Nancy Wake Part 1

[00:00:06] Hello everyone, welcome to the Almost Immortal History Podcast. I'm your host, Ryan Powers.

[00:00:12] Many of us know the stories of World War II heroes. Leaders like Winston Churchill and FDR

[00:00:17] are soldiers from books and shows like Band of Brothers, though many might not know the

[00:00:22] story of the war's most decorated woman who the Nazis despised so much they had codenamed

[00:00:27] her the White Mouse because of her inexplicable illusiveness. The Nazis did everything they

[00:00:32] could to find her and stop the havoc she was wreaking, but they had no idea who they were

[00:00:37] up against in every sense of that phrase. So sit back and enjoy the story and the focus

[00:00:43] of today's episode, World War II spy Nancy Wake.

[00:01:03] On April 28th 1944, just one month before World War II's D-Day, a British B-24 bomber

[00:01:09] airplane flew clandestinely from England over German occupied France. The destination,

[00:01:15] unlike one month later, wasn't the beaches at Normandy, but instead an hour inland to

[00:01:20] a drop zone over a heavily forested region of France called Mont-Lusson for a highly

[00:01:24] secretive and dangerous mission to which only a select few knew of. The B-24 was neither

[00:01:30] pressurized nor heated, and once it flew over the French coastline it was met with

[00:01:34] a hail of German gunfire. Most shots missed, but many came so close the plane was forced

[00:01:40] to lurch from point to point violently tossing its passengers about. Once over the drop

[00:01:45] zone, the first operative, a British soldier who had fought at Dunkirk, jumped. The second

[00:01:50] to jump was unlike anyone the B-24's crew and indeed much of anyone else in the British

[00:01:55] or German armies had come across as evidenced by the contents she carried with her. Standard

[00:02:00] military clothes were joined by silk stockings and high priced shoes. To compensate for

[00:02:05] her choice of footwear, her ankles were heavily bandaged to avoid breaks or fractures

[00:02:09] upon impact. She paired her two handguns, one million French francs and a cyanide pill

[00:02:15] with a red satin cushion, two hand embroidered night dresses, red Chanel lipstick and other

[00:02:20] articles of feminine hygiene. If this was no ordinary pack list, the person jumping

[00:02:25] was no ordinary parachutist. Her name was Nancy Wake. She was neither British nor

[00:02:31] a professional soldier. She was a former teen runaway from Australia who had trained

[00:02:36] as a journalist covering pre-war Europe and until just months ago was a wealthy socialite

[00:02:40] living in Marseille, France. But Hitler and the Nazis had changed all of that for Europe

[00:02:45] generally and Nancy Wake specifically. She was about to embark on what might very well

[00:02:50] be a suicide mission but she was well aware of what she was doing, who she was doing

[00:02:55] it for and what risks were involved. In A Generation of Heroes, her story was one

[00:03:00] of the most incredible of them all. Nancy Wake was born in Wellington, New Zealand

[00:03:05] on August 30th, 1912. The sixth child to Ella and Charles Wake but their first in eight

[00:03:11] years. Ella and Charles were both New Zealanders. Charles was a handsome journalist

[00:03:16] and Ella an attractive homemaker. As Charles opportunities and journalism grew, he moved

[00:03:20] the family to Sydney, Australia when Nancy was just two years old. Even at a young

[00:03:24] age, Nancy sensed that she was her father's favorite. She would sit on his lap listening

[00:03:29] to him tell stories and wait for him at the gate each day for him to come home. He was

[00:03:33] lovely to me and I loved him. We adored each other, Nancy said. As much affection as she

[00:03:38] got from her father, Nancy got very little from her mother and most of her other siblings.

[00:03:43] But the affection from her father was more than enough for Nancy until tragedy struck.

[00:03:48] One day Charles did not come home or the next or the next. While it was never

[00:03:54] spoken of to Nancy, it seems that Charles had deserted them. Ella told Nancy that Charles

[00:03:59] was going to America to try to make a movie about New Zealand and that he would return

[00:04:03] in three months. But once three months passed, he did not return. Nancy realized things

[00:04:07] would never be the same when she noticed that the picture of her mom and dad that

[00:04:11] had sat on the table in their home every day of her life was now gone and not to

[00:04:15] return. Had she been a little older, she also would have known that the move

[00:04:19] that they made from their spacious apartment to a more modest one across town was

[00:04:23] the result of Charles selling their former house out from under them. Whatever

[00:04:27] the circumstances, all Nancy knew was that her father and light of her life was

[00:04:32] gone. To an outside observer, Nancy's childhood seemed normal but with her

[00:04:36] father gone and most of her siblings grown, Nancy's world revolved around a

[00:04:40] mother who did not show her affection. Nancy always suspected that she was an

[00:04:44] unwanted child having come so much later than her siblings. This plus

[00:04:48] the burden of being left to raise Nancy on her own all contributed to her

[00:04:52] mother's attitude. After Charles left, Ella drew strength from her Bible which

[00:04:56] Nancy said she would read morning afternoon and night. When she wasn't

[00:05:00] reading from it, she was quoting from it. Turning her disappointment toward Nancy,

[00:05:04] she told the young girl that if she didn't pray to God every night he

[00:05:07] would punish her. Ella also told Nancy that her eyebrows were too thick and

[00:05:12] too close together and that she was ugly and perhaps that was part of God's

[00:05:16] punishment for her not praying every night. So Nancy Wake literally lived in

[00:05:21] fear of God's wrath. Though she did have some friends she played with on her

[00:05:24] street, Nancy would say her only true friends were the dog and the cat. To

[00:05:29] say Nancy was unhappy would be an understatement. She began to dream of

[00:05:32] what life would be like somewhere else. As she grew up, the more people she

[00:05:36] encountered the more she realized she didn't have to be content with the

[00:05:39] life she had. She loved to read especially about stories of other

[00:05:43] places and characters that threw caution to the wind in pursuit of a

[00:05:46] better life. Her favorite books by far were Anne of Green Gables by Lucy

[00:05:51] Maud Montgomery and the sequel Anne of the Island. I love them, love them, love

[00:05:57] them, Nancy said. The books tell the story of the imaginative fun loving

[00:06:01] and spirited orphan named Anne Shirley. After a tough childhood, Anne goes on

[00:06:05] to have a series of great adventures. I wouldn't say those books were as

[00:06:08] big an influence on me as the Bible was on my mother, Nancy said, but in

[00:06:12] a way they were my own sort of Bible. From all of her reading and daydreaming,

[00:06:17] Nancy decided that the three places she would like to go most in the world

[00:06:21] were New York, London and Paris. Knowing there was no way she could get

[00:06:25] there for free, she set about raising money in every way she could think

[00:06:29] of. Mostly odd jobs at first, but by 1928 a new opportunity arrived. After

[00:06:35] years of a strained and constrained relationship, Nancy now 16 had finally

[00:06:40] reached the breaking point with her mother. One evening she got dressed up

[00:06:43] and announced she was going out. Her mother forbade it and stood Bible in

[00:06:47] hand at the front door to block her. Nancy said, if you don't get out of

[00:06:51] the way I'll simply go out the window. Her mother didn't move and Nancy,

[00:06:55] true to her word, snuck out the window. Feeling in that moment not

[00:07:00] only gratified but she had just crossed a line and that she was now

[00:07:03] free not just for the evening but forever. Not long after she left,

[00:07:09] Nancy bumped into her sister-in-law Lily who offered to let her stay with

[00:07:12] her for a few days until things calmed down. The police came looking for

[00:07:16] Nancy a few days later and she hid under Lily's house while Lily was

[00:07:19] questioned. Nancy repeated the drill a day later when her mother came

[00:07:22] to question Lily as well. After a week had gone by, a grateful Nancy

[00:07:26] thanked Lily for her kindness and then wrote to her mother to say

[00:07:29] that she was alright but was not coming home. Instead Nancy went to

[00:07:34] an employment agency in Sydney to look for work. The best option was

[00:07:37] as a nurse in a town called Mudgey about three hours away. Still in

[00:07:41] fear of being caught as an underage runaway, Nancy chose to use the

[00:07:45] pseudonym Shirley Ann Kennedy. Kennedy had been the name of a woman

[00:07:49] who had shown Nancy kindness and Shirley Ann being the inversion

[00:07:53] of Nancy's great hero Ann Shirley of Green Cables. Nancy, now

[00:07:58] Shirley together with another runaway named Claire spent the

[00:08:01] better part of the next two years in Mudgey learning how to

[00:08:04] clean wounds, set limbs and treat all manner of other

[00:08:07] patient maladies. They were even present when one patient died, a

[00:08:10] first for both of them. After work Nancy and Claire would

[00:08:14] entertain themselves. Nancy had her first cigarette followed by

[00:08:17] more and her first drink followed by many, many more. It was a

[00:08:21] simple happy time and it was all Nancy's not wanting to be a

[00:08:25] nurse's assistant in Mudgey forever. Nancy deemed it safe to

[00:08:28] return to Sydney just after her 18th birthday in 1930. Once

[00:08:32] there she took a clerical job at a shipping company and

[00:08:35] rented herself a room to sleep. She enjoyed reconnecting with

[00:08:38] friends and even some family members, though not her mother.

[00:08:41] Despite word spreading of Nancy's return, neither she nor her

[00:08:45] mother attempted to contact one another. The shipping company

[00:08:48] was perfect for Nancy's great desire to travel herself. She

[00:08:51] would help plan voyages for others all around the world while

[00:08:55] imagining her own. Then one day in the summer of 1932, fortune

[00:09:00] smiled upon her. A letter arrived at Nancy's apartment from

[00:09:03] her mother's older sister, Auntie Hinamoa. Nancy had no

[00:09:07] recollection of her aunt but knew that she had run away from home

[00:09:09] just as Nancy had done. Her aunt perhaps taking pity on her or

[00:09:13] understanding what life must have been like with her mother

[00:09:16] and then as a runaway sent Nancy money 200 pounds. The

[00:09:21] accompanying note read, I've been thinking of you always and

[00:09:24] I hope this can help you. Nancy couldn't believe it. She was

[00:09:28] so moved and crystal clear on how she would use the money

[00:09:32] within one week. She had booked first class passage on a ship

[00:09:35] heading to Vancouver, Canada. From there, she had three

[00:09:39] destinations in mind. The same three she had had in mind since

[00:09:43] she was a little girl New York, London and Paris. She packed all

[00:09:48] her worldly possessions which totaled very few of those

[00:09:51] perhaps the most important possession still were her

[00:09:54] Anne of Green Gables books whose life of adventure Nancy

[00:09:57] now believed might be more in line with her own. Once on the

[00:10:01] ship, Wake made friends with everyone dressing up for

[00:10:04] dinners dancing the nights away and taking swims during the

[00:10:07] days. After several weeks in Vancouver, Nancy made her way

[00:10:10] across the continent by train to the first of her three

[00:10:13] lifelong dream locations New York City. She found the city

[00:10:17] that never sleeps to be precisely that even in the

[00:10:20] final throws of prohibition and likely because of it, the

[00:10:23] alcohol was flowing freely at speakeasies all over town

[00:10:27] and Nancy partook in all of it. It was terrific. She

[00:10:31] said not just for the alcohol, but for the fun everyone was

[00:10:34] having and the friends we were making. The alcohol helped

[00:10:37] though. After three weeks, it was time to set sail for London

[00:10:41] during the voyage. Wake was invited to play in a card game

[00:10:44] by a man who turned out to be a famous American wrestler

[00:10:46] and actor bull Montana after several hands Nancy said I

[00:10:51] noticed he was always winning and then I caught him

[00:10:53] cheating so I got up tipped everything on his head

[00:10:56] and punched him. We were playing for money and he was

[00:10:59] looking me. She added incredulously. She arrived in

[00:11:02] London in 1933 and in order to make a living enrolled in

[00:11:06] Queens College to learn her father's profession journalism.

[00:11:10] It also didn't hurt that Anne of Green Gables had attended

[00:11:12] a school named Queens College, but beyond the idealism it

[00:11:16] just seemed to Nancy the best way for her to develop some

[00:11:18] skills and make a living. I was not positive what I

[00:11:21] was heading for by doing those courses, she recalled

[00:11:23] just that I thought they would be useful tools to

[00:11:26] Wake thrived in London studying by day, socializing

[00:11:30] with new friends at night and coming to love London as

[00:11:32] much as she always dreamed she would. I felt I was

[00:11:35] growing thriving in this new environment like never

[00:11:37] before. She said after completing our coursework at

[00:11:40] the end of 1933 Wake interviewed with one of

[00:11:43] American media mogul William Randolph Hearst newspapers

[00:11:46] that was looking to bolster the European Bureau. The

[00:11:48] interview was going well and Nancy felt like she

[00:11:51] might have a shot. Then the interviewer said that

[00:11:53] he was impressed, but there were a few specific things

[00:11:56] they were looking for. Most specifically, had she ever

[00:11:59] been to Egypt or barring that knew a lot about it

[00:12:03] without missing a beat. Nancy said excitedly,

[00:12:06] Egypt, I love Egypt. Then piling on added I can

[00:12:10] write in Egyptian. Impressed, but not convinced,

[00:12:15] the interviewer asked her to write out his dictation

[00:12:17] in Egyptian. For 10 minutes, he read aloud from

[00:12:20] a book he was reading in English as Wake scribbled

[00:12:22] what looked to the interviewer to be some sort

[00:12:24] of Arabic or Egyptian hieroglyphic. When in fact,

[00:12:27] what she was doing was using Pittman shorthand

[00:12:30] symbols that she had just learned at Queen's

[00:12:31] College and just wrote them backwards when he

[00:12:34] asked her to reread the 10 minutes worth of

[00:12:36] dictation back to him. She did it with ease.

[00:12:38] This guy was an executive, not a journalist, she

[00:12:40] said of the Pittman's trick. I wanted the job.

[00:12:42] Gospel truth. I was so good at that kind

[00:12:45] of thing. I should have been a criminal. The

[00:12:47] ruse worked and Nancy was offered the position

[00:12:50] on the spot with one catch. She would need to

[00:12:52] move to Paris to work in the European Bureau.

[00:12:55] Would that pose a problem? The interviewer said,

[00:12:58] Nancy couldn't believe her luck. In the

[00:13:00] past year, she had received her aunt's money,

[00:13:03] sailed across the world and lived in two of her

[00:13:06] dream cities and now had just landed a job

[00:13:09] as a journalist and she would get to live in

[00:13:11] the third and final city of her dreams.

[00:13:14] Shouting from the rooftops inside her head,

[00:13:16] she managed to calmly reply, No, I think

[00:13:19] that should be all right. See Paris in the 1930s

[00:13:24] and die, Wake said with reverence. It was the

[00:13:27] most thrilling place to be and I simply couldn't

[00:13:29] believe how wonderful it was. I just loved it

[00:13:32] all. I love the food. I love their humor.

[00:13:35] I loved everything about it from the first.

[00:13:37] Nancy found a studio apartment in downtown

[00:13:39] Paris near La Appara and settled into her new

[00:13:42] life almost immediately. She took to Paris

[00:13:45] and the Parisians took to her. She was

[00:13:47] a fixture at the local cafes by day and

[00:13:50] clubs by night. Daily walks through the

[00:13:52] Tuileries or drinks at the cafes watching

[00:13:55] Paris walk by. She didn't speak a word of

[00:13:57] French when she arrived, but took to

[00:13:59] learning the language as quickly as she

[00:14:00] could. Her favorite words by far were

[00:14:03] all of the marvelous French curse words.

[00:14:05] I don't know why said Wake, but I loved

[00:14:07] saying them and my friends all seem to

[00:14:10] love hearing me say them. Now 21 years

[00:14:13] old, Nancy had blossomed into a beautiful

[00:14:15] young woman and the men noticed

[00:14:17] though very few relationships developed

[00:14:19] and never for long even then.

[00:14:21] My only thought was to have a good time,

[00:14:22] Nancy said. Wake's most serious

[00:14:24] relationship was with Pecan, the terrier

[00:14:27] puppy she bought at the local pet shop.

[00:14:29] Little dogs were not only popular but

[00:14:31] ever present at the cafes and meetups

[00:14:33] throughout Paris. So it was for Pecan

[00:14:35] and Nancy that they too were inseparable.

[00:14:38] Pecan was even mock baptized in a bar

[00:14:41] one evening thanks to the American

[00:14:42] clergyman Nancy had met that evening.

[00:14:44] Nancy to the roars of laughter from

[00:14:46] the patrons in the bar promised to raise

[00:14:48] Pecan as a fine God fearing citizen.

[00:14:51] With no shortage of major global events

[00:14:53] in the 1930s, Wake's career as a

[00:14:55] journalist got off to a fast start as

[00:14:57] her stories about European politics and

[00:14:58] life in the economic depression got

[00:15:00] picked up in the American Hearst

[00:15:01] newspapers like the San Francisco

[00:15:03] Examiner and the Houston Chronicle.

[00:15:05] She became fast friends with journalists

[00:15:07] from other newspapers covering Europe

[00:15:09] like the New York Times, Le Monde,

[00:15:11] Washington Post and the London Times.

[00:15:13] What quickly became the story of the

[00:15:14] era however was the rise of fascism.

[00:15:17] From Benito Mussolini in Italy in the 1920s

[00:15:20] to Germany's Adolf Hitler in 1933,

[00:15:22] a dark cloud was descending upon Europe.

[00:15:25] Nancy and her fellow journalists were

[00:15:27] of course aware of the unfolding

[00:15:29] events from reading about them but

[00:15:30] more directly they came into more

[00:15:32] frequent contact with Germans fleeing

[00:15:33] through or into France who would

[00:15:35] share their horrifying experiences with

[00:15:37] them. It didn't take long for Wake

[00:15:39] and the other journalists to convince

[00:15:40] their papers to send them to see

[00:15:41] for themselves.

[00:15:43] In 1934 Nancy and several others

[00:15:45] traveled by train to Vienna, Austria.

[00:15:47] It was there where they witnessed the

[00:15:49] rise and impact of Nazis firsthand.

[00:15:52] Once in Vienna Wake saw the clear

[00:15:54] contrast of such a beautiful city

[00:15:57] alongside such ugly behavior.

[00:15:59] Throughout the city journalists

[00:16:00] encountered Hitler's paramilitary

[00:16:02] essay stormtroopers or brown shirts

[00:16:04] threatening or intimidating

[00:16:05] Viennese most often the Jewish

[00:16:07] citizens.

[00:16:08] In the most horrifying of these

[00:16:10] episodes Wake watched the essay

[00:16:12] string up a Jewish citizen to a wheel

[00:16:14] that was then rolled throughout the

[00:16:15] main public square for everyone to see

[00:16:18] as the wheel and its victim turned

[00:16:20] over and over.

[00:16:21] The essay would whip them as it

[00:16:22] passed by.

[00:16:23] I'll never forget it.

[00:16:25] Nancy said I couldn't believe

[00:16:27] just couldn't believe what I was

[00:16:28] seeing right there.

[00:16:29] And then I made up my mind

[00:16:31] that if I ever got the chance

[00:16:33] I would do everything in my power

[00:16:35] to hurt the Nazis.

[00:16:37] Despite having their cameras

[00:16:38] confiscated,

[00:16:39] Wake and her colleagues decided to

[00:16:40] go from Vienna to Berlin to see more.

[00:16:43] As dark a scene as was Vienna,

[00:16:46] Berlin the seat of Nazi power

[00:16:48] was far worse.

[00:16:50] Everywhere they went they saw

[00:16:51] swastikas the shouts of Sigheil

[00:16:54] and the intimidation of the essay.

[00:16:56] Nancy watched the soldiers as

[00:16:57] they shouted at Jewish shopkeepers

[00:16:59] and painted Jew in bright red

[00:17:01] letters on the shop windows.

[00:17:03] To that point I did not know

[00:17:04] I had such emotion in me said Wake

[00:17:06] but I felt that if I had been

[00:17:07] handed a gun I could have shot

[00:17:09] them dead on the spot.

[00:17:11] They were not human.

[00:17:12] This Nazi thing seemed to have

[00:17:14] just taken them over and turned

[00:17:15] them into something that I had not

[00:17:17] thought possible.

[00:17:18] But I wanted it stopped.

[00:17:20] Nancy would return to Berlin a

[00:17:21] year later to cover a speech

[00:17:23] delivered by Hitler at the

[00:17:24] Brandenburg Gate.

[00:17:25] Her impressions of fear and

[00:17:26] darkness among the people were

[00:17:27] still there.

[00:17:28] But at the rally those emotions

[00:17:30] were replaced with pride and

[00:17:32] adulation as Hitler's

[00:17:33] adoring crowd sang songs

[00:17:35] and shouted Sigheils one

[00:17:36] after the other.

[00:17:37] When Adolf Hitler took the stage

[00:17:39] not more than 25 yards from where

[00:17:41] Wake sat the crowd reached a

[00:17:43] fevered crescendo of cheers and

[00:17:44] sigheils extending their arms in

[00:17:46] the Nazi salute.

[00:17:47] Everyone around me was

[00:17:49] completely mesmerized with

[00:17:50] their eyes glazing over Nancy

[00:17:52] said.

[00:17:53] The longer he spoke the more

[00:17:54] the overall effect was just

[00:17:56] hypnotic.

[00:17:56] He was shouting his hands were

[00:17:58] punching the air and they

[00:18:00] loved it.

[00:18:01] In between her trips to Berlin

[00:18:02] Wake visited Marseille on the

[00:18:04] French Riviera for the first

[00:18:05] time in late 1934 to cover

[00:18:07] the visit of the King of

[00:18:08] Yugoslavia Alexander the

[00:18:10] First.

[00:18:11] What was supposed to be a

[00:18:12] benign story about a royal

[00:18:13] visit quickly became

[00:18:14] something else.

[00:18:16] As Nancy stood among the

[00:18:17] crowd watching the king and

[00:18:18] his royal procession passed

[00:18:19] through Marseille two shots

[00:18:21] rang out.

[00:18:22] They've shot the king someone

[00:18:23] yelled terror ensued as the

[00:18:25] crowd fled.

[00:18:26] Hours later King Alexander

[00:18:28] would die of his wounds.

[00:18:29] It was also discovered Benito

[00:18:31] Mussolini had been directly

[00:18:32] involved in the plot.

[00:18:34] Despite her first experience in

[00:18:35] Marseille being so traumatic

[00:18:37] Nancy fell in love with the

[00:18:39] town.

[00:18:39] So much so that she made it a

[00:18:41] point to visit as often as she

[00:18:43] could over the next few years.

[00:18:44] One weekend in 1937 while she

[00:18:46] was dancing with her data at

[00:18:48] Marseille nightclub she noticed

[00:18:49] another man staring at her

[00:18:50] from across the room.

[00:18:52] He too had a date with him.

[00:18:53] The man's name was Henri

[00:18:55] Fiocca a wealthy transportation

[00:18:57] business owner and one of

[00:18:58] Marseille's most prominent

[00:18:59] citizens.

[00:19:01] Later in the evening Henri

[00:19:02] made his way over to Nancy's

[00:19:03] table and with both dates

[00:19:05] present they spoke for the first

[00:19:07] time.

[00:19:07] Nancy would continue to see

[00:19:09] Henri out and about in Marseille's

[00:19:10] social scene each time with a

[00:19:12] different woman sometimes two or

[00:19:14] three in the same night.

[00:19:16] He wasn't bad looking said Nancy

[00:19:18] but I was more intrigued by his

[00:19:19] stamina.

[00:19:21] The next time they saw each

[00:19:22] other they were miraculously

[00:19:24] both without dates and so

[00:19:25] Henri asked Nancy to dance

[00:19:27] well into their tango.

[00:19:29] Nancy asked Henri how do you

[00:19:31] do it?

[00:19:32] Do what Henri inquired go out

[00:19:33] with so many very beautiful

[00:19:35] girls because they ring me up.

[00:19:37] He said they ring you up.

[00:19:39] Nancy said incredulously.

[00:19:41] Yes Henri said every girl

[00:19:43] rings me up except the girl I

[00:19:45] truly want to ring me up upon

[00:19:47] hearing this Nancy declared I

[00:19:49] do not ring men up they ring

[00:19:51] me up Henri taking the not at

[00:19:54] all subtle hint did in fact

[00:19:55] ring Nancy up and the two fell

[00:19:58] quickly in love in the weeks

[00:19:59] have followed.

[00:20:00] I was madly attracted to him.

[00:20:01] He was charming.

[00:20:03] He made me laugh all the time

[00:20:04] Henri was a gentleman and a

[00:20:06] gentle man said Nancy.

[00:20:08] Nancy or Nanny as Henri like

[00:20:11] to call her found more and more

[00:20:12] reasons to visit Marseille from

[00:20:14] Paris on the weekends and

[00:20:15] Henri would visit Nancy in

[00:20:16] Paris even passing the critical

[00:20:18] test of meeting her friends

[00:20:20] and being approved by Piquant

[00:20:21] the dog.

[00:20:22] Their courtship went on that

[00:20:23] way until Henri proposed to

[00:20:25] Nancy in 1939 and they were

[00:20:27] married later that year on

[00:20:28] November 30th.

[00:20:30] While Nancy and Henri were in

[00:20:31] the midst of so much happiness

[00:20:33] they were all too aware of the

[00:20:34] circumstances around them in

[00:20:35] France Europe and the world.

[00:20:38] With Hitler and the Nazis on the

[00:20:39] March war was upon them.

[00:20:41] Nancy and Henri conscious of

[00:20:43] this decided like so many

[00:20:45] others to live life in 1939

[00:20:47] to the fullest because not

[00:20:49] only might it be our last

[00:20:50] summer before the war Nancy

[00:20:51] said but it might just be our

[00:20:53] last summer.

[00:20:54] Despite the backdrop of war

[00:20:56] Nancy and Henri's wedding went

[00:20:58] off in spectacular fashion.

[00:21:00] It was attended by all of the

[00:21:01] notable families of Marseille

[00:21:03] along with three surprise guests.

[00:21:05] Some of Nancy's closest

[00:21:06] journalist friends from Paris

[00:21:07] that Henri had paid to have

[00:21:08] traveled there.

[00:21:09] It was one of the nicest things

[00:21:11] he ever did for me.

[00:21:11] Nancy said warmly adding to the

[00:21:14] success even on Ries father who

[00:21:16] was not a fan of his son

[00:21:18] marrying Nancy had a

[00:21:19] wonderful time.

[00:21:20] This was likely due to the fact

[00:21:22] that both Henri and Nancy

[00:21:23] separately instructed the

[00:21:25] barmen and waiters to lace

[00:21:27] his drinks with care.

[00:21:29] After a luxurious honeymoon in

[00:21:30] Cannes Nancy and Henri returned

[00:21:32] to life in Marseille.

[00:21:34] Nancy now Madame Fiocca lived

[00:21:37] the life she only read about

[00:21:39] rising at 10 a.m.

[00:21:40] to take a bath drawn by one of

[00:21:42] the five staff members at the

[00:21:43] Fiocca home.

[00:21:44] She would typically meet Henri

[00:21:46] at home for lunch on his break

[00:21:47] from work and then in the

[00:21:48] afternoon a trip to a cafe with

[00:21:50] friends shopping or to the

[00:21:52] beauty parlor then out to

[00:21:53] dinner with Henri and friends

[00:21:55] most evenings.

[00:21:56] Having resigned from her job as

[00:21:57] a reporter Nancy busied herself

[00:21:59] with making sure the Fiocca

[00:22:00] home was run properly and most

[00:22:02] importantly to take up the art

[00:22:04] of French cooking and listing

[00:22:05] the help of a professional

[00:22:06] chef Nancy so thoroughly

[00:22:08] developed her culinary skills.

[00:22:10] She even managed to impress

[00:22:11] her seemingly unimpressable

[00:22:13] father-in-law one evening who

[00:22:14] couldn't believe the meal they

[00:22:16] ate was prepared by a foreigner

[00:22:18] at 28 years old her life

[00:22:20] growing up in Australia and as

[00:22:22] a runaway seems so long ago.

[00:22:24] She was truly happy if not a

[00:22:26] little bored from time to time.

[00:22:28] Unfortunately the Joie de

[00:22:30] Ville was faded not to last.

[00:22:32] While Hitler's invasion and

[00:22:33] control of Poland in September

[00:22:35] 1939 followed by England and

[00:22:37] France's declaring war on

[00:22:38] Germany marked the official

[00:22:40] start of World War Two.

[00:22:41] The war was not at the Fiocca's

[00:22:43] doorstep until March 1940

[00:22:45] when Henri was called to service.

[00:22:47] In what could have been

[00:22:48] emblematic of France's

[00:22:49] unpreparedness for war Henri

[00:22:51] was summoned to the barracks

[00:22:52] to receive his uniform and

[00:22:53] return that evening to Nancy

[00:22:55] with boots that were too small

[00:22:57] a coat and cap too big and no

[00:22:59] socks shirt or tie.

[00:23:01] We phoned our close friends

[00:23:02] and invited them for dinner.

[00:23:03] Nancy said I'll read dressed in

[00:23:05] his new uniform.

[00:23:06] We laughed so much our

[00:23:08] neighbors rang and wanted to

[00:23:09] know what all the laughter was

[00:23:10] about.

[00:23:11] We invited them in too and

[00:23:12] on repurated once more as

[00:23:15] I'm ready prepared to leave.

[00:23:16] Nancy said she could not sit

[00:23:17] idly by and just wait for him

[00:23:19] to return.

[00:23:19] She needed to be helpful to

[00:23:21] the war effort.

[00:23:22] She decided given her training

[00:23:23] as a nurse that she would

[00:23:25] join a volunteer ambulance

[00:23:26] unit to tend to the wounded.

[00:23:28] She suggested on re could

[00:23:29] acquire a truck at his factory

[00:23:30] for her to drive.

[00:23:31] Only wasn't happy about me

[00:23:33] putting myself in a position of

[00:23:34] danger but I got him in a weak

[00:23:36] moment and he did make the

[00:23:37] promise.

[00:23:38] Adding to the danger of

[00:23:39] participating on re asked

[00:23:41] Nancy how she planned to drive

[00:23:42] the truck since she had no

[00:23:44] license and had never driven

[00:23:45] a car before ever unconcerned

[00:23:49] Nancy said she would teach

[00:23:50] herself which she did in just

[00:23:52] under a day that March

[00:23:55] Nancy and only said their

[00:23:56] tearful goby's as Henry was

[00:23:57] sent north and Nancy true to

[00:23:59] her word joined her ambulance

[00:24:01] driving volunteers and also

[00:24:02] headed north to assist fleeing

[00:24:04] Belgians whose country along

[00:24:05] with Norway had just been

[00:24:07] taken over by the Nazis that

[00:24:08] April.

[00:24:09] It was a very difficult time

[00:24:10] for me said Nancy as was my

[00:24:12] first real experience of war.

[00:24:14] The impression I had formed

[00:24:15] of the Germans year before

[00:24:16] in Vienna and Berlin did not

[00:24:18] improve as I watched the

[00:24:19] Luftwaffe aircraft shooting

[00:24:21] at the fleeing civilians old

[00:24:22] women old men children or

[00:24:25] anything else that moved.

[00:24:26] It was a horrifying sight

[00:24:28] especially the bodies of the

[00:24:29] children.

[00:24:30] Our unit was inadequate.

[00:24:31] There were so many refugees

[00:24:33] and so few of us we couldn't

[00:24:35] help them all.

[00:24:36] Week after week Nancy

[00:24:38] continued to make the drive

[00:24:39] from Marseille North to carry

[00:24:40] back as many fleeing and

[00:24:41] wounded as she could.

[00:24:43] As she drove she couldn't

[00:24:44] help but wonder and worry

[00:24:46] phone re wasn't in the back

[00:24:47] of a similar ambulance

[00:24:48] somewhere equally hurt on a

[00:24:50] trip north that May Nancy

[00:24:52] would hear that British

[00:24:53] Prime Minister Neville

[00:24:54] Chamberlain had resigned

[00:24:55] and Winston Churchill had taken

[00:24:56] his place.

[00:24:58] Hitler's Nazis continued their

[00:24:59] march throughout the European

[00:25:00] continent and advances into

[00:25:02] France gave everyone pause.

[00:25:04] First the implausible yet

[00:25:06] successful evacuation of over

[00:25:08] 300,000 British troops from

[00:25:10] the French town of Dunkirk

[00:25:11] and just days later the

[00:25:13] capture and fall of Paris to

[00:25:15] the Nazis.

[00:25:16] Britain was now all that

[00:25:17] stood between the Third

[00:25:18] Reich and the domination of

[00:25:20] the whole of Europe.

[00:25:22] Upon Nancy's return to

[00:25:23] Marseille she learned it

[00:25:25] had been bombed in her absence

[00:25:26] by Mussolini's Italy.

[00:25:27] An overwhelmed Nancy after

[00:25:29] all that she had just witnessed

[00:25:31] and still with no word about

[00:25:32] Henri locked herself in her

[00:25:34] home for days and cried.

[00:25:36] In the aftermath of the fall

[00:25:37] of Paris France's heroic

[00:25:39] World War One Marshal

[00:25:41] Philippe Patin helped negotiate

[00:25:43] a surrender that would split

[00:25:44] France in two the occupied

[00:25:46] north and the free Vichy

[00:25:48] South with Patin as Vichy's

[00:25:49] head of state.

[00:25:51] Nancy was appalled by this

[00:25:52] apparent surrender as were

[00:25:54] many French citizens.

[00:25:55] Chief among them was a decorated

[00:25:57] and highly respected general

[00:25:58] named Charles de Gaulle who

[00:26:00] after the fall of Paris and

[00:26:01] negotiated surrender fled to

[00:26:03] England to form a French

[00:26:04] government in exile called

[00:26:05] the Free French.

[00:26:06] Upon his arrival he broadcast

[00:26:08] over the BBC to his fellow

[00:26:10] French citizens and people all

[00:26:11] over the world.

[00:26:12] It is quite true that we were

[00:26:14] and still are overwhelmed by

[00:26:16] enemy forces.

[00:26:17] Must we abandon hope?

[00:26:19] Is our defeat final?

[00:26:21] To those questions I answer

[00:26:22] No.

[00:26:23] De Gaulle continued.

[00:26:24] There still exists in the world

[00:26:26] everything we need to crush

[00:26:28] our enemies one day.

[00:26:29] Whatever happens, the flame

[00:26:31] of the French resistance must

[00:26:32] not and shall not be

[00:26:34] extinguished.

[00:26:35] Churchill himself remarked upon

[00:26:37] de Gaulle's arrival in England

[00:26:38] that he carried with him

[00:26:40] in that small aeroplane

[00:26:41] the honor of France.

[00:26:43] Nancy couldn't agree more.

[00:26:45] Her dampened spirits were

[00:26:46] quickly uplifted when

[00:26:47] Henri returned home to her

[00:26:49] with the Nazi occupation

[00:26:50] and French surrender.

[00:26:51] Henri's services were no longer

[00:26:53] required.

[00:26:54] Nancy and Henri were overjoyed

[00:26:56] that the other was OK.

[00:26:57] While they could now resume

[00:26:58] their life together, it would

[00:26:59] not be as they had known it.

[00:27:01] Henri still had a business to

[00:27:02] run despite the new wartime

[00:27:04] conditions and their home and

[00:27:05] many of their familiar haunts

[00:27:06] had not been damaged in the

[00:27:07] bombing but all else

[00:27:09] in and around Marseille

[00:27:11] had become tense.

[00:27:12] The fault lines were clear.

[00:27:14] Those that supported Petain's

[00:27:15] Vichy piece at any price

[00:27:17] or worse those who even

[00:27:19] sided with the Germans and

[00:27:20] Italians versus those like

[00:27:21] Nancy and Henri who did not.

[00:27:23] But those who would not conform

[00:27:25] had to protest quietly,

[00:27:27] very quietly because it was

[00:27:29] often difficult to know who

[00:27:30] believed what conversations

[00:27:32] with anyone who weren't a close

[00:27:34] friend or family diminished.

[00:27:36] One evening while at their

[00:27:37] favorite restaurant, Nancy

[00:27:38] and Henri came into contact

[00:27:40] with a stranger and after

[00:27:41] some careful conversation came

[00:27:43] to learn he was a British

[00:27:44] soldier on parole by the

[00:27:45] French along with some of his

[00:27:46] fellow soldiers nearby.

[00:27:48] After one too many drinks,

[00:27:50] Nancy had promised to deliver

[00:27:51] the soldier and his colleagues

[00:27:52] food, cigarettes and a radio

[00:27:54] to aid them in their cause.

[00:27:56] The next day, Nancy and Henri

[00:27:58] eager to help but wondering

[00:28:00] if their carelessness might

[00:28:01] be leading them into a trap.

[00:28:02] Approach the soldiers with

[00:28:04] caution as they approached.

[00:28:06] Nancy noticed the men were

[00:28:07] all dressed in unmistakable

[00:28:09] British clothes and one

[00:28:10] had a heavy gender mustache.

[00:28:13] He looked so ridiculously British.

[00:28:15] I put my fears in the

[00:28:16] background immediately.

[00:28:17] She said around the same time,

[00:28:20] Nancy and Henri met a French

[00:28:21] Army officer, Commander Bush,

[00:28:23] who they came to learn was part

[00:28:25] of a local resistance group.

[00:28:27] Bush had originally planned

[00:28:28] to join De Gaulle in England,

[00:28:29] but they implored him to stay

[00:28:31] in France to help organize

[00:28:32] a local resistance network

[00:28:33] that could coordinate with

[00:28:34] the Free French and British

[00:28:36] back in London.

[00:28:36] Upon learning that Nancy and

[00:28:38] Henri were heading to Cannes

[00:28:39] later that day to visit friends,

[00:28:41] Bush asked if they would be

[00:28:42] willing to deliver an envelope

[00:28:44] that would be picked up at

[00:28:45] the hotel where they were

[00:28:46] staying.

[00:28:46] They happily accepted.

[00:28:48] As the weeks and months passed,

[00:28:49] Nancy would deliver more packages

[00:28:51] for Bush and the resistance

[00:28:52] while Henri went back full time

[00:28:54] to rebuilding his family's business.

[00:28:56] As Nancy's activities

[00:28:57] with the resistance increased,

[00:28:59] so too did her precautions.

[00:29:01] While Marseille was

[00:29:02] unoccupied by the Nazis,

[00:29:03] the Vichy government was

[00:29:04] closely monitoring its citizens

[00:29:06] and treated disobedience harshly.

[00:29:08] One of our neighbors who was

[00:29:10] caught with an illegal

[00:29:11] cache of weapons in his basement

[00:29:12] was taken away and no one

[00:29:14] ever saw him again, said Nancy.

[00:29:15] Though it was obvious enough

[00:29:17] to all of us what had happened,

[00:29:18] the bastards shot him.

[00:29:20] Even listening to BBC Radio

[00:29:22] was off limits.

[00:29:23] To get around this,

[00:29:24] Nancy and Henri would turn

[00:29:25] one radio up loud for anyone

[00:29:27] with a near shot while they

[00:29:29] would quietly listen to the BBC

[00:29:30] on another radio to learn

[00:29:32] about the war effort.

[00:29:33] On her courier drives,

[00:29:35] Nancy had rigged a radio

[00:29:36] that went from her handbag

[00:29:37] up her shirt sleeves

[00:29:38] and neck into her ears.

[00:29:40] While Wakes' activities increased

[00:29:42] with both the French

[00:29:43] and British resistance efforts,

[00:29:45] she carried on for all to see

[00:29:46] as if everything was normal.

[00:29:48] Cafes and meals with friends,

[00:29:50] walks with Piquin,

[00:29:51] and evenings out with Henri

[00:29:52] were the norm.

[00:29:53] Just after America's entrance

[00:29:54] into the war following

[00:29:56] the December 7th, 1941

[00:29:57] Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor,

[00:29:59] Nancy came into contact

[00:30:01] with a Scottish soldier in Marseille

[00:30:02] named Ian Garrow.

[00:30:04] The two hit it off immediately.

[00:30:06] Garrow confided to Wake

[00:30:07] that he was in the process

[00:30:08] of creating an escape network.

[00:30:10] The idea was similar

[00:30:11] to the American Underground Railroad

[00:30:13] that helped transport

[00:30:14] southern slaves to safety

[00:30:15] in the north.

[00:30:16] Garrow's network, or line,

[00:30:18] would consist of safe houses

[00:30:19] and key trusted people

[00:30:21] to help down British airmen,

[00:30:22] soldiers left behind during Dunkirk,

[00:30:24] Jewish refugees,

[00:30:25] or others in need of escape

[00:30:27] from the Nazis

[00:30:27] or Germany's secret police,

[00:30:29] the Gestapo,

[00:30:30] that Garrow line

[00:30:31] would take people from France

[00:30:33] over the Pyrenees Mountains

[00:30:34] and into Spain

[00:30:35] and then on to Great Britain.

[00:30:36] Nancy would most often

[00:30:38] meet a group of refugees

[00:30:39] or escapees at a safe house

[00:30:40] in Nice or Cannes

[00:30:41] and take them by train

[00:30:42] to Marseille

[00:30:43] or to another safe house,

[00:30:44] one of which was on Ries' own factory.

[00:30:47] After it was deemed safe,

[00:30:48] they would move on to other locations

[00:30:50] and finally to the base

[00:30:51] of the Pyrenees

[00:30:52] where a guide

[00:30:53] would take them over the mountains.

[00:30:55] I didn't talk too much

[00:30:56] to any of the refugees,

[00:30:57] said Nancy,

[00:30:58] because that was the best security policy.

[00:31:00] The less I knew about them

[00:31:01] and the less they knew about me,

[00:31:03] the better it was for all of us

[00:31:04] should any of us

[00:31:05] be caught by the Gestapo.

[00:31:07] But sometimes

[00:31:08] you couldn't help but be drawn in.

[00:31:10] The same rule applied

[00:31:11] to the guides of the Garo line.

[00:31:13] They had to trust one another,

[00:31:14] but in case of capture,

[00:31:16] the less they knew,

[00:31:17] the better.

[00:31:18] Another recruit into Garo's network

[00:31:20] was a displaced Belgian doctor

[00:31:21] who took the nom de guerre,

[00:31:23] Patrick O'Leary.

[00:31:24] O'Leary quickly proved

[00:31:25] to be an organizational mastermind.

[00:31:27] He led a number

[00:31:28] of successful operations

[00:31:29] almost immediately,

[00:31:30] including the design

[00:31:31] of an escape by tunneling

[00:31:32] for 37 captured British down airmen

[00:31:35] being held at a prison

[00:31:36] outside of Nice.

[00:31:37] I didn't have anything

[00:31:38] to do with the tunneling

[00:31:39] as that was all organized

[00:31:40] by O'Leary,

[00:31:41] a modest Nancy recalled.

[00:31:43] But I was there when they came out,

[00:31:44] so I could ferry them across

[00:31:45] to their next destination.

[00:31:47] Rather than the Pyrenees,

[00:31:49] their destination was a British submarine

[00:31:51] that had secretly

[00:31:52] and at great risk to its crew

[00:31:53] pulled up a shore off the French Riviera.

[00:31:56] The operation was a success.

[00:31:58] Nancy saw all 37 to the sub

[00:32:00] then watched it as it departed.

[00:32:02] Once the ships emerged,

[00:32:03] I almost passed out

[00:32:05] from exhaustion and relief,

[00:32:06] she said.

[00:32:07] In addition to Wake's fieldwork,

[00:32:09] she also helped raise funds

[00:32:10] for the resistance.

[00:32:11] Henri himself was a big contributor,

[00:32:13] but she and O'Leary had great success

[00:32:15] getting sympathetic business owners

[00:32:17] to give them loans

[00:32:18] to be repaid by the British government

[00:32:19] after the war was won.

[00:32:21] In order to convince the business

[00:32:22] owners, they would ask them

[00:32:23] to give them a short catchphrase

[00:32:25] or message and then to listen

[00:32:26] to the personal messages section

[00:32:28] on the BBC Radio broadcast that evening.

[00:32:30] Nancy would then get that message

[00:32:31] to be played over the BBC.

[00:32:33] The business owners would hear

[00:32:34] their messages and realize

[00:32:36] they could trust Nancy and O'Leary.

[00:32:38] As Nancy's involvement with the resistance

[00:32:40] increased, so too did their success

[00:32:42] in saving more and more lives.

[00:32:44] But with those successes

[00:32:45] came increased danger.

[00:32:47] The Gestapo was becoming aware

[00:32:49] of this mysterious operative

[00:32:50] that was causing them so much trouble

[00:32:52] and they weren't about to let it

[00:32:54] continue for long.