Paddy O'Sullivan

Who was Paddy O'Sullivan?

Maureen Patricia "Paddy" O'Sullivan was a member of the Special Operations Executive during World War II and worked as a wireless operator for the French Section.

Born in Dublin, Ireland in 1918, the daughter of John Aloysius O'Sullivan, an Irish journalist and a German mother, Johanna Repen, who died when Paddy was only 15 months old, she began her schooling at St Louis Convent in Dublin. At the age of seven she was sent to live with an aunt in Belgium. There she attended convent school in Coutrai and then the Athenée Royale in Ostend.

At the beginning of the war she was a nurse working at Highgate Hospital in London. She joined the WAAF on 7 July 1941, as an Aircraft Handler General Duties, and was later promoted to Section officer.

After joining the SOE, Paddy parachuted into Limoges on 23 March 1944. The weather was extremely foggy and the pilot suggested that they return to England, but Paddy was determined and she jumped. Landing heavily, she was temporarily concussed, but always said her life was saved by the 2 million francs strapped to her back. Paddy's alias was Micheline Marcelle Simonet and her cover story was that she was a 'dame de compagnie' of a doctor in Paris, where she helped the doctor in the surgery as well as with his children; she was taking one month's leave to look for a lost Belgian parent in the Creuse area.