Jeannette Guyot

Jeannette Guyot (26 February 1919 – 10 April 2016) was a French Resistance operative who went on to become one of the Second World War's most decorated women.

Guyot undertook numerous dangerous missions in Occupied France moving fugitives, collecting military intelligence, and assisting Allied agents.

The recipient of honors from France and the United Kingdom, Guyot is one of only two women to hold the American Distinguished Service Cross obtained during the war. She participated in the Pathfinder Mission of Operation Sussex. (Operation Sussex's purpose was to gather intelligence on German troops formations.) With the Germans arresting members of Guyot's resistance networks, it became too dangerous for her to remain in France. On 13 May 1943, an RAF Lysander plane landed in a field near Luzillé and picked up Guyot for transport to England. In January 1944, Guyot received her parachute wings. Guyot chose the Cafe du Reseau as one safe house because the owner, Andree Goubillon, was a friend whose husband had been imprisoned by the Germans.

Guyot undertook many dangerous trips throughout the region, helping agents and reporting on Gestapo activities.

By 1 October 1944, Guyot had returned to the United Kingdom, where she was assigned to the Direction Generate des Etudes et Recherches of the Free French Forces. This was her final wartime assignment.

Post war In June 1945, Guyot retired from the Direction Generale. While her father, Jean Marie Guyot, had died in Bavaria in 1944, her mother Jeanne was repatriated to France in 1945.

On 29 March 1947, Guyot married Marcel Gaucher, a former Operation Sussex agent. They had three children. Guyot died in Sevrey on 10 April 2016, age 97.

Distinctions

Legion of Honour War Cross 1939–1945 Medal of Resistance

British George Medal

Distinguished Service Cross, only one of two women awarded the medal in World War II or since, the other being Virginia Hall.