We chose her because she showed bravery and she was the first woman to receive the George Cross. She is a good role model.
Information:
Mrs Odette Marie Celine Sansom was born in France on 28 April 1912. In 1931, she married an Englishman and came to live in Britain. She was recruited by SOE in the spring of 1942 and, after training, was sent to Vichy France in October. In April 1943 she and her colleague Peter Churchill were arrested. Even though there was prolonged interrogation and torture, she refused to reveal any information. After a year in French prisons, including Fresnes Prison, Paris, Mrs Sansom was taken to Germany in July 1944 and interned in Ravensbruck concentration camp. There she was held in solitary confinement in a cell without light or heat but still refused to co-operate with her captors. Although she was sentenced to death, the Germans' belief that she was married to Peter Churchill and thereby related to Winston Churchill (Peter Churchill was not related to the Prime Minister), prevented them from carrying out the execution. On 3 May 1945, shortly before the German surrender, she was escorted across the Allied lines to safety. Odette Sansom, who later married Peter Churchill, was awarded the George Cross on 20 August 1946, the first woman so honoured. Later, as Mrs Geoffrey Hallowes, she became prominent in her old service, the WTS (FANY), and was on the Committee of the Victoria Cross and George Cross Association. Mrs Hallowes, a national figure in Britain and a living symbol of the French Resistance, died in Surrey on 13 March 1995.
Photos:
While she was spending her time at a prison in France, she passed time by making these two dolls - she gave them to the German priest who gave them back to her after the war.
She chose to have a jacket in a dark colour in case she was captured because it would not show the dirt.
We drew a picture of her!
