15 Facts About Eileen Nearne

Eileen Mary "Didi" Nearne MBE, Croix de Guerre was a member of the UK's Special Operations Executive in France during World War II.

In 1923, the family moved to France, where Eileen Nearne became fluent in French.

Eileen Nearne was flown by a Westland Lysander aircraft to a field near Les Lagnys, Saint-Valentin in Indre, France, in the late hours of 2 March and the early hours of 3 March 1944 with Jean Savy to work as a wireless operator for the Wizard network as part of Operation Mitchel.

Eileen Nearne's cover story was that she was Mademoiselle du Tort.

Eileen Nearne's role was to maintain a wireless link to London, and in the course of the next five months she transmitted 105 messages.

Eileen Nearne was arrested on 25 July 1944 after her transmitter was detected.

Eileen Nearne had gone to her safe house to transmit an urgent message against her chief's orders.

Eileen Nearne "survived, in silence, the full revolting treatment of the baignoire" in the torture chamber of the Paris headquarters of the Gestapo on the Rue des Saussaies.

Eileen Nearne reportedly managed to convince her captors, under torture, that she had been sending messages for a businessman, unaware that he was British.

Eileen Nearne's head was shaved and she was told she would be shot if she continued to refuse.

Eileen Nearne was then transferred to a forced-labour camp in Silesia.

Eileen Nearne talked about her wartime activities on a Timewatch television documentary in 1997, but she wore a wig, and spoke in French under her codename "Rose", and her wartime activities were not generally known.

Eileen Nearne died alone from a heart attack in her seaside flat.

Eileen Nearne's body is thought to have remained undiscovered for some time until found on 2 September 2010; she was 89 years old.

Eileen Nearne's body was cremated, and her ashes scattered at sea, according to her wishes.