Wake, a former self-described party girl who became an avowed Nazi hater, died one week ago in London. The native-born New Zealander is credited with saving "hundreds of Allied soldiers and downed airmen between 1940 and 1943 by escorting them through occupied France to safety in Spain," according to the NYTs. She had received Britain and the United States' highest civilian honors, and France had bestowed her with its highest military honor, the Legion d’Honneur.

The New York Times's colorful obituary on Wake says her metamorphosis from bon vivant to freedom fighter came after she visited Vienna in the mid-30s as a freelance journalist. There, she witnessed German police "randomly beating Jewish men and women in the streets," birthing in her a "hatred of the Nazis [that] was very, very deep.”

In the early 40s, as the wife of a Marsailles industrialist, Wake helped escort Allied soldiers and refugees around occupied France. When she was found out, she fled and her husband was eventually arrested and executed. She then was accepted into the British Special Operations Executive, and was among 39 women and 430 men parachuted into France to prepare for D-Day. She helped hide caches of weapons and ammunition for advancing allied troops, "set up wireless communication with England and harassed the enemy."

“I was never afraid,” she once said. “I was too busy to be afraid.”