Nancy Wake.

A name unknown to most Kiwis, yet she stands alongside Charles Upham as one of the truly legendary Kiwi war heroes - one which we'll happily share with Aussie, seeing that she moved there as a toddler.

No Florence Nightingale or backroom girl, Nancy undertook probably the single most hazardous role in WWII - an agent for the Special Operations Executive, acting as liaison between French Resistance and London.

Not for Nancy, a period in a prison camp if she was caught; instead, a prolonged period of torture and and ignominious death by firing squad.

The most decorated servicewoman of WWII, Nancy Wake is a true legend - and one far too few Kiwis are even aware of. Like Phar Lap, she moved to Aussie early on and became Australian property, but she was Wellington's finest daughter and deserves her place in Kiwi immortality.

To read about her life and heroism, try:

The RSA

The Aussie perspective with the ABC

An American perspective with the award of the American Medal of Freedom

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