Ruth Mitchell

Ruth Mitchell
Ruth Mitchell in 1943
Born	1888 Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Died	1969 Belas, Portugal
Occupation	Reporter, author
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Vassar College
Years active	ca. 1938–1955
Spouse	(1) William Van Ryneveld Van Breda (2) Stanley Knowles (3) Benjamin H. Jackson
Children	John Lendrum Van Breda Ruth Van Breda
Relatives	Alexander Mitchell (grandfather) John Lendrum Mitchell (father) Billy Mitchell (brother)

Ruth Mitchell (ca. 1888-1969) was a reporter who was the only American woman to serve with the Serbian Chetnik under Draža Mihailović in World War II. She was captured by the Gestapo and spent a year as a prisoner of war, later writing a book about her experiences. She also wrote a book about one of her brothers, General Billy Mitchell, who is regarded as the founder of the U.S. Air Force.

Ruth Mitchell was born around 1888 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the daughter of Harriet Danforth (Becker) Mitchell and John Lendrum Mitchell, who a few years later would become a U.S. congressman and senator. Her grandfather was the wealthy banker and railroad tycoon Alexander Mitchell. She had two sisters and two brothers: William (known as Billy), who became a general, and John, a World War I aviator who died flying over France in 1917.

She was educated at Milwaukee Downer College and then at Vassar College.

Mitchell was married three times but always preferred to use her birth name. Her first husband was William Van Ryneveld Van Breda, and with him she had two children: John Lendrum Van Breda (b. 1914) and Ruth Van Breda. John joined the Royal Air Force during World War II and was killed in action in Egypt in May 1941. This marriage was ended by William Van Breda's death.

Mitchell's second husband was Stanley Knowles, a British public school teacher who was stationed in Albania as a diplomat during World War II. They separated in the early 1930s, and in 1943 Mitchell went to Reno, Nevada, to get a divorce.

In May 1944, Mitchell married Benjamin H. Jackson of Idaho, who worked in the mining industry.

Although Mitchell inherited enough money not to have to work, she had an adventurous temperament. An article about her in 1955 described her as one of the "pioneer women airplane pilots," though it is uncertain when or where she learned this skill.

After the death of her first husband, Mitchell took up photography and writing. In 1938, she was sent to the Balkans by the Illustrated London News as a reporter to cover the marriage of King Zog of Albania. She ended up staying in Europe for four years and was based out of Belgrade, Yugoslavia, when it was bombed and then invaded by Axis powers in April 1941.