Tucked away on a farm in Britain sits a barn where adventure crossed with danger during the Second World War. Gibraltar Farm near the village of Tempsford was home to 13,000 Special Operations Executive agents who launched espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance missions throughout occupied Europe.
Many of these were women, some from Ireland, who answered the call to adventure and aided the French Resistance movements on the continent.
This year local villagers, lead by surgeon Tazi Husain, are building a memorial to honour the 3,200 women who from the site.
‘These were brave people. They were driven to the barn with the windows curtained so they didn’t know where they were taking off from’
Two of these women were Mary Herbert and Patricia Maureen O’Sullivan. Both were originally from Ireland and these Wild Geese flew by the full moonlight into the uncertain abyss.
Mary Herbert was the first member of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) to join the SOE. Patricia Maureen O’Sullivan was parachuted into occupied France in March 1944 and the courage she displayed during her covert operations earned her the respect of her commanding officers. She received an MBE for her ‘patience, perseverance and devotion to duty’.
Local historian Bernard O’Connor says ‘they deserve to be remembered in their own right’. A sentiment we fully agree with. The memorial in Tempsford will be unveiled next month and will keep this sensational story alive for generations to come.