Virgina Hall was an American spy in WWII. She is known for being the only women to win the DSC award(Distinguished Service Cross). She was born in Baltimore in 1906. When she went to college she was interested in foreign languages and she was fluent in French, Italian, and German. She continued her studies in Europe, she traveled to France Germany, and Austria. She finally landed in Warsaw, Poland, where she hoped to join foreign services. Shortly after she moved to Poland, during a hunting trip she accidentally shot herself in the leg. She had to have it amputated and a wooden leg was put on. She thought she wouldn't be able to persue her dreams because of this, so she sort of gave up for awhile.
Around 1939 Hall found herself in France, the part of France that was controlled by the German Vichy government. While in France she helped with the French Undergroud and became apart of the SOE. When Germany suddenly took over all of France Hall escaped and made her way to Spain, and she continued to work for the SOE. She then joined the OSS and asked to go back to France. She got sent to France again, she didn't hardly need any training. She avoided the Gestapo many times. They called her, "woman with a limp," and Artemis. They considered her, "the most dangerous of all allied powers."
She made drop zones for supplies from England, found safe houses, and she helped train people to fight against the guerrilla warefare and keep valuable reporting against the Germans, untill the allied powers came and took over. She was well known everywhere, some of her code names were Diane, Germaine, Camille, Agent Heckler, and Marie. She married OSS agent Paul Goillot in 1950. She joined the CIA(Central Intelligency Agency), working as an analyst for French affairs. And in 1966 she retired back to Maryland. She died in 1982.
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I personally think she had a lot of determination and was very brave to do all of this. Especially in WWII where it was mostly only men in the war. And for the Germans to say that she was the most dangerous allied spy is crazy.
SOURCES:
http://americanhistory.suite101.com/article.cfm/oss_female_spies_in_wwii
http://womenshistory.about.com/od/spies/a/women_spies_ww_2.htm
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