Muriel Byck

Muriel Byck was posthumously Mentioned in Despatches for her conduct, and she is commemorated on the Knightsbridge and Valençay memorials as well as the war memorial at the Lycee Francais in Kensington. A plaque in her memory, with an unusual Hebrew inscription from the Book of Joshua, was unveiled on the wall of the house where she lived in Torquay for some years, in 2014, by The Torbay Civic Society and AJEX, represented by historian Martin Sugarman. She is also named on the war memorial on Torquay promenade. Muriel's long lost colour tinted photograph, and her sweetheart WAAF badge (both kept by her mother after Muriel died) were discovered at the home of her mother's friend, Mrs Krish, who had been bequeathed them in Mrs Byck's will; Mrs Krish died in London in 2013 and the items were donated to the Jewish Military Museum in Camden. Apparently, Mrs Byck ordered Muriel's medals destroyed after her death; they have never been seen in any case.

After three aborted attempts to fly from Tempsford airfield, Byck parachuted into France on the night of 8/9 April 1944 with three other SOE agents: Captain Stanisław Makowski, Captain C. S. Hudson - who was her CO until de Vomecourt arrived by plane - and Captain G. D. Jones. She worked on the SOE Ventriloquist Circuit as the wireless operator and to train any wireless operators recruited locally and inform London with the details about these new recruits so they could be given code names and status. Byck was additionally tasked with establishing post-boxes for contact should wireless transmission break down. Her codename was Violette.

Byck worked long hours as a wireless operator, so fatigue was expected. However, when she collapsed at the blacksmith's house and lost consciousness, she required urgent medical attention. De Vomécourt took her to a doctor known to the resistance; he diagnosed meningitis and told them that hospitalisation was her only chance. This posed a problem as the Germans kept a check on hospital admissions and scrutinised the papers of all people entering. The cover story devised was that Byck and de Vomécourt (as her uncle) were evacuees from Paris. Byck was admitted to the hospital in Romorantin, now Romorantin-Lanthenay, which was run by nuns. She was given a lumbar puncture, but died shortly afterward on 23 May 1944, aged 25.

Muriel joined the WAAF in December 1942 as a General Duties clerk (Service number 2071428) working in the records office, later being promoted to the rank of Section officer. As she spoke excellent French, she was recruited into the SOE in 1943. She began initial training in September 1943 at Winterfold House, Cranleigh, in Surrey. From here she proceeded to para-military training at Meoble Lodge, Morar, Invernesshire until October and wireless operator training at Thame Park, Oxfordshire in November and December 1943. She was chosen by French resistance leader Philippe de Vomécourt to be his wireless operator.

Byck worked as a secretary from 1936 to 1938 in London before becoming an Assistant Stage Manager at the Gate Theatre in 1937. At the outbreak of war, she joined the Red Cross as a voluntary worker and the WVS. She moved to Torquay in 1941 where she worked as National Registration Clerk and was also an ARP Warden.

Her SOE file revealed that from 1923 to 1924 she had lived with her family in Wiesbaden, Germany. The family must have moved to France in 1926 as she went to school at the Lycee de Jeunes Filles, St Germain, France, before moving to England in 1930 as Byck attended the Lycee Francais in Kensington, London, SW7, where she took the Baccalaureate in 1935 and then proceeded to the University of Lille.

Muriel Byck (4 June 1918 – 23 May 1944) was an agent of the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) organization in France during World War II. She died of meningitis.