Code Name Pauline: Memoirs of a World War II Special Agent
xii EDITOR’S NOTE Toward the end of her life however she began to feel that her story might be inspiring to young people in difficult circum stances French journalist Hervé Larroque approached her in 1994 with the idea of writing her memoir and as their acquain tance progressed she felt she could trust him to handle her story properly He conducted multiple interviews some with Pearl alone and others including Pearl’s husband Henri Cornioley from December 1994 through June 1995 The transcript of those interviews was published in French by Éditions par exemple in December 1995 with the title Pauline one of Pearl’s wartime code names M Larroque appreciated what I had done with Pearl’s story in my book Women Heroes of World War II in which she is pro filed and agreed to have me edit the English translation of Pau line into a straight narrative with added introductory material to place the memoir within its historical context Because Pearl was adamant that her story not be altered I have taken great care to change as little of her own wording as possible In most instances M Larroque’s brief questions are simply incorporated into the text A large part of the edit ing process involved bringing together material on one sub ject that had been garnered from various interviews and was found in various sections of the manuscript What remains is Pearl’s story in her own choice of words and her own style of speaking Because Pearl’s husband Henri was present during some of the interviews there is specific material enlightening com ments by Henri humorous interchanges between him and Pearl that would be lost if converted into a narrative There are other sections where keeping the text in its original dialogue format provides more clarity A selection of these can be found in the appendix
EDITOR’S NOTE xiii I am very honored to present Pearl Witherington’s memoir to the English-reading public at last May the memory of her courage and determination in the face of great difficulty con tinue to inspire future generations
PREFACE BY HERVÉ LARROQUE This book is intended primarily for young adults It relates the authentic story of Pauline Pearl Witherington who enlisted in 1943 in a secret British service the SOE F to help the resistance in France After several months of intensive training she parachuted in the night of September 22 23 1943 She was 29 years old After that she lived an unusual life for seven months Most of the time traveling on night trains she went to deliver mes sages the content of which she rarely understood She accom panied people as a guide transported materials and communi cated back to London via coded radio messages She was what was called a courier This work done in solitary fashion was obviously dan gerous for she could have been arrested and exposed at any moment by the Gestapo or by the French police She had sev eral occasions to be quite afraid Pauline recounts her life at that time put up here and there at the homes of trustworthy friends and disguised with a false identity Marie Verges cosmetics representative xv
xvi PREFACE In May 1944 the head of her network was taken by the Ger mans she changed her location and her mode of life She found shelter in the guardhouse of an estate in the Cher River valley in central France where she organized a small resistance group with Henri Cornioley her fiancé On June 11 1944 they were very nearly taken and killed by the Germans In a few weeks the resistance group grew then was divided into four subgroups By July 1944 they had 1,500 effectives Their leader whom very few knew personally was called Pauline For Pearl and Henri the war ended that September They went to England and turned over all the money that remained from the parachute drops to the great astonishment of the military administration who had never seen such a thing A few weeks later they were married in great simplicity They had no money nor any employment In this book Pearl with Henri’s help on occasion recounts the good times the diverse aspects the amazing or funny stories of her life during the five years of the war She also recounts her youth not at all rosy four little English girls living in Paris with their mother without work and speaking French poorly while their father traveled the world and forgot to pay the rent The one who made up for the deficiencies of the absent father was Pearl It was she who went to the market to salvage half-rotten potatoes for the family to eat But she talks about these things without anger or bitterness I have no resentment against life for giving me this difficult childhood she confides given that it gave me the strength to fight the rest of my life Pearl had an open character curious about things and peo ple Lucky for us she had the memory of an elephant This book is also the history of a couple For Pearl and Henri that history was strewn with obstacles Their families prevented them from seeing each other the war separated them
