I enjoy the opportunity to insert historical figures into my stories. The Widow & The War Correspondent features three real people who lived and served during WWII:
Winston Churchill: Born of an American mother and British father, Churchill became prime minister after a call for division (effectively a vote of no confidence) in Neville Chamberlain’s government. He joined the British Army at the age of 21 and saw action in British India, the Anglo-Sudan War, and the Second Boer War. He wrote books about his campaigns and earned fame as a war correspondent. He became an MP (Member of Parliament) at 25 years of age. During World War I, he rejoined the military and was appointed commander of the 6th Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers.
Martha Gellhorn: One of the 127 certified female war correspondents during World War II. Born in 1908, she became aware of civic issues early on: participating in a women’s suffrage rally at the tender age of eight years old. She left college to begin her career as a journalist with her first published articles appearing in The New Republic. A desire to become a foreign correspondent took her to Paris with the United Press. Gellhorn had a close friendship with Eleanor Roosevelt and lived in the White House during the early years of FDR’s presidency helping the First Lady write her “My Day” column. She met author Ernest Hemingway in 1936, and the couple traveled to Spain where she covered the Spanish Civil War. She traveled to Europe in the spring of 1938 and reported the war from such locations as Finland, Hong Kong, Burma, Singapore, and England. Because women were not allowed in combat zones, she did not have the credentials to accompany the troops to the Normandy landings. Undeterred, Gellhorn hid in a hospital ship bathroom, and upon landing impersonated a stretcher bearer. I have no proof of when Gellhorn was in England when Cora was, but I don’t have proof that she wasn’t either!
Rita Hayworth: Born Margarita Carmen Cansino in Brooklyn, New York, Rita got her start dancing. (Her mother danced with the Ziegfield Follies, and her grandfather was a famous classical Spanish dancer.) After being seen by a movie executive while dancing at a club in Hollywood, she signed on with Fox Film Corporation at the age of 16. She eventually moved to Columbia Pictures where she changed her name to Rita Hayworth because her image was “too Mediterranean.” A popular pin-up girl, Hayworth did extensive service during World War II, from donating the bumpers from her car for scrap to volunteering at the Hollywood Canteen where she served food and danced with servicemen. She also volunteered in the Naval Aid Auxiliary and traveled thousands of miles conducting war bond rallies.