While Guy Rithcie’s ‘The Ministry Of Ungentlemanly War’ featured a lot of other intriguing characters, none of them were as interesting as the real-life Gus March Phillips. In the film, Gus is portrayed by Henry Cavill and it’s safe to say that he did his character justice.
Despite the film being heavily fictionalized and way different than the original World War 2 mission ‘Operation Postmaster’, Gus’ story is very intriguing even in real life. His exploits have even inspired Ian Fleming’s iconic character ‘James Bond’. But what happened to the real life Gus March Phillips after Operation Postmaster? Here’s what we know.
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Gus March-Phillips Continued Fighting For The Army After ‘Operation Postmaster’
While the ‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare‘ might be an exaggerated version of Gus March Phillips’s story, he was no less than a heroic character in real life. He was a highly decorated British Military member for a span of a few months, as has been shown in the film as well. After Operation Postmaster’s success, Gus continued fighting.
‘Operation Postmaster‘ aimed to capture enemy ships docked in the neutral Spanish harbor of Santa Isabel in order to disrupt Axis naval operations in the Atlantic during World War 3. By seizing these ships, the British hoped to gain valuable intelligence and deny the enemy the use of these vessels for military purposes.
Despite the mission not being recognized as a part of the British Government, many officials recognized and appreciated the team. As Gus continued to fight, he joined another mission and unfortunately got killed while there in the same year (1942). While his serving period was brief, the impact he had cannot be denied.
n the film, March-Phillips married Marjorie Steward but there is no evidence in real life proving that Marjorie was a part of the mission in any way. It is also unclear how long the two knew each other before the mission.
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Was ‘James Bond’ Inspired By Gus March-Phillips?
Ian Fleming himself was a part of the British Naval Intelligence was part of the same organization as Gus during Word War 2. According to Damien Lewis, the author of Churchill’s Secret Warriors, Gus March-Phillips did indeed inspire Ian Fleming’s James Bond.
“Gus March-Phillips, as the dashing English gentleman, was one of the inspirations for James Bond,” he told the USA Today. He talked about how Fleming integrated his experience with World War 2 missions into his James Bond novels. Lewis also explained that he did so due to “the classified nature of his work.”
In an interview with Jimmy Kimmel, even Henry Cavill claimed that he believed this to be true. “Ian Fleming was part of this Special Operations Executive. He wrote James Bond, and apparently based James Bond upon Gus March-Phillipps, the guy who I play. I reckon it was probably a bit more than that, it was probably other characters as well,” Cavill said.
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