Beryl E. Escott
Author of The Heroines of SOE: Britain's Secret Women in France: F Section
About the Author
Squadron Leader Beryl E. Escott was born in Newfoundland and educated in Guernsey, Lancashire, Yorshire, and at Durham University. She spent 25 years in the RAF before retiring to take up writing. She is the author of a number of books. She is now widely recognized as being the leading WAAF show more historian and lives in Warwickshire. show less
Works by Beryl E. Escott
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Gender
- female
Members
Reviews
The first book to list the names and deeds of women who have been given a high award for courage, from the First World War to the present day. The author's narrative describes dozens of acts of personal bravery where women have placed their lives in great danger, usually in order to save a life.
A brief history of the SOE and vignettes about its female agents. Thoroughly researched and an excellent glimpse at many heroic and mostly unknown warriors of WW2.
Statistics
- Works
- 7
- Members
- 82
- Popularity
- #220,761
- Rating
- 4.3
- Reviews
- 3
- ISBNs
- 15
The author is wrong to say that 2 Sep 1945 was VJ Day - it was, as she also says, the date of the formal signing of the Instrument of Surrender )on board USS Missouri) - for VJ Day was 15 Aug 1945.
In the lists of further reading and places to visit, at the back, it's a pity that room was not found for short documentary films featuring the work and lives of WAAFs.
No lover of the Royal Air Force - it loves itself too much and today's RAF is too showy for my liking - I bought the book because my mother was in the WAAF and, as Ellen Shea (1912-1998) can no longer help me, I hoped the book would be part of the answer. Mum joined the WAAF in order to escape an awkward family situation in her brother's pub in the Kingsland Road, Shoreditch, during and after the blitz - she served in what the book describes as Domestic Trades between 1941 and 1946. I was hoping for rather more about those trades but the information therein is little. Nevertheless, this little book is certainly better than nought as part of a family history. I wish my Mum had joined the WRNS - the Shire book on the Wrens is, in my view, better in some areas (but not all, to be sure) and I know more about the Navy's girls anyway ...… (more)