Code Name Pauline by Pearl Witherington Cornioley is an autobiographical
account of one woman’s life. The book
centers on Pearl’s life as a secret agent in France during WWII. Code Name Pauline was constructed from
interviews with Pearl. Code Name Pauline
is about the unsung heroes of World War II.
These unsung heroes are firstly, women who, like Pearl, worked undercover
in France, which had been invaded by Germany and the Nazis. Secondly, some other unsung heroes are the
Frenchmen who were part of the French resistance.
Women who worked undercover in
France during WWII were unsung heroes.
During WWII France was basically the battle ground for all of the
fighting. Women risked their lives going
undercover in France to fight the Nazis.
And yet, women weren't given the awards or recognition that men took for
granted. For example, in the book in
order to get into France, you had to parachute in. Women practiced twice before parachuting in,
while men practiced parachute jumping three times. At the end of the war, all of those who
parachuted got medals. You got wings
with your medal if you parachuted, at minimum, four times. This was done on purpose so that men got a
level of honor that women couldn't achieve.
Not only did women not get fully
recognized for their contributions to WWII, but resistance fighters didn't
either. Resistance fighters were French men
and women who weren't in the French army, but they were essential in the fight
against the Nazis. Because the
resistance fighters weren't in the army, they didn't get the recognition they
deserved. An example of this is the fact
that the army didn't recognize the resistance fighters as a real force that fought
the Nazis. According to Pearl, because of
this at the end of the war, the resistance fighters got barely any money for
their efforts, even though some of them lost everything they had because of
what they did. Pearl had to fight to get
them money, and even then, she only got a little bit more money for a small portion of resistance fighters.
In conclusion, Code Name
Pearl is about the unsung heroes in France during WWII. Some of these unsung heroes were, women who
went undercover in the invaded France and risked their lives, yet because of
their gender, they weren't respected.
Some other of these unsung heroes were the resistance fighters in
France, who fought for their country, but weren't recognized by the army. All in all, there were many unsung heroes in
WWII.
