RIP Yvonne Burney, World War II SOE agent

Yvonne Burney (Yvonne Jeanne de Vibraye Baseden), a World War II Special Operations Executive (SOE) agent who parachuted into France 44, survived torture and Ravensbruck, died Saturday 28 October 2017. She was one of approximately 50 brave and highly skilled female SOE agents.

She was born in Paris from a father who was a World War I pilot in the Royal Flying Corps that had crash-landed in France then met and married a daughter of the count an countess. Yvonne was born in, and traveled round Europe learning English and French as well as other languages.

Baseden nee Burney joined the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) at 18 years old nd was commissioned as an officer in 1941 working in the RAF Intelligence branch, where she assisted in the interrogation of captured German airmen and submarine crews. This is where the Special Operations Executive (SOE) discovered her talents nd she joined this famed organization in May 1943.

One of the youngest SOE women to be dropped by parachute into France at age 22 she was dropped South West France, close to the village of Gabarret. She worked with the Frence resistance for four months as the wireless operator until she was captured by the German Gestapo in June 1944. In August 1944, she was transferred to a prison in Saarbrücken and then to Ravensbrück concentration camp in September of the same year, enduring depredations and torture. After the liberation of the camp Yvonne Burney was awarded the MBE by Britain and the Legion of Honor; the Resistance Medal and the Croix de Guerre avec Palme by France.