History is Our Stories ~ Virginia Hall

Distinguished Service Cross

Awarded to Virginia Hall by

Major General William J. Donovan

November 27, 1945

"My country rewarded my efforts with the Distinguished Service Cross, the only female civilian in the war to receive this nation's highest military honor after the Medal of Honor!"

Today, a long overdue honor will be given to Virginia Hall, who died in 1982 at age 78.

She will be honored by the British and French ambassadors at a ceremony at the home of French Ambassador Jean-David Levitte in Washington, DC. British Ambassador Sir David Manning will present a certificate signed by King George VI to Hall's niece. Hall should have received the document in 1943 when she was made a member of the Order of the British Empire.

Who was Virginia Hall? This remarkable and mysterious woman was a spy! A spy with a wooden leg!!

Virginia Hall, born in 1906 in Baltimore, Maryland, had a talent for languages and studied at Barnard College, Paris and Vienna. She got a job as a clerk at the American Embassy in Vienna. Her goal was to be in the US Foreign Service, but a hunting accident cost her dearly - the loss of her left leg and her chance at a career with the Foreign Service.

She made her way to England and joined the British Special Operations Executive. Her first assignment was to establish a spy network in Vichy, France. She helped prisoners of war escape and kept contact with the French underground. When Germany overran France, she escaped through Spain and returned to England.

In 1943, she joined General William Donovan's Office of Strategic Services - the OSS - precursor to the CIA. Returning to France, she appeared to be a milkmaid, known as 'Marie Monin' or 'Germaine' or 'Diana' or 'Camille' or 'Nicholas.' She stayed in the field for 15 months, coordinating the Resistance Forces in acts of sabotage and guerrilla warfare. She located parachute drop zones where money and weapons were passed to the French Resistance. Her teams destroyed bridges, derailed trains and killed scores of German soldiers.

In 1942, the Gestapo circulated posters offering a reward for the capture of "the woman with a limp. She is the most dangerous of all Allied spies and we must find and destroy her."

After the war, Virginia Hall went to work for the CIA - one of the first female operations officers. "my love for intelligence work and serving my country never ended; there was always something new to learn," she said. "I look back with pride not only at what I have done for my country, but also at the work of those who followed after me."

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I stumbled across this story this morning. I had never heard of Virginia Hall before today. What an amazing woman. She truly inspires me, and reminds us all of the sacrifices required to serve our country fully. "Wolves at the Door: The True Story of America's First Female Spy" is her biography, just published last year. I look forward to reading it.