Her Godmother’s father who she viewed as a grandfather had been shot by the Nazi’s. She was eager to support the war effort however she could. After immediately accepted as an SOE, she began the intensive training program in 1941 at just 20 years old. She learnt about encryption, surveillance and passed gruelling physical tests.
Phyllis first deployed to Aquitaine in Vichy, France, where she worked as a spy using codename Genevieve. Her most dangerous mission however began on May 1st 1944, she parachuted out of a U.S. Air Force bomber, landing behind enemy lines in Nazi-occupied Normandy, France.
Posing as a poor teenage French girl, she used a rickety bike to pass enemy check points often under the guise of an over enthusiastic soap seller, offering perfumed goats milk bars of soap.
Phyllis Latour - ‘’I always carried knitting because my codes were on a piece of silk - I had about 2000 codes I could use. Once I used a code I would just pin prick it to indicate it had gone. I wrapped the piece of silk around a knitting needle and put it in a flat shoelace which I used to tie up my hair.’’
