Madeleine Lavigne

Lavigne parachuted into the Saône-et-Loire Department of France near Taizé on May 23, 1944 and worked as a wireless operator and a courier for the Silversmith network (or circuit).

Born Madeleine Rejeuny, the daughter of a fabric designer, she married Marcel Lavigne when she was 19 years old and had two children, Guy and Noel.

[2] Lavigne worked in the town hall of Lyon and her first job with the French Resistance was producing false identity cards and other documents needed by SOE agents and allied airmen shot down over France and attempting to escape capture by the Germans.

Along with several other compromised SOE agents they were evacuated by a British military aircraft air from a field near Angers to England on February 4.

For the next several months she worked as a courier delivering messages and arranging with SOE in London for air drops of weapons and supplies to the French resistance.

[6] Lavigne was described in official documents, possibly by Borosh, as "a most courageous and tactful woman, who rendered great service to the cause...She did her job unquestionably well...a great-hearted lady for whom I have much respect and liking.