1995

Odette Hallowes, GC

Countries: France

War served, WW2 i

Commemorated on a memorial as having served in, and survived, WW2.

Born Odette Marie Céline Brailly in France. Married an Englishman, Sansom, in 1931 and moved to England. He enlisted in 1940 and she in 1942 with Special Forces of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY) and Special Operations Executive. She went to Nazi-occupied France and worked with the French underground, supervised by Peter Churchill. Playing the roles of a married couple they were arrested and sent to separate concentration camps. They were both tortured and condemned to death but both survived. Following the war her marriage to Sansom was dissolved and she married Churchill in 1947. In 1956 she divorced Churchill and married Geoffrey Hallowes, also an officer in SOE.

GC, MBE, L d’H, Vice-President of FANY 1967 – 1995.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Odette Hallowes, GC

Commemorated ati

Women's Transport Service (FANY)

We like the bespoke layout of this plaque: the medals, the maiden-name, the "...

See other memorials in this area

Other Subjects

Women’s Transport Service (FANY)

All-women unit, affiliated to the TA, formed as the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry and active in both nursing and intelligence work during WW1 and WW2. The original role was to ride horseback (hence "...

Group, Armed Forces, Espionage, Medicine

1 memorial

Hester Leggatt

Hester May Murray Leggatt was a vital contributor to MI5's 1943 Operation Mincemeat - see there for the full story. Born in India, her family brought her back to the UK before WW1. She attended T...

Person, Espionage

1 memorial

Noor Inayat Khan

WW2 spy and member of the French resistance. A descendant of the 18th century south Indian ruler Tipu Sultan, Khan was a follower of the Sufi faith and believed in non-violence. Born Moscow to pa...

Person, Espionage, France, Russia

War dead, WW2

4 memorials

Christine Granville

Wartime special agent. Britain’s first and longest-serving female WW2 secret agent. Born Maria Krystyna Janina Skarbek in Warsaw. When Germany invaded Poland her family moved to London and she joi...

Person, Espionage, Tragedy, Egypt, France, Hungary, Poland, Turkey

War served, WW2

1 memorial

Graham Greene

Author. Born Henry Graham Greene at St John's, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire. After his marriage, he converted to Roman Catholicism, which became a theme in a number of his novels. During the second w...

Person, Espionage, Literature, Switzerland

2 memorials