Virginia Hall, Unknown Courage (Part Two)

After her rejection by the State Department, Virginia Hall became the most decorated American female civilian of World War II Fake identity card for Virginia Hall Still, two weeks after Virginia’s return, it was her mother who accompanied her to a private ceremony in Washington, where Wild Bill Donovan formally presented her with the Distinguished Service Cross.  Donovan already knew that the OSS was about to be disbanded by President Truman, the organization victim of both politics as Donovan was a prominent Republican and undermining at the hands of J. Edgar Hoover.  Virginia got a paltry check for vacation pay, Paul and thousands of others were cut loose without a dime. Philippe Petain Petain was viewed as the country’s savior during World War I but at 83 years of age, he was nothing more than a German puppet.  His first act upon assuming control of the French government was to request an armistice which was officially signed on June 22, 1940.  Germany occupied sixty per cent of the country, including all territory bordering the Atlantic Ocean and the English Channel.  Petain was allowed to select the site of his administrative capital and he settled on the small tourist destination of Vichy.  A political conservative, Petain opposed what he considered the excesses of French Republican democracy.  What was left of the French government voted to abolish the French Republic and grant Petain virtually dictatorial powers. Petain and Hitler Many of the members of the Vichy government suffered retribution.  Pierre Laval and Henri Petain were condemned, although in light of his World War I heroics, Petain’s sentence was commuted to life.  He was confined to a small island off of Brittany, and upon his death in 1951 was unceremoniously buried there instead of the magnificent resting place previously prepared at Verdun, before the Marshal’s Nazi collaboration.  Laval was executed by firing squad. Painting of Virginia that hangs in the CIA Museum Within days she was on the move again to Cosnes-Sur-Loire, in central France, a territory with a willing populace but no armaments to engage in any sophisticated destruction.  Again, she was able to obtain a cover as an elderly shepherd, her radio coordinating weapons drops into the region.  It was the spring of 1944, France on edge as the country waited for the inevitable invasion from across the Channel. Wild Bill Donovan awards Virginia the DSC Two weeks after Virginia’s return, it was her mother who accompanied her to a private ceremony in Washington, where Wild Bill Donovan formally presented her with the Distinguished Service Cross.  Donovan already knew that the OSS was about to be disbanded by President Truman, the organization victim of both politics as Donovan was a prominent Republican and undermining at the hands of J. Edgar Hoover.  Virginia got a paltry check for vacation pay, Paul and thousands of others were cut loose without a dime.