Career
Born as Andrée Marthe Virot, when broke out she was running a beauty salon in the Breton port of Brest, France. After the German invasion she joined the resistance and was involved in distributing secret newspapers but was later appointed head of an under-section of the resistance. She and her team used torches to guide allied planes to improvised landing strips and helped airmen who had landed in France to escape onto submarines and gunboats, saving the lives of more than one hundred soldiers and airmen, and aided more than 20,000 people.
She was arrested in Paris in 1944 and sent to the Ravensbrück concentration camp.
She was later transferred to the concentration camp at Buchenwald before her eventual release. During this time she also survived meningitis.
She was being lined up to be shot by firing squad at Buchenwald when the United States Army arrived to liberate the prisoners. The couple had no children.
While living in Long Ashton, Andrée received many visits from admirers and also managed to relieve the pain of visitors who had injuries.
Her autobiography, Miracles Do Happen,, was published in French as Miracles Existent! (English version translated by Evelyn Scott Brown). lieutenant has been made into a film by William Ennals.