Nancy Wake
Lower Hutt man David Miller wants to solve a World War II puzzle.
“For many years, I have been trying to get to the bottom of a mystery about a French resistance agent in World War II with a New Zealand connection,” he told The News.
He says her married name was Andrée Baker and she married a Cambridge businessman and serviceman, AB Baker.
The Waikato team that beat France 22-3 in 1961. Photo: Waikato Rugby Union
“In 1961, when the French rugby team came to Hamilton to play against Waikato, the whole team travelled to Cambridge to meet her. She was obviously held an extremely high regard at that time. My brother Brian Miller, now in Morton Rd, Aongatete, was a member of the Cambridge High School 1st XV rugby team. He and some fellow students were asked to perform a haka in honour of the French team at the event.”
David Miller says his attempts to contact the French embassy and find out about her likely French military decorations haven’t succeeded and neither have online searches of Croix de Guerre recipients.
Nancy Wake. By Australian War Memorial on line catalogue ID Number: P00885.001, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2254193
“I tried to find out about Andrée’s children or stepchildren mentioned in a Cambridge Airforce service link without success. Surely somebody knows about her and what her achievements were? Then perhaps New Zealand can consider if and how she should be recognised appropriately – like Nancy Wake?”
Nancy Wake, also known as Madame Fiocca and Nancy Fiocca, was a New Zealand-born nurse and journalist who joined the French Resistance and later the Special Operations Executive during World War II.
- Do you have any pieces of the puzzle which help? Email editor@goodlocal.nz and put the words French connection in the subject field.
