Young Wellington Feminists call for Nancy Wake Memorial

One of the most decorated servicewoman of WWII and Wellingtonian, Nancy Wake, died yesterday in London and local group the Wellington Young Feminists’ Collective want to see a permanent Nancy Wake Memorial.

Code-named The White Mouse by German intelligence, Wake was an active member of the French Resistance and once rode a bicycle over 800kms to pass on life-saving information through Nazi checkpoints. She also lead a guerrilla group of 7,000 French revolution fighters to victory over 22,000 SS soldiers and killed an SS sentry with her bare hands in self defence. Wake died of a chest infection in a London hospital aged 98.

Wake is part of a shared “heritage pylon” in Oriental Bay, however young local women want to see something specific to Nancy honouring her efforts.

“Nancy Wake was honoured by four countries and the Commonwealth before New Zealand acknowledged her with a Royal New Zealand Returned and Services' Association Badge in 2006. By then she was already one of the most decorated servicewomen from WWII,” says Nicole Skews of the Wellington Young Feminists’ Collective “surely she has shown enough bravery and saved enough lives to warrant her own memorial.”

The Wellington Young Feminists’ Collective, a social group of over 800 men and women are calling for a Nancy Wake Memorial through a campaign on social media platform Twitter, and through encouraging people to write to the Ministry of Culture and Heritage, Veteran’s Affairs and the Wellington City Council.

ENDS

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