Back ايلين نيرن ARZ Eileen Nearne French アイリーン・ニアン Japanese Eileen Nearne Portuguese Eileen Nearne Swedish
Eileen Nearne | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Nickname(s) | Rose |
| Born | 16 March 1921 London, England, UK |
| Died | Before 2 September 2010 (aged 89) Torquay, England |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom, France |
| Service/ | |
| Years of service | 1943–45 |
| Unit | Wizard |
| Relations | Jacqueline Nearne (sister), Francis and Frederick Nearne (brothers) |
Eileen Mary "Didi" Nearne MBE, Croix de Guerre (15 March 1921[1][2] – 2 September 2010 (date body found)) was a member of the UK's Special Operations Executive (SOE) in France during World War II.[3] The purpose of SOE was to conduct espionage, sabotage, and reconnaissance in countries occupied by Nazi Germany and other Axis powers. SOE agents allied themselves with resistance groups and supplied them with weapons and equipment parachuted in from England.
Nearne served as a radio operator under the codename "Rose."[4] (French Resistance operative Andrée Peel was also known as Agent Rose.) She was captured by the Germans and imprisoned in Ravensbrück concentration camp, but survived the war.
- ^ Obituary in The Times 15 September 2010
- ^ "Eileen Nearne's war heroism revealed in National Archives". The Guardian. 29 October 2010.
- ^ "People's War", BBC. Retrieved 10 September 2010.
- ^ John Fisher Burns (21 September 2010). "Eileen Nearne, wartime spy, dies at 89". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 September 2010.
After she died earlier this month, a frail 89-year-old alone in a flat in the British seaside town of Torquay, Eileen Nearne, her body undiscovered for several days, was listed by local officials as a candidate for what is known in Britain as a council burial, or what in the past was called a pauper's grave.