When Winston Churchill traveled to Washington in December 1941 to meet with Franklin Delano Roosevelt, one of the first things the two leaders discovered they had in common was not politics or strategy. Both men were Freemasons. Roosevelt was a 32nd degree Scottish Rite Mason. Churchill was initiated in 1901 at Studholme Lodge in London.
The Masonic connection became an important element of their wartime correspondence. In letters never intended for public release, the two leaders used Masonic terminology to discuss sensitive operations: the Temple referred to a strategic objective, the cornerstone to a key installation, the compass to a bombing plan. None of these terms would make sense to anyone outside the Masonic fraternity, making them a remarkably effective form of secure communication.
British intelligence officers who were also Masons played roles in the war that have never been fully documented. The overlap between Freemasonry and intelligence work was natural: both traditions emphasized secrecy, loyalty, and the brotherhood of all men. One SOE agent dropped behind enemy lines in France in 1943 carried a Masonic apron along with his radio. When he arrived at a village, he would present the apron at the local lodge, and the Masons inside would take him in.
The Masonic network in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands saved the lives of hundreds of Allied agents. Unlike every other intelligence network, it was not run by a government. It was run by a brotherhood.