Vale Nancy Wake

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Fossy
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Location: Cairns, Qld., Australia

Vale Nancy Wake

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Vale Nancy Wake-- aka The White Mouse—Helene--Madame Andree—Witch

Nancy Grace Augusta Wake 30-August 1912—7-August 2011


Nancy Wake was born in Wellington, New Zealand, the youngest of six children. When she was two years old the family migrated to Australia. They were then deserted by her father who left his wife to raise the children.

Nancy wanted to see the world and was determined to do so. She left home at age sixteen and became a nursing aide. At age twenty, with the help of an inheritance she sailed for America and found work as a journalist. She then went to London, still as a journalist. While in London a vacancy came up for a journalist who could speak fluent French. She persuaded her newspaper that she could, and got the job. While working in France she went on assignment to Austria to report on the treatment of jews. She was so shocked by what she saw that she developed an intense hatred of Nazis which lasted all her life.

In 1937 she met Henri Fiocca and in 1939 they married. They lived in Marsailles which became Vichy France. She, along with many others refused to accept the dictates of Marshall Petain to accept the defeat and corroborate with the Germans. She became a courier for the resistance.

With British airman Captain Ian Garrow an escape network was established . This was financed by her husband. The network was betrayed in 1943 and she fled to England. She tried to join the army, but there was no work for her. However when it was discovered that she had nursing experience she became an ambulance driver. After a short time the SOE realised that she had experience in their line of work. She was enlisted and worked hard to succeed. One thing she had to learn was to kill with her bare hands, and to this end she karate chopped logs endlessly. This training proved valuable when she was later confronted by a German soldier. She described the incident. “ I kicked him in the balls and when he folded, I gave him a karate chop to the side of the neck”.

She was parachuted into France, joined the resistance, and organised targets and equipment supplies. After the war she received multiple awards. It was not until after the war that she found out that Henri was arrested in 1943 by the Gestapo, tortured and killed. She blamed herself for his death.

Nancy settled in London, was looked up by a former training colleague John Forward. They subsequently married and returned to Australia. Nancy stood unsuccessfully three times for Parliament. She and her husband retired to Port Macquarie on the NSW coast. After John died she returned to London.

Her wish was to have her ashes scattered over Montlucon in central France.

Refer also to my comments on page 225--What Films Have You Seen Lately
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