A WWII Spy Teaches Us What It Means to Be Daring

What image does the word “daring” incur in your mind?

It may elicit memories from history class about trailblazers like Lewis and Clark. The term may spark thoughts of astronauts boarding a shuttle, soldiers crossing the line of battle, civil rights activists marching toward a better future, or explorers diving to the depths of the sea.

Whatever image you hold of a daring individual, you are most likely correct.

To be daring is to be of adventurous courage. To be bold. To be daring is to try over and over again in spite of failure or rejection.

When we embrace challenges by daring to continue onward, new opportunities arise.

When considering starting a blog, I experienced the self-defeating thought many of us feel when trying something new.

“This trail has already been blazed before. What’s the point?”

Well, not by me it hasn’t. Whatever new endeavor you are considering, it hasn’t been done by you. You have to dare to try. Otherwise, how will you ever know what you’re made of?

Imagine if Beethoven decided not to play piano because Mozart was already considered the greatest pianist of the time.

There is value in boldness. In daring to embark on your own courageous adventure, however big or small.

Consider the story of one of the first female spies during WWII and how she daringly defied the Nazis throughout her career.

At the onset of WWII, women were leaving the home in record numbers and entering the workforce. The war created an abundance of jobs that needed to be filled, providing new opportunities for women.

One such American woman, Virginia Hall, an adventurous youth with a proclivity for languages, traveled abroad to work for the American Embassies in Poland and Turkey.

While in Turkey, Hall lost her leg below the knee during a hunting accident. She was fitted with a wooden peg that she lovingly named “Cuthbert.”

That attitude toward the loss of a limb is representative of Hall’s resilience.

Throughout her life she would remain unlikely to be deterred by much of anything.

Cuthbert did, however, prevent her from obtaining her dream career as a foreign service officer.

After applying to take the oral exam for the foreign service, she received a letter informing her that the loss of her leg disqualified her from obtaining the position.

Though disappointed, she continued onward in the next available direction.

Hall volunteered for the British Special Operations Executive (SOE), which trained her in firearms, communications, and resistance.

During her career with the SOE and later the US Office of Strategic Services (OSS — the predecessor to the CIA) Hall aided prisoners of war, recruited French agents to run safe houses, and supported resistance groups from Germany controlled France.

Hall’s talent for espionage landed her on the top of the Gestapo’s most wanted list.

The British eventually forced her to leave France due to a long line of vicious men who desperately wanted to kill her.

Despite Hall’s pleading, the British would not send her back.

Undeterred, Hall turned to the OSS, which agreed to return her to France.

Not only did Hall persevere, she exhibited sheer, unshakable courage. How many of us would demand we be sent back to a location where one of the most notoriously brutal militaries of all time wanted us dead?

During her second stint in France, Nazi forces moved in on her location forcing her to retreat to the French mountains.

She traversed grueling terrain on her wooden leg for three days before escaping to Spain.

After her escape, Hall continued to serve with the OSS and its successor, the CIA, until 1966, when she retired at the age of 60.

She received numerous awards for her service throughout her career and the CIA recently dedicated a training center in her name.

Hall was one of a few dozen women in the clandestine service in the early days of the OSS. Her outstanding service opened the door for women to the intelligence field.

Now approximately half of the CIA’s workforce is comprised of women, and thanks to the legacy of daring women like Hall, many work in operational capacities.

There is no three-step process to become daring. It is not that simple. None of the things in life worth having ever are.

We can all look to examples like Hall when we experience setbacks in our lives, or when considering new adventures. To hold ourselves up to the measuring stick of an average person who lived an above average life.

Doing so reminds us that we too can be daring. It doesn’t take a superhero to do something worthwhile. It just takes a little bit of courage.

And a lot of action.

Featured image courtesy of cia.gov.

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