Members of the Corps supported the Special Operations Executive (SOE) Wreath Laying Service at Westminster Abbey on Friday 8 November.
The SOE was formed in July 1940 on Winston Churchill’s orders to ‘set Europe ablaze’. The purpose was to organise active resistance to the Germans by any means possible, legal or illegal, gentlemanly or otherwise. One major contribution by the FANY to the work of the SOE was in Communications, in both Signals and Cipher departments. Many FANYs were posted to Grendon Underwood listening station, waiting to receive messages from the agents, because wireless was the most valuable link between the FANY operators based in the UK and the agents on the ground.
Another major contribution was the FANY agents in the field. Thirty-nine of the 50 women sent into France were FANYs. Read more here.
