Hello, I am a french grandson of a resistant figther in Normandie during the world war 2, and my Grand Mother asked me to make some researchs about a woman from the "Women Auxiliary Force", droped in Normandie in 1944. Her name was Phyllis Latour, but they called her "Paulette", and she came from South Africa. My Grand Mother had no news from this woman since the war, and seem to be very worried about her. I have no other information about this woman. Could you help me, or show me the way to follow in that type of researchs ? thank you for your time and patience. Fabien
Hello Fabian, I recall reading about "Paulette" (it may have been in Bruce Marshall's "The White Rabbit") who was from South Africa holding the rank of Warrant Officer in the British Women's Auxiliary Service. If memory serves, she parachuted into France five weeks prior to D-Day. I will check the books in my library. Regards, Gerry
although i don't know much about it but i will do my best to help u and u can search it in the engine!
Fabien If she was a South African and served in the South African Army (British Commonwealth Forces, like Australia, Canada and New Zealand etc. ) and you know that she is dead, you might be able to get her service papers from the South African National Defence Force archives. If she served in the British Army, however, her service papers will still be kept secret by the Ministry of Defence. Richard ========================== Et maintenant, en francais Si elle etait une sud africaine et servi dans l'armee africaine du sud (forces de commonwealth britannique, comme l'australie, le canada et la new zealand etc. en les deux guerres mondiales) et vous savez qu'elle est morte, vous pourriez obtenir des papiers de service dans l'archive SANDF: me contacter pour plus d'information. Mais, si elle servait dans l'armee britannique, ses papiers de service seront encore maintenus secrets par le MOD. (J'espere ma langue francais est assez bien)
Thank you very much everybody, tsb009 : what is the engine your talking about ? DirtyDick : the only thing I know, is that she served in the Women Auxiliary Force, and I hope she is still alive. By the way, your french is pretty good. Thanks again Fabien
Fabien, there appears to be a mix up of memories? Whether or not your grandmother called Phyllis Latour 'Paulette', her nom de guerre with the SOE was Genevieve. 'Paulette' was agent Diana Rowen who was murdered (with others) by the Germans in Natzweiler concentration camp (Alsace) in July, 1944. Phyllis Latour was parachuted into Normandy on 1 May, 1944 to work in a revived SOE circuit know as Scientist which operated in the Orne region of south Normandy (Echouche, Sees, Belleme, Alencon), under command of Lise de Baissac (Marguerite). Latour's given British unit was the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF). She may actually have come from this unit, as say a wireless operator, else she would have been afforded a nominal commission after she was recruited by SOE. Many women were recruited from outside the forces, then assigned to either the FANY (First Aid Nursing Yeomanry) or WAAF - most were FANY - over half the strength of FANY were engaged in SOE duties. Scientist remained in operation until encompassed by the advancing Allies, where after agents were mostly likely to have returned to Britain and not be deployed further. Post war the WAAF changed it's title to the Women's Royal Air Force. No.9
This information may be too late, but I'll mention it just in case. She was a close friend of my mother and her nickname to friends outside of SOE was Pippa. I believe she was alive and living in Auckland NZ in 1999 but have not been able to reach her or her children. She married Patrick (Paddy) Doyle in Kenya, 1948 and they had three children and lived in a number of places in the southern hemisphere. I have several WWII photographs of her which I could provide once I dig them out of my old boxes.
I have managed to reach the lady in question. Among other things, she confirmed that to the French civilians she was indeed known as Paulette. She was working for the Admiralty when people she knew went down with HMS Hood. This caused her to resign and join the WAAF, to be an aircraft mechanic from where she went on to the SOE. She has stayed in contact with two other agents. I'm hoping she will publish her own version of events soon.
The original poster, Fabien is perhaps not watching this forum anymore. It would be wonderful to hear what his grandmother could remember about those days, especially since "Paulette" is still alive. I'm hoping Fabien's grandmother is too. Can anybody suggest how to get in touch with "Fabien"?
Hello there Magoo, welcome aboard. This is interesting stuff, 'Fabien' last visited in October this year so there is a reasonable chance of a contact. You need 5 posts in order to be able to go to their profile and choose to 'send email to user' which Fabien had allowed (worth an identical PM too) so I'll just override your current 'recruit' status for you as this seems a very worthy aim. Good luck. (and do keep us informed as to how it goes) Adam.
Thank you Adam. I've sent a private message to Fabien and will cross my fingers when I stop typing that he will reply. It is most intriguing as a French schoolgirl has already sent me her grandfather's account of hiding Phyllis in the first weeks of May 1944 which I have passed on to Phyllis. To have another one from a different location would be interesting to me but might prompt other memories - Phyllis has a great memory but an aid or two can't hurt after sixty-plus years. cheers, paul c.
Just an update, Fabien has contacted me (Thank you Fabien). Sadly his grandmother is no longer with us, but he had independently reached Paulette or Pippa as she was known to friends. Some dates and recollections differ amongst the principals, but to me the accounts I have seen seem to refer to the same approximate period and places. Most importantly to me, the different stories mention the same people's names, for example Fabien's own surname. The lady in question has written her own account which she is trying to get published. She is not on email, so I must wait patiently for further developments. Her cover in France was as a supposedly fourteen-year old "soap girl" named Gabriele. From photos I have, it is believable that she could have passed for younger than she was (also, it seems other internet records make her out to be a year older than she actually was!). She told me that my own mother participated in the subterfuge by sending letters for some months to addresses in England so as to make any spies there think that she was not in France. When she returned in October 1944, her close friends were shocked to find out she had been in France.
