Women in training for epic Remembrance expedition
09 September 2010
Former British Olympic gymnast Suzanne Dando leads a team of eight women - including heroic Royal Navy medic Kate Nesbitt MC, one of only two women to receive the Military Cross; Jo Salter, the RAF's first female fast jet fighter pilot; and Moira Cameron, the first female Beefeater, as they march up Primrose Hill today in training for an epic fundraising expedition across the Pyrenees.
The Remembrance Expedition will raise £100,000 for The Royal British Legion's care of injured Armed Forces personnel. The team also includes Olympic yachtswoman Lt Cdr Penny Clark, Atlantic rower Sally Kettle, Gp Capt Deb Barber and WO Michaela Barwick.
They will follow Le Chemin de la Liberté, a treacherous route taken by legendary WWII French Resistance fighter and SOE agent Nancy Wake as she escaped the Gestapo en route to Spain.
New Zealand-born Nancy Wake, 98, worked for both the French Resistance and Britain's secretive Special Operations Executive. The most highly decorated woman in WWII, she topped the Gestapo's most "wanted list" under the under the codename "White Mouse" with a five million franc bounty upon her head.
Forced to flee France, she fled across the Pyrenees to Spain - the route being undertaken by Dando's team took her six attempts to conquer.
She was parachuted back into France as an SOE agent, where her 7,000 maquisards made life difficult for the Germans prior to D-Day, inflicting 1,400 casualties while taking 100 themselves.
The athletic Remembrance Expedition women set off in a few days' time to traverse the most hazardous trans-Pyrenees escape route of World War II to honour her contribution and raise funds for the Legion.
"We're delighted at the prospect of supporting the Legion's work while paying respect to such a remarkable woman," says Dando.
The Remembrance Expedition sets off on Tuesday 14 September. If you would like to donate to Suzanne's fund, please go to www.bmycharity.com/remembranceexpedition.
