Fearless Facts About Virginia Hall, WWII Super Spy
Move over James Bond. Step aside, Ethan Hunt. There’s a new super spy in town. Virginia Hall was the real-world spy whose daring adventures behind enemy lines during WWII helped guarantee an Allied victory.
She gathered valuable information, rescued downed airmen, and staged daring prison escapes. And on top of that? She did it all with only one good leg.
1. She Was Unassuming
Virginia Hall was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1906. At first, there was no indication that little Virginia would go on to lead one of the most adventurous lives of the 20th century.
Her own mother expected her to become a dutiful wife and raise multiple children. But beneath her unassuming exterior were all the makings of a daring master spy.
2. She Was Dangerous
The adventurous Virginia Hall would go on to become a thorn in the side of the Axis Forces. In fact, at the height of WWII, the German forces of the Third Reich considered Hall to be “the most dangerous of all Allied spies” and hunted her down relentlessly. Hall would need a whole of gumption and a little bit of luck to escape with her life.
3. She Was Fluent In Intelligence
After graduating from high school, Virginia studied languages at Columbia University. She became fluent in French, German, and Italian—it’s almost like she knew what lay ahead.
Hall got a small taste of adventure when she took up a post as a clerk at the American Embassy in Warsaw, Poland. She had no idea how perfectly positioned she was for the coming storm.
4. She Had A Bad Trip
Ironically, Hall’s first brush with actual danger came well before the onset of WWII. In 1933, she went on a hunting trip to Izmir, Turkey, where she suffered an accident that would shape the rest of her life. Hall tripped while hunting birds and accidentally shot her own left foot. She took it all in “stride” though.
