Pearl Witherington Cornioley - Code Name Pauline. Memoirs of a World War II Special Agent

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Copyright 2013 by Kathryn J. Atwood

All rights reserved

Published by Chicago Review Press, Incorporated

814 North Franklin Street

Chicago, Illinois 60610

ISBN 978-1-61374-487-1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Cornioley, Pearl Witherington, 1914-2008.

Code name Pauline : memoirs of a World War II special agent / Pearl Witherington Cornioley with Herv Larroque ; edited by Kathryn J. Atwood.

pages cm. (Women of action)

Summary: Pearl Witherington Cornioley, one of the most celebrated female World War II resistance fighters, shares her remarkable story in this firsthand account of her experience as a special agent for the British Special Operations Executive (SOE). Told through a series of reminiscencesfrom a difficult childhood spent in the shadow of World War I and her familys harrowing escape from France as the Germans approached in 1940 to her recruitment and training as a special agent and the logistics of parachuting into a remote rural area of occupied France and hiding in a wheat field from enemy fireeach chapter also includes helpful opening remarks to provide context and background on the SOE and the French Resistance. With an annotated list of key figures, an appendix of original unedited interview extracts--including Pearls fiance; Henris storyand fascinating photographs and documents from Pearls personal collection, this memoir will captivate World War II buffs of any ageProvided by publisher.

Summary: The as yet unpublished memoirs for young adults of the only female SOE agent to lead a French Resistance network during World War IIProvided by publisher.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-61374-487-1 (hardback)

1. Cornioley, Pearl Witherington, 1914-2008. 2. World War, 1939-1945Underground movementsFranceJuvenile literature. 3. World War, 1939-1945Secret serviceGreat BritainJuvenile literature. I. Larroque, Herv. II. Atwood, Kathryn J., editor. III. Title.

D802.F8C626 2013

940.548641092dc23

[B]

2013008734

Interior design: Sarah Olson

Except where otherwise noted, all photos courtesy of Herv Larroque/ ditions par exemple with permission of Pearl Witherington Cornioley.

Printed in the United States of America

5 4 3 2 1

T o productive international relationships, represented most dramatically by the French section of the British Special Operations Executive during World War II; later by the willingness of an initially reluctant British subject, Pearl Cornioley, to be interviewed by Herv Larroque, a French journalist; and finally, by the friendship between M. Larroque and John Atwood, an American, initiated by their shared respect for Pearl Witherington, continued because of their mutual willingness to communicate in the others language, and without which this edition of Pearl Witheringtons memoir would not have been possible.

I dont like blowing my own trumpet. I find it really difficult, but at the same time I want people to know what really happened.

PEARL WITHERINGTON CORNIOLEY

BY KATHRYN J. ATWOOD

What you hold in your hand is not a history book. It is a piece of history. History books are often written by people who were not there. This is the testimony of someone who not only was there but who actively participated in what happened. It is what historians call original source material.

Pearl Witherington was an agent of the Special Operations Executive (SOE), a British wartime organization that secretly trained and sent agents into Nazi-occupied countries during World War II. Immediately following the war, the British public was shocked to learn that female agents had worked behind enemy lines for the SOE, risking their lives and in some instances losing them, in the fight against the Nazis. Books were written and films produced about these women for a fascinated public who couldnt seem to get enough. Pearl became very distrustful of such endeavors after an author wrote a book that fictionalized her wartime work to make it seem more dramatic than it had been. When the stories of other agents were deliberately altered in similar ways in books and films, Pearl refused to give any interviews for many years.

Toward the end of her life, however, she began to feel that her story might be inspiring to young people in difficult circumstances. French journalist Herv Larroque approached her in 1994 with the idea of writing her memoir, and as their acquaintance progressed she felt she could trust him to handle her story properly. He conducted multiple interviews, some with Pearl alone and others including Pearls husband, Henri Cornioley, from December 1994 through June 1995. The transcript of those interviews was published in French by ditions par exemple in December 1995, with the title Pauline, one of Pearls wartime code names.

M. Larroque appreciated what I had done with Pearls story in my book Women Heroes of World War II, in which she is profiled, and agreed to have me edit the English translation of Pauline into a straight narrative with added introductory material to place the memoir within its historical context.

Because Pearl was adamant that her story not be altered, I have taken great care to change as little of her own wording as possible. In most instances, M. Larroques brief questions are simply incorporated into the text. A large part of the editing process involved bringing together material on one subject that had been garnered from various interviews and was found in various sections of the manuscript. What remains is Pearls story in her own choice of words and her own style of speaking.

Because Pearls husband, Henri, was present during some of the interviews, there is specific materialenlightening comments by Henri, humorous interchanges between him and Pearlthat would be lost if converted into a narrative. There are other sections where keeping the text in its original dialogue format provides more clarity. A selection of these can be found in the appendix.

I am very Honord to present Pearl Witheringtons memoir to the English-reading public at last. May the memory of her courage and determination in the face of great difficulty continue to inspire future generations.

BY HERV LARROQUE