Post by wheelspinner on Aug 9, 2011 4:16:35 GMT -5
Nancy Wake was an extraordinary person, by any standards. RIP.
Resistance heroine who beat the Nazis loses final battle
Paul Mulvey
August 9, 2011 - 12:03AM
AFTER witnessing Hitler's early atrocities, Nancy Wake vowed to fight him any way she could.
She fought so well, she ended up top of the Gestapo's wanted list, saved thousands of Allied lives, played a crucial role in D-Day and received France's highest military honour.
She was resourceful, cunning, feisty, brave and tough, once killing a German sentry with her bare hands.
''She is the most feminine woman I know until the fighting starts. Then, she is like five men,'' a French colleague said of her.
But, at the age of 98, Ms Wake was finally beaten. ''The White Mouse'', Australia's most decorated WWII servicewoman, died in London on Sunday of a chest infection.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard said yesterday Ms Wake was a remarkable person. ''Nancy Wake was a woman of exceptional courage and resourcefulness whose daring exploits saved the lives of hundreds of Allied personnel and helped bring the Nazi occupation of France to an end,'' she said.
RSL national president Rear Admiral Ken Doolan said: ''To be a young woman behind enemy lines, doing what she did, having the courage of her convictions, it's not something that most people could do. What she did was remarkable.''
She was also the Allies' most decorated WWII servicewoman and in France is revered as a national heroine for her Resistance work and bravery.
She was awarded France's highest honour, the Legion d'Honneur, three Croix de Guerre and a French Resistance Medal, Britain's George Medal and the US Medal of Freedom. But she never received a military honour from Australia and left in 2001 after telling the government it ''could stick their medals where the monkey stuck his nuts''.
After decades of confrontations with the RSL and the Australian government, Ms Wake moved back to England aged 88, determined to see out her days in the country that trained her as a spy and in the company of old comrades.
Three years later, the Australian government and Wake mellowed, and she was made a Companion of the Order of Australia.
In the war, she set up escape routes for thousands of Allied soldiers and airmen and led a band of the Resistance, but had to flee over the Pyrenees to Spain and eventually England after being arrested in 1943. She was trained as a spy and saboteur and parachuted back into France in 1944.
One of her operations included an attack on the Gestapo headquarters in Montlucon, where she requested her ashes be scattered.
AAP
This story was found at: www.theage.com.au/national/resistance-heroine-who-beat-the-nazis-loses-final-battle-20110808-1ijc0.html
Resistance heroine who beat the Nazis loses final battle
Paul Mulvey
August 9, 2011 - 12:03AM
AFTER witnessing Hitler's early atrocities, Nancy Wake vowed to fight him any way she could.
She fought so well, she ended up top of the Gestapo's wanted list, saved thousands of Allied lives, played a crucial role in D-Day and received France's highest military honour.
She was resourceful, cunning, feisty, brave and tough, once killing a German sentry with her bare hands.
''She is the most feminine woman I know until the fighting starts. Then, she is like five men,'' a French colleague said of her.
But, at the age of 98, Ms Wake was finally beaten. ''The White Mouse'', Australia's most decorated WWII servicewoman, died in London on Sunday of a chest infection.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard said yesterday Ms Wake was a remarkable person. ''Nancy Wake was a woman of exceptional courage and resourcefulness whose daring exploits saved the lives of hundreds of Allied personnel and helped bring the Nazi occupation of France to an end,'' she said.
RSL national president Rear Admiral Ken Doolan said: ''To be a young woman behind enemy lines, doing what she did, having the courage of her convictions, it's not something that most people could do. What she did was remarkable.''
She was also the Allies' most decorated WWII servicewoman and in France is revered as a national heroine for her Resistance work and bravery.
She was awarded France's highest honour, the Legion d'Honneur, three Croix de Guerre and a French Resistance Medal, Britain's George Medal and the US Medal of Freedom. But she never received a military honour from Australia and left in 2001 after telling the government it ''could stick their medals where the monkey stuck his nuts''.
After decades of confrontations with the RSL and the Australian government, Ms Wake moved back to England aged 88, determined to see out her days in the country that trained her as a spy and in the company of old comrades.
Three years later, the Australian government and Wake mellowed, and she was made a Companion of the Order of Australia.
In the war, she set up escape routes for thousands of Allied soldiers and airmen and led a band of the Resistance, but had to flee over the Pyrenees to Spain and eventually England after being arrested in 1943. She was trained as a spy and saboteur and parachuted back into France in 1944.
One of her operations included an attack on the Gestapo headquarters in Montlucon, where she requested her ashes be scattered.
AAP
This story was found at: www.theage.com.au/national/resistance-heroine-who-beat-the-nazis-loses-final-battle-20110808-1ijc0.html
