11 Facts About Ruth Mitchell

Ruth Mitchell was captured by the Gestapo and spent a year as a prisoner of war, later writing a book about her experiences.

Ruth Mitchell wrote a book about one of her brothers, General Billy Mitchell, who is regarded as the founder of the US Air Force.

Ruth Mitchell was born 30 April 1889 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the daughter of Harriet Danforth Mitchell and John Lendrum Mitchell, who a few years later would become a US congressman and senator.

Ruth Mitchell's grandfather was the wealthy banker and railroad tycoon Alexander Mitchell; her grandmother, Martha Reed Mitchell, was well known in charity, art and society circles.

Ruth Mitchell had two sisters and two brothers: William, who became a general, and John, a World War I aviator who died flying over France in 1917.

Ruth Mitchell was educated at Milwaukee-Downer College and then at Vassar College.

In May 1944, Mitchell married Benjamin H Jackson of Idaho, who worked in the mining industry.

Ruth Mitchell ended up staying in Europe for four years and was based out of Belgrade, Yugoslavia, when it was bombed and then invaded by Axis powers in April 1941.

Ruth Mitchell first became involved with the Chetniks as a reporter and only later joined as a member.

Ruth Mitchell was held in a dozen German prisons and camps for 13 or 14 months, in the course of which she was tried and sentenced to death.

Ruth Mitchell escaped execution by being released in 1942 as part of a prisoner of war exchange, through pressure exerted by the Swiss government.