Andree de Jongh Biography

rescuer
Died: Oct. 13, 2007 (Brussels, Belgium)
Best Known as: rescuer of Allied soldiers during World War II

World War II legend who led 118 Allied soldiers down a treacherous 1,000 mile path from occupied Belgium to Gibralter. She eventually led 24 to 33 expeditions across occupied France and over the Pyrenees mountains. She started working as a nurse when the Germans occupied Belgium in 1940. Germans captured her in 1943, but when she confessed her role in the scheme they did not believe her, and she was eventually released. Ms. de Jongh worked in leper hospitals in Ethiopia and the Belgian Congo later in life, and was made a Belgian countess in 1985.