A SPECIAL celebration took place at the museum for a Second World War heroine who lost her life in a concentration camp.

Had she lived, she would had been 95 years ago, but the British spy, Violette Szabo, who was parachuted into Nazi-occupied France, was captured, tortured and killed aged 23.

The museum dedicated to her memory is at Wormelow in Herefordshire, where Violette stayed when she was recuperating from an injury suffered after parachuting into France.

Rosemary Rigby MBE, who owns the house, was never aware of its history when she bought it, and has spent her life creating an ever-lasting memorial to Violette and every year holds a ceremony to remember her, beginning with a parade of Standards, which included for the first time a representative of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY), of which Violette was a member.

A small part of FANY - highly secret at the time and later famous - served as a parent unit for many women who undertook espionage work for the Special Operations Executive (SOE).

Recruits were trained in one of four fields: motor transport, wireless telegraphy, codes or general.

They worked on coding and signals, acting as conductors for agents and providing administration and technical support for the Special Training Schools.

Their work was top secret and often highly skilled. Members operated in several theatres of war, including North Africa, Italy, India and the Far East.

Thirty-nine of the 50 women sent into France by SOE were FANYs of whom 13 were captured and murdered by the Gestapo.

Many decorations, of both the UK and other countries, were awarded for their service and outstanding courage.

Among these, four of the highest UK decorations were the George Cross awarded to Odette Hallowes (who was incarcerated and tortured, but survived the war), to Violette Szabo and Noor Inayat Khan (both perished in captivity and were decorated posthumously).

The service at Wormelow included the presentation of Legion d’Honneur medals by Mme Josette Lebrat to Mr Mr Peter Alfred Davies, Peter Harness and Jim Jenkins.

The service continued with the ladies of the Monday Choir of Clifford who sang several wartime songs, and the history of the Royal Artillery, who are commemorating their 300th birthday, was given by Major Fred Greenhow MBE.

Actress Virginia McKenna OBE, who played the part of Violette Szabo in the film “Carve her Name with Pride” read out the poem ‘The Life that I have’, a short poem written by Leo Marks and used as a poem code in the Second World War.

Waitrose, who have long supported the work of Rosemary Rigby presented her a cheque for £194, raised through the Community Matters scheme at the Monmouth branch.