On Wednesday 13th September members of the Corps laid a wreath as part of the annual commemoration of the death of FANY and SOE Agent Noor Inayat Khan
On Wednesday 13th September members of the Corps laid a wreath as part of the annual commemoration of the death of FANY and SOE Agent Noor Inayat Khan at her memorial in Gordon Square, London. Noor was part of the ill-fated Prosper network which operated around Paris. She was the first female radio operator sent to France by the SOE. Landing in June 1943 she was eventually the only SOE wireless operater in the City successfully avoided capture until 1st October 1943. Noor was moved to a German prison in November 1943, where despite solitary confinement, and likely torture, she revealed nothing. On the 13th of September 1944 at Dachau concentration Camp alongside three other female SOE agents, Noor was shot. She was 30 years old.
She was posthumously awarded the George Cross, one of only three women ever to receive it. The citation, published in the London Gazette on 5th April 1949 reads:
"Assistant Section Officer Nora Inayat-Khan was the first woman operator to be sent into enemy-occupied France … immediately following her arrival, the Gestapo made mass arrests among the Paris Resistance Groups … She refused to abandon what had become the most important and dangerous post in France … she was betrayed to the Gestapo … but … gave them no information of any kind … she was sent to Germany … where again she refused to give any information … On 13th September 1944 she was taken with three others to Dachau concentration camp, where … she was … shot … Inayat-Khan displayed the most conspicuous courage, both moral and physical"
The commemeration was arranged by Sharbani Basu Founder of the Noor Inayat Khan Memorial Trust and her biorgrapher entitled The Spy Princess. The event included thought provocing contributions by Smita Tharoor, The Indian Ambassador HE V.K Doraiswami, Shaikh Mahmood, who now in his 90's knew Noor as a girl, Aditi Khanna and and Rebecca Preston from English Heritage. A short moving Sufi service and preyer was led b Pir Zia Inayat Khan.
As a Corps we are indebted to and motivated by the courage, tentiousness and bravery of the women who have gone before us. We stand on their shoulders and will always remember them.