Communications Officer
FANYs provided support to the Unveiling of a Blue Plaque celebrating the life and service of Odette Hallows.
Odette Sansom (later Churchill, later Hallowes) was one of the FANYs who was sent into occupied France as an agent in WWII; thirty-nine of the 50 women sent into France were FANYs. Women could move around much more freely, because, since over 1.6 million French men had been deported by the Germans into forced labour, male Resistance fighters were dangerously conspicuous. The FANY agents had to have perfect knowledge of France, very good (though not necessarily perfect) French, and few family ties.
Odette was arrested after seven months, and brutally tortured – with a red hot poker on her back, and her toenails pulled out – but somehow she managed to convince the Gestapo she was married to Peter Churchill, another agent with whom she had been arrested, and that he was closely related to Winston Churchill. She was sent to Ravensbrück Concentration Camp, where she was kept in solitary confinement in a room next to the furnaces, and with the heating turned on full blast throughout the summer to try and break her. She survived pneumonia and the war and lived to become one of our most venerated veterans.
Corps Commanding Officer, Lisa Giles, said
“It was an honour to commemorate one of our most celebrated FANYs at today’s event, and to support the installation of a permanent memorial to mark her remarkable life. This week has provided an important opportunity to commemorate the service given by so many women like Odette, and to remember the sacrifices that so many had to make. It is also a chance to reflect on the inspiration provided by so many FANYs who served before us, and to take courage from their bravery and valour.”