Virginia Hall
| Virginia Hall | |
|---|---|
Virginia Hall receiving the Distinguished Service Cross in 1945 from OSS chief General Donovan
|
|
| Allegiance |
 United States United Kingdom Free France
|
| Service |
SOE (1940–44) OSS (1944–45) CIA (SAD) (1951–66) |
| Active | 1940–1966 |
| Operation(s) | Operation Jedburgh |
| Award(s) |
Member of the Order of the British Empire Distinguished Service Cross |
| Codename(s) | Diane |
| Marie Monin | |
| Germaine | |
| Marie of Lyon | |
| Camille | |
| Nicolas | |
| Other work |
US Department of State (1931–39) |
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|
|
| Birth name | Virginia Hall |
| Born |
April 6, 1906 Baltimore, Maryland |
| Died | July 8, 1982 (aged 76) Rockville, Maryland |
| Cause of death |
natural |
| Buried | Pikesville, Maryland |
| Nationality |
American |
| Parents |
|
| Spouse | Paul Gaston Goillot |
| Alma mater |
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Virginia Hall Goillot MBE (6 April 1906 – 8 July 1982) was an American spy with the British Special Operations Executive during World War II and later with the American Office of Strategic Services and the Special Activities Division of the Central Intelligence Agency. She was known by many aliases, including "Marie Monin", "Germaine", "Diane", "Marie of Lyon", "Camille", and "Nicolas". The Germans gave her the nickname Artemis. The Gestapo reportedly considered her "the most dangerous of all Allied spies".
Hall was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the daughter of Barbara Virginia Hammel and Edwin Lee Hall. She attended Roland Park Country School and then the prestigious Radcliffe College and Barnard College (Columbia University), where she studied French, Italian and German. She wanted to finish her studies in Europe. With help from her parents, she travelled the Continent and studied in France, Germany, and Austria, finally landing an appointment as a Consular Service clerk at the American Embassy in Warsaw, Poland in 1931. Hall had hoped to join the Foreign Service, but suffered a setback around 1932 when she accidentally shot herself in the left leg while hunting in Turkey. The leg was later amputated from the knee down, and replaced with a wooden appendage which she named "Cuthbert". The injury foreclosed whatever chance she might have had for a diplomatic career, and she resigned from the Department of State in 1939. Thereafter she attended graduate school at American University in Washington, DC.
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