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
Noor Inayat-Khan was born on the 1st of January 1914 in Moscow, to a noble Indian Muslim father and an American mother. The family moved to France in 1920 but fled to England in 1940 following the German invasion.
Noor joined the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), learning wireless operating skills, before being recruited by the Special Operations Executive (SOE) F (French) section in 1942.
Noor became the first female radio operator sent to France by the SOE. Landing in June 1943 she made her way to Paris, where many wireless operators were quickly captured, but Noor avoided capture until 1st October 1943.
Noor was moved to a German prison in November 1943, where despite solitary confinement, and likely torture, she revealed nothing. On the 13th of September 1944 at Dachau concentration Camp alongside three other female SOE agents, Noor was executed. She was 30 years old.
Noor was posthumously awarded the George Cross, one of only three women ever to receive it. The citation, published in the London Gazette on 5th April 1949 reads:
Assistant Section Officer Nora Inayat-Khan was the first woman operator to be sent into enemy-occupied France … immediately following her arrival, the Gestapo made mass arrests among the Paris Resistance Groups … She refused to abandon what had become the most important and dangerous post in France … she was betrayed to the Gestapo … but … gave them no information of any kind … she was sent to Germany … where again she refused to give any information … On 13th September 1944 she was taken with three others to Dachau concentration camp, where … she was … shot … Inayat-Khan displayed the most conspicuous courage, both moral and physical …
Noor has no known grave; she is remembered on Panel 243 of the Runnymede Memorial in Surrey.
Exploring some of the memorials with South Asian connections at the year-round centre for Remembrance.
An aviation enthusiast’s special mission to honour a Second World War agent in occupied France.
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 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
