Mursley Knitters remember wartime secret agent in poppy day display
“We felt it was a unique and memorable way of honouring the fallen and, at the same time, capturing the diversity of those who died for our freedom”
The knitters and crocheters of Mursley and nearby Swanbourne have just put the finishing stitches to a special “remembrance topper” for their local post box.
The display depicts members of the army, navy and air force, standing on a bed of crocheted red poppies, saluting a female figure representing Second World War Special Operations Executive agent and Indian princess, Noor Inayat Khan, code-named Madeleine.
Noor Khan, who lived in France before the conflict and spoke the language fluently, joined the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force shortly after the outbreak of war.
She later transferred to the Special Operations Executive, a secretive organisation established in July, 1940. Its job, in the words of Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, was to “set Europe alight”. She is believed to have conducted some of her training in Buckinghamshire.
SOE agents were deployed into occupied territory to carry out espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance.
Noor Khan, who was a radio operator, flew to France by Lysander aircraft from RAF Tangmere near Chichester, in June, 1943. Operating in Paris, she was later betrayed, imprisoned and tortured before being shot at Dachau concentration camp, near Munich in southern Germany, on 13 September, 1944, having refused to divulge any information. She was just 30 years old.
After the war she was awarded a posthumous George Cross, equal in status to the Victoria Cross. She was one of only three women to receive the honour, which recognises gallantry “not in the face of the enemy”. The citation for her award spoke of her “most conspicuous courage, both moral and physical, over a period of more than 12 months”.
The memorial’s creators, who call themselves The Mursley Toppers, include Liz Hagger, Denise Wingrove, Coralie Ramsey and Julie Blanc. They began working on the display in September.
“We felt it was a unique and memorable way of honouring the fallen and, at the same time, capturing the diversity of those who died for our freedom,” explained Liz Hagger.
Lt Col (Retd) Lyndon Robinson, a Deputy Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire and Mursley resident, said: "I was approached for my thoughts on the idea of a remembrance topper but nothing in my wildest imagination would have expected something as brilliant and poignant as this."
The display is situated outside St Mary the Virgin Church, next to the village war memorial, which will be the scene of the local act of remembrance on Sunday.