Wednesday, 19 May 2021

HEROINES OF THE SPECIAL OPERATIONS EXECUTIVE – DIANA HOPE ROWDEN MBE

 

She was English born

And served as an agent for the SOE

In November 1943 “Paulette”

Was arrested by German Military Police

Along with other members of her group

And transported for interrogation to

84 Avenue Foch, their HQ in Paris

Before being sent to Karlsruhe in Germany,

With several other captured SOE agents

But was ultimately taken to

The Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp in France

Where on the 6th July 1944,

Along with three other agents

She was taken to the crematorium

After being beaten senseless

They were burned alive in the crematorium.

As far as the British were concerned

She was only missing

And she was mentioned in despatches

She was posthumously awarded an MBE

(later withdrawn due to the policy on posthumous awards)

She was awarded the Croix de Guerre 1939-1945 

A Kings Commendation for Brave Conduct

And is commemorated on the Tempsford Memorial

in the Bedfordshire village of Tempsford

And is registered with the Scottish National War Memorial

In Edinburgh Castle, and at the Runnymede Memorial

As one of the SOE agents who died for the liberation of France,

Her name is also recorded on the Brookwood Memorial

In Surrey as one of 3,500

“To whom war denied a known and honoured grave”

And on the Valençay SOE Memorial “Roll of Honour”

In the French town of Valençay.

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WHEN KITCHENER CALLED

When they hear the recruiter’s call And they take the King’s shilling They’re trained and uniformed And marched towards the killing