Nancy and her husband, Henri Fiocca

Nancy in 1945

Ian Garrow (left) and Albert Guérisse (right) after the war

Denis “Denden” Rake; Nancy once said of Denden, “He was queer and I loved him.”

Henri ‘Tardi’ Tardivat

Violette Szabo

After the tragic death of her husband, Étienne Szabo, a French Foreign Legion officer during the North African campaign in October 1942, Violette joined the SOE. During her wireless training, Leo Marks offered Violette the use of the poem he’d written in memory of his girlfriend, who’d recently died in a plane crash. Hence, Violette adopted The Life That I Have as her code poem. Marks later described Violette as “A dark-haired slip of mischief….She had a Cockney accent which added to her impishness.”

In April 1944, Violette parachuted into France on her first mission. She soon returned to England to report on the collapse of the Salesman circuit. During her second mission to France, Violette was captured by German forces. She was eventually sent to Ravensbrück concentration camp and, along with fellow SOE agents Lilian Rolfe and Denise Bloch, was executed in February 1945. Violette was one of the few SOE women to receive the George Cross and was also posthumously awarded the Croix de Guerre and the Médaille de la Résistance.

Nancy with her medals before she sold them. She had declared, “When I die, I want my ashes scattered over the hills where I fought with brave men.”