Nickname(s) JuJu Name Julienne Aisner | Years of service 1943-1944 Unit "Farrier" | |
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Birth name Julienne Marie Louise Simart Died February 15, 1947, Paris, France Service/branch | ||
Julienne Marie Louise Aisner (née Simart; 30 December 1899 — 15 February 1947) was a World War II resistance agent, working with the Special Operations Executive (SOE).
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Biography
Aisner was born in Anglure, near Troyes. Her father was a gendarme.
She married Lieutenant M. Lauler of the USMC in 1924. They had a son and lived in the United States, Lebanon and Hanoi. Her husband died in 1927 after only three years of marriage, and she finally returned to France in 1933, where she worked as a scriptwriter at a film studio. She married Robert Aisner in 1935, but they were divorced in 1941.
Aisner was recruited by Henri Déricourt, a friend of her former husband, to work with the SOE in Paris in February 1943. Her role was to find safe houses for SOE agents to live and operate from.
By April 1943 the situation in France had changed and Déricourt arranged for an RAF plane to take Aisner to England, where she joined the Women's Transport Service (FANY) for training with SOE. Having completed her training, she returned to France in a Westland Lysander aircraft with fellow female SOE operative Vera Leigh on the night of the 14/15 May 1943.
She worked alongside Déricourt, Maurice Rémy Clement, and wireless operator André Watt, as courier for the Farrier circuit, which organised clandestine aircraft landings.
Having completed her mission she returned to England on 6 April 1944 with Jean Besnard. On 27 April 1944, Aisner and Besnard were married in Marylebone Registry Office, London.
Death
She died in Paris from cancer on 15 February 1947, aged 47.
Awards
She was awarded the King's Commendation for Brave Conduct from the United Kingdom.