Phyllis Latour, last of the WWII SOE girls passes

[LVSteve]

Last of the 39 women employed who served with SOE in occupied France, Phyllis Latour, has passed at 102. With her passing, the UK National Archives has now released information about her missions. RIP, brave lady.

Phyllis Latour: The secret life of a WW2 heroine revealed - BBC News

 

[Bekeart]

Looked up "SOE"

Special Operations Executive (SOE)


She was an agent in the Special Operations Executive (SOE), known as Churchill's Secret Army. Her codename was Genevieve and she was sending urgent messages back to London.

 

[oldbrownhat]

What an amazing story!

"...In September 1945, Phyllis was awarded an MBE. The recommendation says she was "a bit scatters" - a scatterbrain, in other words. "Always wanted to be doing something dangerous but had no idea it was dangerous. Thought it was all rather fun. Tons of guts. Wants to go on with the work, provided it's dangerous enough."

Vera Atkins, who was in charge of female SOE agents in France... asked whether Phyllis had "settled down again to shooting elephants and ostriches and other peace-time occupations"...

 

[Dave_n]

There is an excellent book on SOE that is relatively recent. The title is close to the following. "The Art of Ungentlemany Warfare". Excellent reading and shows how one could also add the feminine version of the second word in the title. Dave_n

 

[Rudi]

An amazing woman with an amazing life. RIP Madame.

 

[LVSteve]

Special Operations Executive (SOE)


She was an agent in the Special Operations Executive (SOE), known as Churchill's Secret Army. Her codename was Genevieve and she was sending urgent messages back to London.

Sorry, I forget that not everyone is as up to speed with WWII history as me.

 

[Krogen]

Thanks for posting the article, LVSteve. Some of the most extraordinary people can come across as being a bit daft. No doubt she was hit with gender discrimination and bias, yet she prevailed. There was a special mind inside. I read that she rarely spoke of her history. Even though classified, it's unfortunate as I'm sure there was a lot to tell. I would have loved to hear her tell her story.

 

[soFlaNative]

I'm glad you shared that, Thanks.

 

[ditrina]

R.I.P, Phyllis, she defined the Greatest Generation !

 

[Greyman50]

RIP, Madame. The fools in hollywood could have made many excellent TRUE movies about OSS and SOE but they want to use made up garbage…….