The Valençay SOE Memorial is a monument in France to the members of the
Special Operations Executive
Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a British organisation formed in 1940 to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in German-occupied Europe and to aid local Resistance during World War II, resistance movements during World War II. ...
F Section who died working to liberate the country during World War II.
The memorial was unveiled in the town of
Valençay, in the
department of
Indre
Indre (); is a department in central France named after the river Indre. The inhabitants of the department are known as the ''Indriens'' (masculine; ) and ''Indriennes'' (feminine; ). Indre is part of the current administrative region of Cent ...
, on May 6, 1991, marking the fiftieth anniversary of the despatch of F Section's first agent to France.
Former SOE agents
Pearl Witherington Cornioley and her husband Henri, who lived nearby, promoted the establishment of the memorial. Witherington had worked in the area as a SOE agent during World war II. The monument was designed by Elizabeth Lucas Harrison, herself a former Resistance member, who originally gave it the name "Spirit of Partnership".
Dedicated by the Minister of Veterans Affairs for France and
Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother
Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon (4 August 1900 – 30 March 2002) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 to 6 February 1952 as the wife of King George VI. She was al ...
, the memorial's ''Roll of Honour'' lists the names of the 91 men and 13 women members of the SOE who gave their lives for France's freedom.
Valençay Memorial Roll of Honour
(from website: SOE and Valençay Monument
[Grehan, J. and Mace, M. (2012)])
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Jack Charles Stanmore Agazarian
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Joseph Antoine France Antelme
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Yolande Elsa Maria Beekman
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Robert Marcel Charles Benoist
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Gustave Daniel Alfred Biéler
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Denise Madeleine Bloch
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Marcus Reginald Bloom
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Andrée Raymonde Borrel
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Muriel Tamara Byck
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Robert Bennett Byerly
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Marcel Clech
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Ted Cyril Coppin
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Madeleine Zoe Damerment
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Émile Georges Jean Duboudin
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Henri Jacques Paul Frager
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William Charles Frederick Grover-Williams
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Noor Inayat Khan
Noor-un-Nisa Inayat Khan, GC (1 January 1914 – 13 September 1944), also known as Nora Inayat-Khan and Nora Baker, was a British resistance agent in France in the Second World War who served in the Special Operations Executive (SOE). The purpo ...
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Sidney Charles Jones
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A. R. Landsdell
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Cicely Margot Lefort
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Vera Eugenie Leigh
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E. Lesout
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John Kenneth Macalister
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R. M. A. Mathieu
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Andre Adrian Jules Maugenet
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James Andrew Mayer
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G. B. McBain
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Comte Jacques-Arthus Marc de Montalembert
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Isidore Newman
Isidore Newman Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, MBE Croix de Guerre, CdeG Médaille de la Résistance, MdeR (26 January 1916 – 7 September 1944) was a British secret agent in the French section of the Special Operation ...
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Gilbert Maurice Norman
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Maurice Pertschuk
Maurice Pertschuk , LdH, CdeG (31 July 1921 – 29 March 1945) was a French Special Operations Executive agent during the Second World War.
Early life
The son of Jacob Joseph Pertschuk and Ethel Muriel (née Sborowfsky), Russian-born Jews wh ...
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Frank Herbert Dedrick Pickersgill
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Éliane Sophie Plewman
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Adolphe Rabinovitch
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Lilian Vera Rolfe
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Diana Hope Rowden
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Yvonne Claire Rudellat
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Roméo Sabourin
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David Whytehead Sibrée
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Jean Alexandre Robert Simon
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Octave Anne Guillaume Simon
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Jack Andrew Eugene Marcel Sinclair
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Charles Milne Skepper
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V. A. Soskice
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Arthur Steele
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Francis Alfred Suttill
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Violette Reine Elizabeth Bushell Szabo
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Michael Alfred Raymond Trotobas
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References
Citations
Bibliography
# Foot, M.R.D. (2004) ''SOE in France'', Whitehall history publishing, ISSN 1474-8398
# Grehan, J. and Mace, M. (2012) ''Unearthing Churchill’s Secret Army: The Official List of SOE Casualties and Their Stories'', Pen and Sword,
{{DEFAULTSORT:Valencay Soe Memorial
World War II memorials in France
British military memorials and cemeteries
Special Operations Executive
Buildings and structures in Indre
Tourist attractions in Indre
Special Operations Executive personnel killed in World War II