I thought we should remember the women who fought in WW2
There are more stories of heroism out of World War II than can ever fit in a school textbook, but hundreds of those stories are written down somewhere for those who want to find them. Over 100 million military personnel participated in the war, including many women. Here is the story of one of those brave women. They did their part and more for the Allied effort.
1. Nancy Wake: Guerrilla Fighter
Born in New Zealand and raised in Australia, Nancy Wake was a journalist in New York and London and then married a wealthy Frenchman and was living in Marseille when Germany invaded. Wake immediately went to work for the French resistance, hiding and smuggling men out of France and ferrying contraband supplies and falsified documents. She was once captured and interrogated for days, but gave no secrets away. With the Nazis in hot pursuit, Wake managed to escape to Britain in 1943, and joined the Special Operations Executive (SOE), a British intelligence agency. After training with weapons and parachutes, she was airdropped back into France -as an official spy and warrior. Wake had no trouble shooting Nazis or blowing up buildings with the French guerrilla fighters known as maquis in the service of the resistance. She once killed an SS sentry with her bare hands. After the war, Nancy Wake was awarded the George Medal from the British, the Medal of Freedom from the U.S., and the Médaille de la Résistance and three Croix de Guerre from France, among other honors. She also found out that her husband had died in 1943 when the Gestapo had tortured him to find out his wife’s whereabouts. He refused any cooperation to the point of death.
Wake ran for political office a few times in Australia, and remarried in the 1950s. She published her biography, The White Mouse, in 1988. That was the Gestapo’s nickname for her due to her talent for sneaking by them. Nancy Wake died August 7, 2011 at age 98.
Short and sweet..just how you like them!! 🙂
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Thanks for sharing a great story of a woman during the war.
It was my pleasure roseinbloom. 😀
another good one. I’ve heard of the lady and her exploits, but I never knew her origins.
Good to hear from you again Way. We dont often hear about women in war, i dont know why becouse there were a lot of brave one’s in both world wars. 🙂
Wow! I’m A Wake now. What a phenomenal person. “Fenominal Female” might make a fair title for a short movie about this Woman. Thanks for sharing this Shadow. What a thing to experience war as a woman and having to kill to survive! May the saints have her in comfort held tightly against their chests. And, may we live up to the expectations expressed by her efforts.
Thank you so much for your comment dannyboy 😀 I agree with you all the way on what you said. 🙂
Oooops danny..see your reply below! 🙂
Thanks shads she was a wonderful brave women .seen a movie about her ,but can’t remember the name of it.
I remember Nancy wake, she was an older lady I was a very young child, we were at a political rally, my papa and uncle were very radical voters at the time, she was known as the white Mouse , you are correct in all you wrote, she did not become reconised in Australia in regards to her being a well known heroine in w w 2 for years., my papa used to put me on his shoulders to hear what the speakers were talking about, lots pf political speakers and supporters used to gather politicaly for discussions in speakers corner on a Sunday morning in Hyde Park in Sydney Australia , i have always been extremely interested in politics since those days, I met Prime Minister Menzies . at a rally in Brisbane my papa didnt like him and we got ejected out of the Brisbane town hall i was 4 at the time but i remember clearly,my papa being kindly to leave for interjecting…. lol.
I enjoyed reading your post lani. Especially the part where your dad got ejected out of the town hall..i can just picture that lol. Thank you so much for telling me/us your story. 🙂
So good to see you back Mac :D. I hope we see some of yours stories again soon..no rush of cause! lol. Many thanks for your reply . I didnt know they had made a film about her? Nothing was said when i looked her up…now you have me wondering what the name of the film was!. 🙂 xxx
I am so sorry everyone for replying to you in the wrong place’s 🙁 I dont know why that happened. I have replied to blogs for a long time now so i know how to do it. I hope you all see my replies to you? . xx
Another famous brave women of Australian history pertaining to w.w.2, is Sister Vivian Bullwinkle , her story can be found on google too, she was a nurse , that was among those marched into the sea and shot by the japanese , she survived and went on to suffer terrible atrocities at the hands of the Japanese , but she survived to tell the stories of those terrible days,
I will look her up lani. Thanks for posting another very brave lady who fought for freedom. 🙂
Great story about a great women.
🙂 🙂