In 1932, a 23-year-old Polish mathematician named Marian Rejewski accomplished what every intelligence service in Europe had tried and failed to do: he broke the German Enigma cipher machine. Using pure mathematics — specifically permutation group theory — Rejewski mathematically deduced the interna…
RAF pilot Douglas Bader lost both of his legs in a 1931 aerobatic accident and was medically discharged. When WWII broke out, he fought to be reinstated — and was, against all odds, given command of a fighter squadron. With his artificial legs, he flew combat missions, shot down 22 enemy aircraft, a…
In 1932, 23-year-old Polish mathematician Marian Rejewski used permutation theory to reverse-engineer the German Enigma machine without ever seeing one. He built replica machines, cracked daily key settings, and created the Bomba. In July 1939 he handed all research to British intelligence inKabacki…
When the bombs fell on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Navy Nurse Lieutenant Ann Bernice 'Bernie' O'Hara was on duty at the Naval Hospital. She immediately began treating the wounded — soldiers with shrapnel wounds, severe burns, and traumatic injuries. She worked for 18 continuous hours without r…
Before WWII, Vera Atkins was a Romanian-born librarian and socialite who spoke four languages and had a photographic memory. She joined SOE's French Section as an intelligence officer and personally recruited and managed 39 agents sent into occupied France — 13 of whom were women, highly unusual for…
Rabbi David Feuerwerker was the rabbi of Brive-la-Gaillarde in occupied France. From his rabbinical post, he organized an underground network that saved hundreds of Jewish children. He personally smuggled children to safety in monasteries, farms, and convents throughout the Limousin region. When the…