Odette Sansom

Infobox Military Person
name=Odette Sansom/Churchill/Hallowes


caption=
born=birth date|1912|4|28|df=yes
died=death date|1995|3|13|df=yes (aged 82)
placeofbirth=Amiens, France
placeofdeath=Walton-on-Thames, Surrey
nickname=Agent Spindle, Lise
allegiance=United Kingdom, France
branch=Special Operations Executive,
First Aid Nursing Yeomanry
serviceyears=1942-1944 (SOE)
rank=
unit=Spindle
commands=
battles=
awards=George Cross,
Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE),
Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur
relations=Peter Churchill
laterwork=

Odette Marie Céline Sansom, (née Brailly) GC, MBE, Chevalier de la légion d'honneur, (28 April 1912 - 13 March 1995) was an Allied heroine of World War II.

Odette Marie Céline Brailly was born in Amiens in the Somme département of France. Her father was the First World War hero Gaston Brailly who was killed at Verdun in 1918 when she was six years old.

She met the Englishman Roy Sansom in Bologne and married him in 1931, moving with him to England. Her husband enlisted in 1940. When the War Office requested all French-born residents of London to supply them with photographs of their home towns, Odette volunteered her family album, which contained many useful depictions of the Channel coast. She joined the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY), and was later asked to train under Colonel Maurice Buckmaster of the Special Operations Executive and return to Nazi-occupied France to work with the French underground. She left her three daughters in the care of her husband.

She made a landing near Cannes in 1942, where she made contact with her supervisor, Peter Churchill. Using the code name Lise, she brought him funds and acted as his radio operator.

Churchill's operation in France was betrayed by a double agent, and Odette and Churchill were arrested on 16 April 1943 and imprisoned. Under torture by the Gestapo at Fresnes prison in Paris, Odette stuck to her cover story that Churchill was the nephew of Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and that she was Peter's wife. The hope was that in this way their treatment would be mitigated.

Odette was condemned to death in June 1943 and sent to Ravensbrück concentration camp. She survived the war and testified against the prison guards at a 1946 war crimes trial.

Odette's husband had died during her imprisonment and she married Peter Churchill in 1947. They were divorced in 1956.

Her third husband was Geoffrey Hallowes.

Odette was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) and was the first of three World War II FANY members to be awarded the George Cross (gazetted 20 August, 1946). [LondonGazette|issue=37693|supp=yes|startpage=4175|date=16 August 1946|accessdate=2008-05-27] She remains the only woman to have received the George Cross whilst alive, all other female GC awards to date being posthumous. She was also appointed a Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur for her work with the French resistance. [LondonGazette|issue=39069|startpage=5741|date=17 November 1950|accessdate=2008-05-27]

In later life Odette's house was burgled and her GC was stolen but after an appeal it was returned with a note saying 'You, madam, appear to be a dear old lady. I am not all that bad- it's just circumstances. Your little dog really loves me. I gave him a nice pat and left him a piece of meat. Sincerely yours, A Bad Egg.' [cite web | url=http://www.64-baker-street.org/agents/agent_fany_odette_hallowes.html | title=Hallowes, Odette - Biography | accessdate=2008-06-17]

References

Works Dealing With Her Story

* "Odette", a movie made in 1950 starring Anna Neagle.
*.

External links

* [http://www.gc-database.co.uk/recipients/SansomOMC.htm Odette Sansom in the George Cross Database]
* [http://www.fany.org.uk/history/index.html Picture of Odette Hallowes] (at FANY website)