LONDON — Eileen Nearne died alone, uncelebrated, facing a pauper’s funeral despite her extraordinary record of wartime heroism for Britain.
It wasn’t that no one cared about her clandestine service, it was simply that no one knew what she had done during the harrowing days of World War II when Britain’s very future hung in the balance.
All that changed when officials searching her apartment found the medals and records linking her to undercover operations behind enemy lines. Historians say she operated as an undercover radio transmitter in France during the D-Day invasion, helping coordinate the allied war effort until she was caught by the Gestapo. Now plans are being made for a funeral that will, officials say, give Nearne the recognition her heroism merits.
“We will make sure she gets the dignity and respect and homage that befits a lady of her experience,” John Pentreath, county manager for veterans’ charity the Royal British Legion, said Tuesday.
Nearne died Sept. 2 of a heart attack at age 89.
Pentreath said it was not until after her death that reports surfaced about Nearne’s work with the Special Operations Executive, a clandestine operation set up by wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill to carry out acts of sabotage and espionage against the Nazis, who were occupying western Europe.
Pentreath said Nearne was captured behind enemy lines with a radio transmitter and was sent to the Ravensbruck concentration camp, but later escaped and was ultimately liberated by American forces.
“It’s a staggering story for a young girl,” he said. “We hold her in awe and huge respect. All Brits do. We are very disappointed we didn’t know about her when she was alive, we would have dearly loved to have made contact with her.”
He said it was terribly sad that her story had not been known before her death.
Historian M.R.D. Foot, who had access to Nearne’s secret account of her activities, said Nearne had entered France in 1944 and operated a secret radio transmitter. He said Nearne was the only British agent with an operating transmitter in the Paris area during the crucial period from March, 1944 until she was caught by the Germans in July, 1944.
“She was there during D-Day,” he said. “What she did was extremely important. She was arranging for weapons and explosive drops, and those were used to help cut the Germans’ rail lines.”
He said Nearne showed bravery and discretion when she refused to talk about clandestine operations even after the Gestapo subjected her to extreme treatment.
“Thank goodness I was spared that,” said Foot, who was also a clandestine operator inside France in 1944. “She maintained she was just a little French shop girl who went into the Resistance for fun.”
Nearne managed to escape from a forest camp set up near the main Ravensbruck concentration camp, he said.
“She was well above average,” in her abilities and courage, he said, adding that her sister also managed to operate as an undercover courier in France without being caught.
The saga of Nearne’s lonely death and her wartime service seems to have touched a nerve in Britain. The Times newspaper said in an editorial Tuesday that Nearne seemed to resemble Eleanor Rigby, the spinster who died alone in a song by The Beatles.
The newspaper said it is not too late to honor Nearne for her sacrifices.
“Her life deserves to be sung about every bit as much as Eleanor Rigby’s,” the editorial said.
Nearne apparently did not discuss her wartime service with any of her neighbors in the seaside town of Torquay, 190 miles southwest of London.
Officials at Torbay Council who are organizing Nearne’s funeral for next week said the wartime artifacts in her apartment have been turned over to the Treasury and intelligence officials.
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