Jeannette Guyot


Jeannette Guyot was a French Resistance operative who went on to become one of the Second World War's most decorated women. She is one of only two women to hold the American Distinguished Service Cross obtained during the war. She participated in Pathfinder Mission of Operation Sussex.

Biography

Jeannette Guyot was born on February 26, 1919, in Chalon-sur-Saône. Her father was a wood merchant and mother a seamstress. In the 1940s her family joined the resistance but soon after both her parents were deported. While her father died in deportation, her mother was repatriated. Jeannette Guyot's first involvement in a clandestine network involved exfiltrating agents and civilians to the free zone. Soon after, in 1941 she became a liaison officer for Gilbert Renault. In 1942 she was arrested and sent to prison for three months. The Germans could prove no charges against her and she was set free.
Guyot carried on her work after release, but due to the Germans closing in, the RAF picked her up in a rescue mission. On reaching England, she officially enlisted in the Free French Forces under the name Jeannette Gauthier. She was one of 120 volunteers to be trained in St Albans by the Secret Intelligence Service and Office of Strategic Services officers who would go on to be a part of Operation Sussex. In 1944 she got her parachute wings. Her first mission was "Pathfinder" and as part of Operation Calanque, with three other French officers, she was parachuted into Europe and helped find many dropping zones and about a hundred safe houses for Operation Sussex agents. She chose the Cafe du Reseau Sussex as one such safe house because the owner, Andree Goubillon, was a friend of hers whose husband had been taken prisoner.
After France was freed from Nazi occupation, Guyot was given desk duties by the French Intelligence Service. Soon after, in June 1945 she retired. She married Marcel Gaucher, another Sussex agent. They had three children. She died on April 10, 2016.

Distinctions