The National Memorial Arboretum
Exploring some of the memorials with South Asian connections at the year-round centre for Remembrance.
© South Asian Heritage Trust | All Rights Reserved
In 2021 I was awarded a Flying Scholarship from the British Women Pilots’ Association (BWPA), inviting an aviation enthusiast to carry out a ‘special mission’. With the sponsor as 624squadron.com – a website remembering 624 (Special Duties) Squadron – I immediately sought to link my scholarship flight to the Special Operations Executive (SOE).
That calls to my mind the name Noor-un-Nisa Inayat Khan.
I first learned about Noor whilst working at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC). My favourite CWGC site is Runnymede Air Forces Memorial. I adore its quiet contemplative setting of modernist cloisters in white stone. Being ex-Royal Air Force myself, it means a great deal to me to visit, and I’m amazed that I didn’t know of its existence until I worked for CWGC. It’s here that I first learned about Noor, and traced her name carved in stone with pride. Her own special mission took her to a field in France, code-named Indigestion, near the city of Angers. She was the first female wireless operator to be sent to France by the SOE and transmitted vital intelligence back to Britain. As a qualified pilot, I decided to honour Noor’s final flight into danger, and to lay a wreath in her memory.
Brave Noor was flown to France in a Lysander aircraft from RAF Tempsford to a field near Angers, in June 1943. Accompanied by a friend and fellow pilot, I flew from Rougham, a USAF airfield now sadly closed, in a PA-28 aircraft. We crossed the Channel, landing at Le Toque to clear customs, and from there flew on to Angers. In the pleasant evening sun, I laid a simple wreath at the town war memorial at Place du Général Leclerc. I read a Sufi prayer for peace: “Send Thy peace O Lord, our Father and Mother, that we Thy children on Earth may all unite in one family.”
Remembrance can be an action. My personal pilgrimage in retracing Noor’s journey is helping to keep her memory alive. I feel lucky to have had this opportunity to do an ambitious flight, going beyond what I have done before. It was especially poignant to return home, as Noor could not. In October 1943, working undercover in Paris, Noor was betrayed and captured by the Gestapo. She refused to reveal any information. Along with four other female agents, she was executed in September 1944, in Dachau Concentration Camp. Her final word before being shot was “Liberté”. She has no known resting place, but her name lives on through memorials and those who are inspired by her.
Account by Fiona Smith, Senior Philanthropy Manager at The Royal British Legion
To read more about Noor’s story of service, click here
Exploring some of the memorials with South Asian connections at the year-round centre for Remembrance.
The Indian Army Memorial Room stands as a tribute to the rich history and enduring spirit of the Indian soldiers of the British Indian Army.
The story behind the tribute to commemorate the service of Sikh members of the Armed Forces.
The Chattri Memorial honours the 53 men (37 Hindu and 16 Sikh) of the Indian Army who died of their wounds and illnesses obtained whilst serving on the Western Front from 1914 to 1915.
The first of the Trust’s projects is the South Asian Heritage Month (SAHM), which first took place in 2020 and runs from the 18th of July to the 17th of August each year.
SAHM seeks to commemorate, mark and celebrate South Asian cultures, histories, and communities.
It seeks to understand the diverse heritage and cultures that continue to link the UK with South Asia.
© South Asian Heritage Trust | All Rights Reserved
