I wanted to return and write more about Andree de Jongh, an extraordinary woman, who ran the Comet Escape Line that escorted downed Allied pilots and others through occupied regions in WWII. And also the respect afforded her by the British Royal Air force for her efforts during the war.
In 1943, she was betrayed and was captured by the Gestapo. She was then tortured but admitted that she was the organizer of the escape network. The Germans did not believe her and sent her to Ravensbruck concentration camp.
Before the war, she was studying to be a nurse, and while in the concentration camps she administrated aid to fellow prisoners, probably saving many. After the war, she worked in leper camps in Africa.
She was awarded the US Medal of Freedom, the British George Medal, and the Chevalier of the French Legion d’Honneeur. And more.
While working the leper camps in Ethiopia, her mother was dying in Belgium. The RAF made a stop and flew her to Belgium. After her mother’s funeral, they flew her back to Ethiopia. That is how much she meant to those pilots that were saved.
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