Like the vast majority of people in this country, I had never heard of Eileen Nearne until Tuesday. It's not really surprising as she was a spinster living alone in Torquay. She died earlier this month and, as there were no known relatives, the local council is arranging her funeral. But her secret emerged: she was a World War II heroine, having been sent into occupied France to work as a wireless operator for the resistance. Captured and tortured, she refused to give any information and was sent to Ravensbruck concentration camp and later a forced labour camp - from which she escaped. All this was reported in the national press (see the Telegraph's article here). The council has now been inundated with enquiries about the funeral and has been forced to move it to a larger church as so many people have expressed the intention of attending to pay their respects. The Royal British Legion will be there and it is reported that there will be a military presence.
I will not be at the funeral but am proud to pay my respects to a courageous woman through the means of this blog.
1 comment:
What a lovely way of paying your respects. It is sad to see the ending of an era as all of our WWII veterans die. So much history that I took for granted for so many years is lost with their passing.
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