Owing to her mixed British-French parentage and upbringing in France, Knight was a nearly perfect speaker of the French language – so much so that one day early in the spring of 1944 leaders of the British intelligence organisation
Special Operations Executive (SOE) overheard her speaking French in a café and immediately moved to recruit her into the organisation. On 11 April 1944, Knight began attendance at the Students' Assessment Board of the SOE at
Wanborough. She was rushed through a cursory two-week training course at Thame Park, Saltmarsh, during which she did only one practice
parachute jump from a static balloon, rather than the customary three, before being sent behind enemy lines in
Vichy France to establish herself as a secret British
courier. This sentence was
commuted, however, and Bardet was ultimately released from prison in 1955. Knight left the employment of the SOE in November 1944.
Awards For her wartime activity Peggy Knight was later awarded high British, French, and American honours, including appointment as a member of
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, the
Croix de Guerre, and the
Medal of Freedom. ==See also==