Jacqueline Nearne

Jacqueline Nearne was a secret agent for the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) in Nazi Occupied France during WWII. In 1942, she was recruited into the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (the FANYs) alongside her younger sister Eileen "Didi" Nearne, who also became an agent. Her fluency in French quickly brought her to the attention of F Section (F for French), one of the many different branches of the SOE. An early recruit (in the second batch of women to train), she trained as a courier in mid-1942. She was also taught Morse code transmissions using a suitcase radio, which would help her in her work with the French Resistance. On the evening of January 25th, 1943 she was secretly parachuted into France under the code-name 'Jacqueline' to work for the vast 'Stationer' circuit in central France. Her life as a secret agent was one filled with constant danger, and the threat of being exposed as an agent or betrayed by a comrade. Despite this she would travel by train, often on long and arduous journeys. She had maintained contact with agents, wireless operators and with the neighboring 'Headmaster' circuit, as well as forming a vital link between several other SOE networks operating in-and-around the Paris region. She also carried spare parts for radios and organized reception committees for newly arrived agents. After fifteen strenuous months in the field, she was finally returned to Britain by means of Lysander for a rest, in April 1944. Throughout her time in Occupied France she was known as 'Josette Norville', which served as her documentary name in order to protect her true identity and operation. It was for these actions that she was thus awarded the MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) in 1945.