Silkkiuikku: During WW2 Josephine Baker worked as a French Resistance agent. As an entertainer, Baker had an excuse for moving around Europe, visiting neutral nations. She carried information for transmission to England, about airfields, harbors, and German troop concentrations in the West of France. Notes were written in invisible ink on Baker’s sheet music.
Later in 1941, Baker and her entourage went to the French colonies in North Africa. The stated reason was Baker’s health (since she was recovering from another case of pneumonia) but the real reason was to continue helping the Resistance. She pinned notes with the information she gathered inside her underwear, counting on her celebrity to avoid a strip search.
In Morocco Baker suffered a miscarriage. She developed an infection so severe it required a hysterectomy. The infection spread and she developed peritonitis and then septicemia. After her recovery (which she continued to fall in and out of), she started touring to entertain British, French, and American soldiers in North Africa.
After the war, she received the *Croix de guerre* and the *Rosette de la Résistance* military awards. She was made a Chevalier of the Légion d’honneur by General Charles de Gaulle.
Lieutenant Jospehine Baker remains the only American-born woman to receive full French military honors at her funeral.
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Some time ago I posted a photo of Josephine Baker in France, [posing with her awards](https://www.reddit.com/r/HistoryPorn/comments/6w50pb/josephine_baker_posing_with_the_military_awards/). I thought this was an interesting addition.
Whaddaya Say?