A Wet Sunday in Jersey, SOE and a New Book

Not often I get to post something like this. This week saw the launch of a new book on the final few years of the Life of Violette Szabó, the SOE operative and subject of the film Carve her Name with Pride.

The book is special as it is written by her daughter Tania Szabó. The launch on Thursday was attended by many local dignitaries as well as Sir Henry Cooper and his wife, Bob Large, the 161 Sqn Lysander pilot who brought Violette back to the UK after her first mission to France and the author Harry Patterson.

I must admit to being smitten by Tania, I first met her back in 1999 when she helped me with some translation for the Scheidhauer memorial, and then again in 2002 when she read High Flight at the Woodward and McPhail memorial service. She is great fun and I guess, from what I’ve read and heard about her mother, a chip off the old block, being just as mischievous as her mother appears to have been.

Here are a couple of photographs taken by the present Mrs En830

The author and an admirer

Left to right, Mrs En830 Senior, Flt Lt R G (Bob) Large, DFC, Legion d’Honneur, En830, Mrs Bob Large and Paul Holly (Tania’s partner and former army intelligence officer)

Bob also flew with 616 Sqn and 66 Sqn during which he had the ignominy of being shot down by one of Galland’s henchmen for which he was kill No 36. He recalls that it was in a pressurised Spitfire Mk VI

Bob went on to undertake many sorties with 161 Sqn for which he was awarded his various medals. Later he flew Meteors and his dog Patrick, became the first dog in the Allied Forces to fly in a jet which took place in a Meteor 3 on 11th May 1946 and is now recorded in the Guinness Book of Records.

We spent 20 mins chatting to Bob and his party, hopefully we didn’t bore them too much.

Oh and he confirmed one thing to do with the Stork Hotel, it wasn’t who we have been told it was 🙂