of World War Two, he accidentally discovered the Air Force crew in question. In the process the author made some devastating discoveries concerning those who had helped him. These are recounted in The Tracks of the Fox, which unveil events not yet recounted in history in post-war France & Vietnam.
In France he describes the suffering of his French comrades at the hands of the communists who unsuccessfully attempted to takeover France by force. Their main purpose was not to fight the Nazis, but to create an authority strong enough to take over France by force.
In South East Asia, where the author was with Ho Chi Min, he describes the unbelievable adventures of the wife of a French officer, possibly an OSS agent, and the defection of a Vietminh leader whose father was executed by Ho Chi Minh’s orders. Uncle Ho, this agrarian reformer. had learned from Stalin that in order to succeed in a revolution all oppositions either real or imagined must be removed. It included Nguyên-Dinh-Tan’s Father.
Rene J. Defourneaux was born in France in small town close to the Swiss Border.
At the age of 18, with his Mother and Sister he immigrated to the United States in 1939 shortly before the start of WWII.
He joined the U.S. Army in 1943, became an Intelligence specialist. Shortly after reaching England he was recruited by OSS, trained by the British Special Operation Executive (SOE) and dropped in France behind the German lines to train, organize French resistance units and conduct intelligence operations.
Once his territory was liberated he returned to the USA and was assigned to China-Burma-India (CBI) Theater with duty in India, Ceylon, and China. As the second in Command of a six men team he parachuted in Indo-china behind the Japanese lines to train a local guerrilla group headed by Ho Chi Minh and General VO Nguyên Giap. He and his team entered Hanoi with Ho shortly after the end of the war.
Subsequently, following a short period as a civilian, he was recalled to active duty status and assigned to the U.S. Army Counterintelligence Corps with assignments in the United States, Germany, and as an instructor at the CIC School of Fort Holabird.
In 1956 he was transferred to the U.S. Army Pacific Command with duty in Laos, Okinawa, and Japan as an Intelligence Officer. He remained there until November 1963 when he was assigned to Fort Harrison at Indianapolis as the Special Agent in Charge of an Intelligence unit. This was his last post prior to his retirement in 1965 after twenty-two years of active duty as an Army Intelligence officer.
As a licensed private investigator he created an agency dealing primarily with the investigation of stockbrokers. At the same time he became a partner of Mid-America International Corp., an import-export company. In 1979 after the death of his partner, Robert P. Fortune, he became the sole owner and he phased out his investigative agency.
In January 1988, he sold his company and became a consultant in international trade. His main activities were with Curtis TradeGroup Inc. a division of Servaas Inc. Presently he is director of Curtis TradeGroup Inc. now an independent company after its separation from Servaas Inc.
A docudrama about the Deer Team is being considered by Barry Spikings the producer/director of the film Beyond Rangoon.
The Winking Fox, published in 1998, details his 22 years of military service. His most recent book The Tracks of the Fox describes his search for his WWII resistance companions and the Air Force crew who dropped him in the wrong place.
