Monique Hanotte

Henriette Hanotte MBE (10 August 1920 – 20 February 2022), also known as Monique Hanotte, was a Belgian resistance member during World War II. From the age of nineteen, she aided the escape of nearly 140 airmen from occupied Belgium into France as part of the Comet Line. She was given the codename 'Monique' by the British War Office, a name she then used throughout her life.

Early life Henriette Hanotte lived in the rural village of Rumes in Belgium, close to the French border. Her parents ran a hotel and a farm, where she and her younger brother helped look after the animals. She went to school each day in the nearby French village of Bachy, so became known to the officers manning the customs posts as she needed to cross the border every day.

Resistance activities In May 1940, shortly after the German occupation of Belgium, Hanotte and her father assisted two officers who had become separated during the retreat of the British Expeditionary Force to Dunkirk. They were disguised, and led the short distance through a customs post and into Reichskommissariat France.

Honours

The British appointed her a Member of the British Empire (MBE) for her services in World War II. She was awarded the Medal of Freedom by the United States, a decoration established by President Harry S. Truman to honour civilians whose actions aided in the war efforts of the United States and its allies during and beyond World War II.

In May 2015, a hiking circuit was opened to mark the route taken by Monique Hanotte to help airmen escape from Belgium into France.

A statue of "Monique" was installed in Place de la Liberté in the French commune of Bachy, depicting her assisting American bombardier, Charles Carlson, to escape from Belgium.

In 2015 Hanotte was given honorary citizenship of Bachy and in 2020 honorary citizenship of Nivelles where she lived.