Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Here's the Plot for Your Next WW II Thriller

War heroine’s past discovered only after she dies in obscurity - World - TheChronicleHerald.ca: "Her secret is out. But it is too late for Eileen Nearne to bask in the glory Britain loves to bestow on its Second World War heroes.

She died alone, uncelebrated, on Sept. 2 of a heart attack at 89. Only on Tuesday did the nation learn of her bravery behind enemy lines: She went on a clandestine mission to France in 1944 at the tender age of 23 to operate a wireless transmitter that served as a vital link between the French Resistance and war planners in London.

Nearne posed as a French shop girl. She meanwhile helped co-ordinate supply lines and weapons drops in advance of the D-Day invasion that marked the beginning of the liberation of Europe, then stayed on the job until the Nazis caught her in July 1944 and sent her to the Ravensbruck concentration camp. She later escaped after being sent to a smaller nearby camp."

Hat tip to Scott Cupp.

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