Odette Sansom: A True Heroine

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Brave or Naive Odette Sansom was a World War II spy, who later became a heroine for her work out on the field. Odette is primarily seen as a true heroine to many, but also is seen as a naive woman who does not deserve the heroine title she received. Papers and articles written about her either focus on the bravery she upheld throughout her time being caught by the Germans or focus on the speculation of whether or not she deserved her war heroine titles. “Women who Spied for Britain”, is a book written by Robyn Walker that discusses a handful of women who were spies during the war, including Odette Sansom. Walker’s chapter on Odette was very positive towards her work in the war and depicted Odette as a brave women. On the the other hand, an …show more content…

Once she received news from France that her family had been moved from their home and that her brother was wounded from the war she changed her mind. In an interview in 1986 Odette stated how she felt about the whole situation, “ I felt terrible … I am in England … I am in what I consider the safety of beautiful Somerset with my children, under those lovely trees … Am I going to be satisfied to accept this … that other people are going to suffer, get killed, die because of this war, and trying to get freedom for my children, let’s face it. Am I supposed to accept this sacrifice that other people are making without lifting a finger?” (Walker p.62) After deciding that she wanted to do everything she could do to help, she went on to go through the training to become an undercover agent and later started working out in the field with the code name Lise.
Hastings article on Odette Sansom also started out by giving a little background on Odette’s life and then went into discussing her work during the war. It explained how Odette almost did not even receive her George Cross award for her work because there was so much speculation from others in the SOE who thought there was no reason why she deserved the award. During her training to become an SOE agent, one spectator even went as far to write a report that stated she was “impulsive and hasty in her judgments and has not quite the clarity of mind …show more content…

While Hastings article “War heroine Odette Sansom was deemed ‘too temperamental’ for spying” deemed that Odette had a lot of speculations against her and her being seen as a true heroine is a debatable topic. Even though both of the authors managed to successfully tell the story of Odette, they each had different opinions and tended to focus on different details. Walker focusing and leaning towards Odette being a brave hero versus Hasting focusing on the accusations all against Odette being a hero and receiving her George Cross award. Each author included important information and reports on Odette Sansom and even though some were good and some were bad she is still seen as a heroine and is known for her bravery during World War

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