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A veteran interview with

Mildred Schutz

Mildred Schutz was in a reserved occupation when she joined the FANY in 1941. Initially she served as a civilian secretary at SOE HQ on Baker Street.

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About Mildred Schutz

Mildred Schultz recalls how she grew up on a farm and went to school in Walton-on-Thames. She attended a business college in Kingston and from there worked at a shipping company in Cobham. Even though her job was protected, she volunteered and joined the Inter-Services Research Bureau. She explains how she went to work at S.O.E. (Special Operations Executive) headquarters in Baker Street London, realising she was working for the resistance movement, reading and destroying reports.

Asked if she would travel abroad, Mildred said ‘yes’ and undertook FANY (First Aid Nursing Yeomanry) training at Chicheley Hall in Bedfordshire. From here she was sent to Italy for further training on a boat and describes how they were pursued by U-boats, bombed and machine gunned. In Italy she became the PA to the man in charge of maps and equipment, and then worked as an assistant to the Admin Captain Amos. She recalls spending a snowy Christmas in Monopoli and then onto Siena to the Headquarters of Number 1 Special Force, taking a perilous jeep journey up a mountain road with boulders near the front-line with guns aimed at them.

On a lighter note, Mildred remembers a makeshift Christmas service under a derelict chapel with many nationalities, some of whom had escaped from Prisoner of War camps, and also Germans who had escaped and given up, all singing carols together.

Credits

Interviewed by:
Martyn Cox
Reviewed by:
Vicky Barnes

Transcripts:
Please note that transcripts and closed captions in the video player are automatically generated by Vimeo.

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Home | Veterans | Mildred Schutz

A veteran interview with

Mildred Schutz

Mildred-Schutz-1

Mildred Schutz was in a reserved occupation when she joined the FANY in 1941. Initially she served as a civilian secretary at SOE HQ on Baker Street.

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Cite this interview:

MLA Style:
Schutz, Mildred. A Veteran Interview with Mildred Schutz. Interview by Martyn Cox. Legasee, n.d. https://www.legasee.org.uk/veteran/mildred-schutz/. Accessed 15 Jul. 2025.
APA Style:
Schutz, M. (n.d.). A Veteran Interview with Mildred Schutz [Interview by Martyn Cox]. Legasee. Retrieved July 15, 2025, from https://www.legasee.org.uk/veteran/mildred-schutz/
Chicago Style:
Schutz, Mildred. n.d.. A Veteran Interview with Mildred Schutz. Interview by Martyn Cox. Legasee. Accessed July 15, 2025. https://www.legasee.org.uk/veteran/mildred-schutz/
Harvard Style:
Schutz, M. (n.d.). A Veteran Interview with Mildred Schutz. [Interviewed by Martyn Cox]. Legasee. Available at https://www.legasee.org.uk/veteran/mildred-schutz/ (Accessed: 15 July 2025)
Vancouver Style:
Schutz, M. A Veteran Interview with Mildred Schutz [Internet]. Interview by M. Cox. Legasee; n.d. [cited 2025 Jul 15]. Available from: https://www.legasee.org.uk/veteran/mildred-schutz/
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