Nancy Wake’s Death
- August 8th, 2011
- Posted by EUEditor
Nancy Wake, the Resistance hero of the Second World War, died on Sunday, 7.8.11, aged 98 in a London nursing home.
Known by the Gestapo as the elusive “white mouseâ€, she was involved in operating escape routes out of occupied France; escaped to England herself, to be parachuted back into France as a spy; and was engaged in fighting, with the maquis branch of the French Resistance.
Born in New Zealand and raised in Sydney from an early age, she left home early, and travelled, ending up as a foreign correspondent in France for American newspapers, at the outbreak of war.
She received awards and decorations from France (Officier de la Legion d’Honneur), Britain (George Cross), the United States (Medal of Freedom), and New Zealand.
Professing herself crooked on Australia for a lack of official recognition, she accepted the rank of Companion of the Order of Australia in 2004.
Nancy Wake was married when young to a French businessman, Henri Fiocca, who was caught by the Nazis and executed.
She later remarried and lived back in Australia for more than 25 years after the War.
She was played by Noni Hazelhurst in a 1980s film about her exploits.
Picture Wikipedia