Ambassadors to honor female WWII spy

AP via Yahoo! ^ | Sun Dec 10, 2006 - 2:45 PM ET | Ben Nuckols, AP Writer

[Ready4Freddy]

BALTIMORE - In 1942, the Gestapo circulated posters offering a reward for the capture of "the woman with a limp. She is the most dangerous of all Allied spies and we must find and destroy her."

The dangerous woman was Virginia Hall, a Baltimore native working in France for British intelligence, and the limp was the result of an artificial leg. Her left leg had been amputated below the knee about a decade earlier after she stumbled and blasted her foot with a shotgun while hunting in Turkey.

The injury derailed Hall's dream of becoming a Foreign Service officer because the State Department wouldn't hire amputees, but it didn't prevent her from becoming one of the most celebrated spies of World War II.

On Tuesday, the French and British ambassadors plan to honor Hall, who died in 1982 at age 78, at a ceremony at the home of French Ambassador Jean-David Levitte in Washington.

British Ambassador Sir David Manning plans to present a certificate signed by King George VI to Hall's niece, Lorna Catling. Hall should have received the document in 1943, when she was made a member of the Order of the British Empire.

"I think it was ironic that the State Department turned her down because she was an amputee, and here she went on and did all this other stuff," said Catling, who lives in Baltimore. Catling said she didn't learn many of the details of her aunt's espionage career until after her death.

Hall, who was fluent in French, was living in Paris when the Nazis invaded in 1940, and she decamped for London, where she was recruited by the secret British paramilitary service, the Special Operations Executive, becoming its first female field operative.

[Ready4Freddy]

Interesting!

Gee, grandma, what did you do in the war?

"Well, I became the only civilian woman to win the Distinguished Service Medal for service in World War II."

Sure, grandma, but what did you really do?

In this photo copied from an exhibition at Arlington National Cemetery showing Virginia Hall of Baltimore, left, being awarded the Distinguished Service Cross by Maj. Gen. William J. Donovan, founder of the OSS, Nov. 27, 1945. In 1942, the Gestapo circulated posters offering a reward for the capture of 'the woman with a limp. She is the most dangerous of all Allied spies and we must find and destroy her.' (AP Photo/The Baltimore Sun)

[Ready4Freddy]

She probably drank some vermooth while in France, huh? ;>)

[T. Buzzard Trueblood]

Would make a great movie.

[Ready4Freddy]

Wouldn't it, tho?

[Ready4Freddy]

Has her own Wiki page, and I also found this - http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/SOEhall.htm.

[Ready4Freddy]

They've got the book - per Wiki: Her story was told in "The Wolves at the Door : The True Story of America's Greatest Female Spy" by Judith L. Pearson (2005) The Lyons Press, ISBN 1-59228-762-X

Wiki also already has a link to this article.

[Last Dakotan]

Her left leg had been amputated below the knee about a decade earlier after she stumbled and blasted her foot with a shotgun while hunting in Turkey.

Reminder to leave safety engaged.

[STARWISE]

Real heroine PING! Valerie Plame can only dream of such courage and heroic achievements.

[onyx]

Interesting.
Thanks for the ping.

[STARWISE]

LOL .. your tagline.

[onyx]

I yelled myself hoarse --- almost gave myself a sore throat. I immediately took an antibiotic. WOO-HOO! I am still so totally thrilled!

[Lancey Howard]

There was a thread around here earlier this year (or last year) about the book.
This woman was absolutely unbelievable.

[Iris7]

Those early Special Operations Executive ladies and gentlemen inserted into France in 1940-42 were most extraordinarily tough and brave. Even very "ordinary" SOE people were anything but.

[lndrvr1972]

I liked that movie Shining Through. With Melanie Grifith.

[STARWISE]

YAY!

[the Real fifi]

She was remarkable. If you read the Telegraph's obits you will mourn the passing of the most remarkable heroes of WWII--you cannot imagine their bravery, guts and brains.

[T. Buzzard Trueblood]

I liked that movie Shining Through. With Melanie Grifith.

Didn't see it.

I did see Melanie Griffith once, though, at Jerry's Deli in Studio City.

[STARWISE]

Illustration of Virginia Hall

[onyx]

Thanks! She led a very interesting life. I enjoyed reading about her.

[tarheelswamprat]

"I think it was ironic that the State Department turned her down because she was an amputee, and here she went on and did all this other stuff," said Catling

Typical for the State Department. They've continued that tradition of blind incompetence into the present day.