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FOREWORD

Pippa was much  loved  by the New Zealand Special Air Service. Even though her body finally aged, her spirit never did. I remember Pippa happily declaring, at her one-hundredth birthday, that she had passed her medical and still had her own driver's license. For us as special operators, it was Pippa's fiercely independent spirit that we felt a kindred connection to, as well as the glint in her eye. Secretly, we all hoped we might shine at least half as brightly in our later years as she did in hers. But even we—as fond as we were of Pippa, and as secure as our environment is—only ever heard snippets of her story. Perhaps her great friend, Major David Hopkins, knew more. But David, ever fiercely loyal, would only allude to the tales of Pippa's derring-do—the details were never divulged.

So, this book is a rare and privileged glimpse into the life of the last surviving SOE agent to have seen action behind enemy lines in France. In many ways it is Pippa's last public service, her last contribution to freedom. It is a remarkable testament to one of the most remarkable women I have ever met. As Selwyn Jepson, the recruiting officer for SOE F (French) Section, once said: "Women have a greater capacity for cool and lonely courage than men." Pippa's foreword story, wonderfully told in the pages that follow, leaves the truth of that statement in no doubt.

In finally telling her story, Pippa does honor to the brave women in SOE and their French civilian allies who served and suffered—and in many cases, died—for our freedom. I hope that this story inspires other young people, especially young women, to take courage, to stand for what they value, and, when faced by fearful odds, to set them ablaze. 

Chris Parsons MNZM DSD 

Commanding Officer NZSAS (20092011)

PREFACE

My name is Phyllis Ada Latour, known to many in my later years as Pippa, and I am 102 years old. I am also known by other names—code names and alias names—because I was a World War II secret operative agent. This is my memoir, which finally tells the story of my life working behind enemy lines in France eighty years ago. It is a part of my life that, until now, I have intentionally never revealed to anybody. Not my husband (when I had one), nor my children—even when they became adults.

It would likely have stayed that way, which would have suited me perfectly, if it were not for my eldest son finding something about me on the internet, some twenty years ago. Without the advent of the internet—something I could not have foreseen when I made the decision never to talk about these things in 1945—my wish for secrecy would likely have remained intact. Because, as I see it, it wasn't anybody's business what I did in the war. It was my business. Mine alone.

My son was prompted to discuss the discovery with his younger brother, concerned that their mother might be in some sort of trouble and that was why I had never mentioned it to them. He flew to New Zealand (where I live, as does his younger brother) to meet up with him. Together they decided to talk to me, and the two obvious questions were posed. Was this World War II operative, Phyllis Latour, their mother of the same name? And presuming that it was (as they had), why had I never mentioned this to them? I could not lie to my sons once they asked me directly. Up until then, I had simply chosen not to tell them everything about my war. Instead I had told them what I thought they needed to know. I was a balloon operator for the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) in the Royal Air Force (RAF), and that was not incorrect: I did that job for three years. I am pretty sure I told them about my time in the Royal Navy records department before that. I just didn't tell them what came in the later stages of the war with the Special Operations Executive (SOE). And my former husband I chose never to tell him because I saw how loose he was with quite sensitive information told to him by others. I thought if he was like that with their information, my information was never going to be kept secret by him.

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Before I start telling you about my life, you'll need some background on what SOE is. In June 1940, the Special Operations Executive was established by England's wartime prime minister, Winston Churchill, to wage a secret war using an underground army of sorts in enemy-occupied Europe and Asia. Its purpose was to conduct espionage, sabotage, and reconnaissance in occupied Europe (and, later, also in occupied Southeast Asia), as well as aiding local resistance movements. Deliberately clandestine, the existence of SOE was not widely known even though some 13,000 people were involved. About 3,200 of these people were women. I was one of the women, and my job was to be a radio operator in northern France, which I did in 1944.