Thread by @CIA

Her life reads like a spy novel. From overcoming loss of her leg to working covertly behind enemy lines for #OSS, she’s a true American hero

Some knew her as "Marie Monin," "Camille," & even "Nicolas" but we know her as #VirginiaHall

bit.ly/2YbXeee

#WomensHistoryMonth

Virginia had a gift for languages, a sense of adventure, & wanted to join the Foreign Service, so she became a clerk @USEmbassyWarsaw.

However, while on a trip to Turkey, she was involved in a serious hunting accident & lost her left leg below the knee.

#WomensHistoryMonth

Virginia’s wooden leg & aluminum foot were attached by leather belts wrapped around her waist. It weighed more than 7 lbs.

She couldn’t take Foreign Service exam due to strict rules against employees w/disabilities joining diplomatic corps at the time.

#WomensHistoryMonth

Furious, Virginia left @StateDept & went to Paris to drive ambulances, & then became a code clerk w/US War Dept in London in 1940.

Virginia’s knowledge of the French countryside, fluency in French & German, & moxie caught the attention of the British.

#WomensHistoryMonth

During #WWII, PM Churchill formed Special Operations Executive (SOE) to support underground resistance & conduct sabotage ops.

Virginia was 1st female SOE operative in France. She used forged docs & false names to work undercover in Lyon for 14 months.

#WomensHistoryMonth

Virginia became an expert in:
organizing resistance
providing weapons & supplies
helping downed airmen
& her specialty… jailbreaks

She also proved adept at recruiting spies, creating a network of 90 agents code-named Heckler.

#WomensHistoryMonth
#WomenInIntel

Nov 1942: Germans flooded France w/troops

To escape, Virginia hiked ~50 miles over snow-covered Pyrenees Mountains into Spain w/her prosthetic leg

“Climb to Freedom: Personal Journey in Footsteps of #VirginiaHall” (cc @craiggralley): bit.ly/2s3tEHs

#WomensHistoryMonth

Virginia was determined to return to France, but SOE refused.

Lyon’s Gestapo chief, Klaus Barbie, who never knew Virginia’s true name or nationality, had caught wind of her activities & put a bounty on her.

She was sent back to London instead.

#WomensHistoryMonth

1944: Virginia joined #OSS & was sent back into France

Unable to parachute due to her artificial leg, she arrived by British torpedo boat

To avoid detection, Virginia dyed her hair grey & disguised herself as a milkmaid w/a shuffling gait to hide her limp

#WomensHistoryMonth

Virginia organized 1000s of French Maquis, blew up bridges, & conducted sabotage ops to support Allies’ D-Day invasion, all while camping in barns & attics to avoid German trackers

She’s the only civilian woman to receive Distinguished Service Cross in #WWII

#WomensHistoryMonth

At CIA, Virginia used her covert action expertise in a range of activities & in support of resistance groups behind Iron Curtain

She was one of a few relatively senior women in ops until her retirement in 1966 at age 60

bit.ly/2YbXeee

#WomensHistoryMonth
#WomenInIntel