Thread by @CIA

Virginia Hall had a gift for languages, a sense of adventure, & wanted to join the Foreign Service.
1.usa.gov/1L2wUHw
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After attending @RPCSTweets, @BarnardCollege & pursuing additional studies in Europe, Virginia became a clerk at @USEmbassyWarsaw.
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@RPCSTweets @BarnardCollege @USEmbassyWarsaw While in Turkey, Virginia was involved in a serious hunting accident & lost her left leg below the knee.
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Virginia’s hollow wooden leg & aluminum foot were attached by leather belts wrapped around her waist. It weighed more than 7 pounds.
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Virginia couldn’t take Foreign Service exam due to strict rules against employees w disabilities joining diplomatic corps at the time
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Furious, Virginia left @StateDept & went to Paris to drive ambulances.
1940: She moved to London & became a code clerk w US War Dept.
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@StateDept Virginia’s knowledge of the French countryside, fluency in French & German, & moxie caught the attention of the British.
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PM Winston Churchill had just established Special Operations Executive (SOE) to support underground resistance & conduct sabotage ops
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1941: Virginia-1st female SOE operative in France-used forged documents & false names as she worked undercover in Lyon for 14 months.
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Virginia’s mission, Geologist-5, provided SOE w info on Vichy France: political & econ conditions, & amount of popular will to resist
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Beyond her charter, Virginia proved adept at recruiting spies.
She created a network of 90 agents, code-named Heckler.
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Virginia became an expert in:
organizing resistance
providing weapons & supplies
helping downed airmen
& her specialty… jailbreaks
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Lyon’s Gestapo chief, Klaus Barbie, who never knew Virginia’s true name, caught wind of her activities & put a bounty on her.
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NOV 1942: German troops flooded France after defeat in N Africa
Virginia & 3 others escaped by hiking across Pyrenees Mtns into Spain
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#FridayReads:

A Climb to Freedom: A Personal Journey in the Footsteps of Virginia Hall

bit.ly/2s3tEHs

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Over complex terrain, Virginia hiked as much as 50 miles through snow-covered mountains over 7,500’ in altitude w her prosthetic leg.
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Virginia was determined to return to France.
SOE refused, as she was too well-known to the Gestapo.
She was sent back to London.
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1944: Virginia joined #OSS.
Unable to parachute into France because of her artificial leg, she arrived by British torpedo boat.
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To avoid detection, Virginia dyed her hair grey & disguised herself as a milkmaid with a shuffling gait to hide her limp.
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By staying on the move, camping in barns & attics, Virginia was able to avoid Germans who were desperately tracking her radio signals
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Virginia organized 1000s of French Maquis, blew up bridges, & conducted other sabotage operations to support Allies’ D-Day invasion.
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For her courage & ingenuity, Virginia was the only civilian woman during #WWII to be awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.
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At CIA, Virginia used her covert action expertise in range of activities & in support of resistance groups in Iron Curtain countries.
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Virginia was one of a few relatively senior women in ops until her mandatory retirement in 1966 at age 60.

1.usa.gov/1L2wUHw

#OSS75