This year marks the centenary of the FANY – the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry, formed in 1907 to assist both the military and civilian authorities at times of emergency. During the First World War, members ran field hospitals, drove ambulances and set-up soup kitchens and troop canteens. In the Second World War, they worked on coding and signalling, formed the Motor Driving Company of the ATS – and were commissioned into the SOE, the Special Operations Executive.
Margaret Pawley was was born and raised in the Rhineland, where her father was the last British High Commissioner in the allied occupation following World War One. The Special Operations Executive welcomed young women with a second European language but when she was recruited no-one had picked up on Margaret’s fluent German, and she was sent to Cairo to be a coder.
FANY Disclaimer The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites.
