Andrée Peel

Andrée Peel (3 February 1905

She was arrested in Paris in 1944 and sent to the Ravensbrück concentration camp. She was later transferred to the concentration camp at Buchenwald where she was being lined up to be shot by firing squad when the US Army arrived to liberate the prisoners. During this time, she also survived meningitis.

After the war After the war, she met her future husband, an English student named John Peel who later became an academic neuropsychologist, while working in a restaurant in Paris,

Awards Mrs. Peel received many decorations from the French government for her resistance work, and she was awarded the Order of Liberation by France, the Medal of Freedom by the United States, and the King's Commendation for Brave Conduct by Britain. During the war she received a personal letter of appreciation from Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

She was presented with the Medal of Freedom by President Eisenhower.

She received the Légion d'honneur from her brother, four-star General Maurice Virot, in 2004. She died peacefully at the Lampton House nursing home on 5 March 2010.

Woodspring MP Liam Fox paid tribute to Mrs Peel, saying: "Mrs Peel was an iconic figure who showed phenomenal courage in the most difficult circumstances. Her selfless bravery saved many lives and she stands as a monument to the triumph of the human spirit, which will set an example for many generations to come."

Her house was broken into sometime on 10 or 11 March 2010, and several items were stolen, including copies of her autobiography. Police suspect that it was because of the widespread knowledge of her death after reporting in local and national newspapers.

In 2011, a parcel of land west of Keeds Lane in Long Ashton was proposed for a public park in her memory and named Andrée Peel Park.

Autobiography Her autobiography, Miracles Do Happen, , was published in French as Miracles Existent!, (English version translated by Evelyn Scott Brown). It has been made into a film by William Ennals. King's Commendation for Brave Conduct Croix de Guerre (with palm)