The Tale of the Secret Agent from Sheppey: Sonia Butt/d’Artois

You can go to Eastchurch in Sheppey where Sonia was born which is famous not only for her but also as a centre for aviation history. You can pop along to the Eastchurch Aviation Museum which explains the central role Sheppey played in the birth of flying in the UK.

 

There are other sites of interest when it comes to the SOE story. There is a memorial to the work of the SOE at the Albert Embankment which is opposite the Mi6 building in London. The woman who is featured is Violette Szabo who was born in Paris but emigrated to London. She was parachuted into France on two separate occasions. She was stopped at a roadblock by an SS unit and was forced to flee. She sprained her ankle running away and sent the rest of her resistance comrades to run on whilst she held off the Nazis for as long as she could. She was captured when she ran out of ammunition. She was interrogated, tortured and then sent to Ravensbruck concentration camp. After trying to organise an escape she was executed. Her story was turned into the film Carve her Name with Pride some scenes of which I have included in this video.

If you wanted to travel to France there is a memorial to those who helped fight for France’s freedom at Valencay. Every year on the 6th of May a ceremony is conducted to remember those who died from the SOE.