Suzanne David Hall

Suzanne David Hall (January 23, 1927 - July 7, 2011) ) was spy for the French resistance during World War II while still a teenager.^[1] During her training to become an opera singer, she relayed messages that helped bring about the Allied invasion of Normandy. The 2003 novel For Freedom: The Story of a French Spy by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley was based on interviews with Hall.^[2]

Biography

Hall was born on January 23, 1927 in Cherbourg, France to Étienne and Désirée LeDoux David.

According to Bradley's book, Hall's conviction to fight for France began on the day she and her best friend Yvette, went down to the beach. There they met Yvette's mother's friend, Madame Montagne, and the beach was bombed. After the missiles ceased, Yvette and Suzanne looked up to find Madame Montagne lying dead. It was Wednesday, 29 May 1940. Hall was thirteen years old at the time.

The Germans forced Hall and her family to move out of their house and into a dingy apartment.

Two years later, she had to see her doctor, a Mr. Leclerc, about an abscess. As she was with her voice teacher at the time, Mr. Leclerc asked if she traveled much for her opera singing. When she replied that she did, the doctor asked if she would like to be a spy for the French Resistance.

Hall never told her name to any of the other spies. To them, she was spy number 22, the 22nd spy in Cherbourg, where she lived.

When she was seventeen, Suzanne Hall was captured by the Germans. She was interrogated for hours, but she never confessed. She was saved when the Allies landed nearby in 1944.

Soon afterward, she found out from another captured spy, number 14, that all of the others had confessed and been killed. Dr. Leclerc and his family had been shot in the street. For her brave service during the war, Hall was awarded the Croix de Lorraine by General Charles de Gaulle.^[3]

Hall married Larson Hall and had a son and daughter. ^[4]

She died on July 7, 2011 in Kingsport, Tennessee after having lived there for 64 years. ^[5]

References