Churchill, Odette (1912-1995), was a French-born British agent during World War II (1939-1945). Odette Marie Celine Brailly was born in Amiens, France, on April 28, 1912. She moved to the United Kingdom in 1932, a year after marrying the Englishman Roy Sanson. During World War II, British Special Operations recruited her to work in France with the French Resistance. She joined the British officer Captain Peter Churchill’s network “Spindle” as a courier in 1942. In 1943, the Gestapo captured both Odette and Peter Churchill. She was tortured and sentenced to death.
By claiming that she and Churchill were married, and that he was a nephew of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, she escaped execution. In 1946, she was awarded the George Cross, the United Kingdom’s highest award for civilian bravery. Her experiences were described in the book Odette (1949), by the British writer Jerrard Tickell. After Roy Sanson died, she married Peter Churchill. She later divorced him and married Geoffrey Hallowes, a wine importer, becoming Odette Hallowes. She died on March 17, 1995, in Walton-on-Thames, England.
