After the identification of Michael as Major Martin, doubts began to surface. It seemed odd that an operative as meticulous as Montagu would risk the success of the operation by using a body of a man neither physically fit (as might be expected of a Marine officer) nor having died in the manner suggested (drowned, or as a result of an air crash). Montagu formally states in his book that, in 1942, there was no shortage of bodies, but none they felt they could take.[8] He also states that he feared they may have to steal a body ("do a Burke and Hare"), before the body of a young man who had died of pneumonia, and for whom permission to use the body was given, could be found.