ANDRÉE PEEL

"I was destined always to be a fighter."

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Andrée lived an ordinary life as she ran a beauty parlor, until the Second World War broke out. When Hitler invaded her country, she joined the French Resistance (a network of ordinary people who worked in secret against the Nazis). She helped distribute newspapers to other members of the Resistance, despite being fully aware of the risk and danger of this work. She was soon promoted to sergeant and given the code name Agent Rose.

She often risked her life by stealing out at night and lining up a row of flaming torches to signal to Allied planes as they crossed enemy lines. The pilots would be comforted with these lights, affirmative that they could safely land there. Agent Rose was selfless in every way. She helped save over a hundred British pilots from being captured by the Nazis, before she herself was caught and sent away to a concentration camp.

Despite being sick, starving and dressed in blue-and-white-striped pajamas, she helped her fellow women prisoners to survive the brutal tortures of the camp, until the Allied troops arrived and saved them.

Andrée was deservingly hailed as a hero. The president of the United States and the British prime minister, both sent her letters to thank her for everything she had done. She went on to live a long life, but she always kept a scrap of her striped uniform material to remind her of those terrible days, and to confirm that she said “Miracles do exist.”