Susan Travers

Susan Mary Gillian Travers (23 September 1909 – 18 December 2003) was a British nurse and ambulance driver who served in the French Red Cross during the Second World War. She later became the only woman to be enlisted in the French Foreign Legion, having also served in French Indochina, during the First Indochina War. Early life Travers was born in Kensington and spent her early years in England, the daughter of Francis Eaton Travers, a Royal Navy Admiral, and his wife Eleanor Catherine. World War II At the outbreak of World War 2, Travers joined the French Red Cross as a nurse. Later, she became an ambulance driver with the French Expeditionary Force in Finland in 1939. After the fall of France, she went to London and joined the Free French under de Gaulle. In 1942, she drove a medical doctor of the 1st Free French Division during Operation Exporter in Syria and Lebanon, during which the Allied forces invaded and seized Syria and Lebanon from the Vichy French. She served in the 13th Demi-Brigade of the Foreign Legion as a driver for the medical officer, where she gained the nickname "la Miss". The 13th Demi-Brigade was incorporated into the 1st Brigade of the 1st Free French Division, commanded by Colonel Marie-Pierre Kœnig. Travers was assigned as the driver to Kœnig. They became lovers.