Home | Veterans | Mildred Schutz
Mildred-Schutz-1

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.

Play video
Watch the interview

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.

Copyright:
All video content, web site design, graphics, images (including submitted content), text, the selection and arrangement thereof, underlying source code, software and all other material on this Web site are the copyright of Legasee Educational Trust, and its affiliates, or their content and technology providers. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Any use of materials on this Web site – including reproduction for purposes other than those noted above, modification, distribution, or republication – without the prior written permission of Legasee Educational Trust is strictly prohibited.

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.

Related topics & talking points

Keep on watching

More veteran stories...

Share this interview on:

https://www.legasee.org.uk/veteran/mildred-schutz/

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 13 Jun. 2026.
APA Style:
Schutz, M. (n.d.). A Veteran Interview with Mildred Schutz [Interview by Martyn Cox]. Legasee. Retrieved June 13, 2026, 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 June 13, 2026. 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: 13 June 2026)
Vancouver Style:
Schutz, M. A Veteran Interview with Mildred Schutz [Internet]. Interview by M. Cox. Legasee; n.d. [cited 2026 Jun 13]. Available from: https://www.legasee.org.uk/veteran/mildred-schutz/
An interview with

Noreen Riols

Noreen recalls her experiences of missions as an agent in F Section of the Special Operations Executive

Born in Malta, Noreen travelled widely due to her father being in the Royal Navy and developed a gift for languages. Noreen begins her recollections leaving the French Lycée school in London at eighteen to be interviewed at the Foreign Office and being asked to report to S.O.E. (Special Operations Executive) leader Colonel Buckmaster at Norgeby House in Baker Street. From there she met Captain Harry Ree at Montagu Mansions and was instructed to tell nobody about what she would be involved in going forward. She recalls being sent to Lord Montague’s finishing school at Beaulieu in the New Forest, training in intelligence gathering and being used as a decoy. Joining the French speaking F Section in the S.O.E. she tells riveting stories about her work as an agent, losing enemy agents in a crowd, and trying to extract information from them at various parties. She explains passing messages by dropping newspapers and speaking without moving her lips. Noreen later recalls meeting famous characters throughout WW2 including agents Kim Philby, Paul Dehn, cryptologist Leo Marks and intelligence officer Vera Atkins. She also describes the ‘drop’ when a Lysander aircraft would fly an agent into enemy territory, the heartbreak if they didn’t return, and the relationships she formed even with their shielded identities.
Service:
Interviewed by:
Martyn Cox
An interview with

Daphne Park

Daphne Park, Baroness Park of Monmouth, was a distinguished British intelligence officer

Daphne Margaret Sybil Désirée Park, Baroness Park of Monmouth, joined the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY) in 1943 and caught the attention of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) due to her cipher skills. Promoted to sergeant, she trained operatives for Operation Jedburgh, supporting the Resistance in Europe. Despite a demotion, Daphne served as a Briefing Officer, working with French soldiers before D-Day. Major-General Sir Colin McVean Gubbins ensured she became a commissioned officer. Post-war, she joined the Field Intelligence Agency Technical British Intelligence Objective Sub-Committee in Frankfurt and Berlin. Daphne recalls various incidents, including her time in a jail, using food for intelligence, and training challenges. She discusses the SOE hierarchy, the notable secret agent Dennis Rake, and colleagues like Leopold Marks and the Gamble sisters. Daphne's remarkable service continued with MI6. She passed away on March 24, 2010.
Service:
Interviewed by:
Martyn Cox