(19 16-1982)
British agent, member of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) who participated in numerous missions to assist French Resistance groups in World War II and who was awarded the title of MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) for her work.
Jacqueline Franoise Mary Josephine Nearne was born on May 27, 1916, in Brighton, England, but was raised and educated in France and consequently became bilingual. When Germany invaded France in 1940, she escaped to Britain with her younger sister Eileen (code-name Didi), who was also to become a SOE agent.
In 1942 Nearne was recruited into the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY) and soon afterward joined the F Section (France) of SOE. SOE’s mission was to provide support for espionage and sabotage operations that took place behind enemy lines. Nearne was among the second group of women recruited by SOE. She was trained as a courier in Scotland, at Garramore House, along with other French-speaking agents. She was taught how to make Morse code transmissions with a suitcase radio. On January 25, 1943, she secretly parachuted in France, as "Josette Norville," to join SOE’s "Stationer" network operating in central and southern France, all the way to the Pyrenees. Her work there involved long and dangerous trips, often by train, keeping in contact with the agents and the wireless operators of the Headmaster circuit, carrying spare parts for radios, and organizing reception committees for newly arrived agents. She also maintained contact between several other SOE networks operating in a large area around Paris.
After fifteen months in the field, Nearne was flown back to Britain in April 1944 to rest. In 1945 she starred (as agent "Cat"), along with fellow agent Harry Ree (as agent "Felix"), in a public information and propaganda film produced by the Royal Air Force (RAF) Film Unit, first entitled Now It Can Be Told, about the work of the F Section. The film was shot for the most part in newly liberated France while the war was still going on. The film was shown in 1946 as School for Danger. In 2001 it was released on video.
