Heroine’s Journey

Hi, I'm Diane Gregg, and welcome to Invisible Women, a podcast about eight women who worked in espionage during World War II. They were from different countries, cultures and backgrounds. What they had in common was the opportunity to step outside of societal norms while at the same time working in the shadows. And while their contributions were incredibly important, they've been hidden. Invisible Women is an opportunity to hear their stories, to explore their roles in society, and to discover.

what we can learn from these stories that's relevant today. The fellow who had recruited me asked me if I would go to India. I didn't really know what I was getting into, but said yes. and was sent to the OSS Assessment School in Virginia. There I had training in spycraft, legend identities, and how to forge documents. I used to call it the Office of Silly Secrets, but I soon realized in India how things needed to be secret.

That's Janice, a young woman who worked in India undercover for the United States Office of Strategic Services, or the OSS, which is the predecessor to the CIA. On a hot New Delhi evening, a tuk-tuk dropped a friend and I off at the entrance of our Hindu temple. Leaving our sandals near the walls surrounding it, we ventured inward. After being in India just a few days,

The heat, the coolness of the dusty tiles, and the movement of my long cotton skirt across my legs was becoming familiar. String lights were twinkling above, and as I gazed upward, A very tall statue of Hanuman, the Monkey God, came into focus. As I stared at this archetypal god framed by the black sky, The outside street noises and car horns faded into the distance. My friend motioned me to a doorway ahead

Entering it, incense wafted through the air, revealing statues of colorful gods and goddesses in various sacred poses. I walked through a rock-walled tunnel and was blessed with a red bindi on my forehead.

signifying love, prosperity and honour. And in another room, a celebration of the goddess Shakti and her consort Shiva, also filled with statues and in the middle, a very large black yoni and lingam draped in garlands of yellow flowers celebrating the feminine and masculine reflecting the two fundamental creative and sustaining energetic forces of the universe which were different, but equal in power and reverence. When intertwined in their togetherness, one great creative universal force.

I was far away from the grey stone Gothic cathedral of Montreal. I had studied Hinduism, but the lived encounter with the temple, its goddesses and gods, the colours, smells and tactility, brought me into the understanding of the philosophy differently. Although a little disorienting, it was sensorially rich and easily embodied in the heat of the night.

Upon reflection, I realized that the Hindu goddesses weren't presented to me as Madonnas, but rather as sisters who bridged everyday reality and transcendence. Not all cultures split their goddesses and roles for women into a dual stance.

like Western culture. Visiting India 10 years after interviewing Janice, I thought of her love of India. I realized why her undercover work had been life-transforming for her. She was a young woman who'd been brought up in a small provincial Midwestern American town. who'd been dropped into the diverse, complex, and tumultuous 1940s India. And in this episode, you will hear Jenna speak about the attitudes toward women in India's academic and political circles.

and how it aided her reconnaissance and reporting back to the OSS. Rather than moving under the radar like European women agents, she was seen, accepted. and treated as an equal in various groups. This invited perfect conditions for her intelligence gathering. And because she was American and not British, Indian leaders, who she targeted for information,

were less suspicious of her. Therefore, through her time in India undercover, she was free of Western cultural projections and exposed to a fuller feminine continuum of roles and characteristics for women. Her absorption and assimilation of Indian culture and mysticism and its acceptance of educated women helped her fulfill her personal potential by validating her independence, intellect, and drive. She was freer in India.

Her professionalism gave her a seat at any discussion, gender being inconsequential. You will hear, because of the self-agency India afforded her, she chose to spend half her life there. And post-war, she carried this mantle of India home with her, ignoring the American projections and restrictions toward women, especially at university where there were few women enrolled, and when she couldn't. She was strategic in finding ways to succeed. The other women agents I interviewed

did not have the same undercover experience as Jenna's. Although they felt the exhilaration that Espionage invited, that is, being spontaneous, making decisions for themselves, being self-reliant and useful to the war effort, They were actually working within the restrictive cultural projections toward women to undermine the enemy, and never experienced, as Janus did, a different cultural lens.

And because they weren't exposed to different and favorable cultural projections towards women, they did not fully appreciate the degree of inequality they would experience post-war. They were all surprised that their contributions and bravery were not given the same acknowledgement as their male counterparts. Even though they had been selected and invited into espionage and done some of the most dangerous work, for the most part...

only women who had been tortured and murdered received, for instance, the United Kingdom's George Cross posthumously. For the most part, the dominant culture in most countries tried to sweep women's contributions under the carpet and have them default to the pre-war traditional and more restrictive ways of being. In fact, Céline, featured in episode 7, stated that years later,

she received a civilian medal, the MBE, from the United Kingdom. It's called the Medal of the Order of the British Empire, as did other Special Operations Executive or SOE women. Another woman agent returned it, saying she had not done civilian duties, but rather military. However, instead of awarding the women officers even years later a military medal,

They created a special category of the civilian medal. Céline mentioned to me that her husband, also an SOE agent, received two medals, both military, one from the United Kingdom and one from France. He was considered a war hero. She was not. The overall character of the era contributed to the women's war stories being dropped into the shadows, into the darkness, unacknowledged.

Their culturally sanctioned self-agency was undone, not unlike so many Western cultural fairy tales where the young feminine's natural empowerment and self-agency is reduced over the course of the narrative. And we still see this in Western culture today, and it mirrors the sacrifice of the fuller continuum of the feminine and her characteristics and roles historically. All the women I interviewed except Janice,

continued on with traditional lives. They didn't speak of their contributions and didn't really acknowledge any outrage of their treatment post-war until years later. Although three were employed in business center research, which was unusual for women in the 1950s, they were employed alongside their husbands, with the usual power gradient intact. You know, a woman's journey...

The heroine's journey is to realize first that one is in a masculine-dominated culture, and even if a woman models esteemed characteristics of the society to achieve, at some point she'll meet with roadblocks. due to the beliefs about women's capabilities and roles. If she's able to circumvent these roadblocks and excels to the top of her ladder, she will often lack the support that a male counterpart would have. For instance, if her work is queried or allegations arise about a professionalism,

she will not be protected like her male counterparts are by the old boys club. Because Janice experienced India in her 20s, she realized earlier than most that not all cultures were as restrictive and repressive toward women as her own. Many women take years to question their gender parameters, and once they are realized, many find it difficult to take action to develop themselves in ways that would be more fulfilling and deeply meaningful.

This is not only due to circumstances and projections, but also due to their internalized repression caused by assimilating their cultural beliefs. Even in my therapy practice today, I witness that women and others are unaware of the presence of the subtle repressive operating system in the psyche which shapes our perceptions and behaviors daily.

All is not lost. We don't have to travel or learn about others' experiences to grow, because the psyche has a way of balancing itself. When we become too one-sided in our worldview, And in this case, repressing a natural and fuller way of being, the unconscious will push us towards psychological development, or what is called individuation. This is where our inherent archetypal

patterns usually come into consciousness and into an obvious dynamic relationship with our individual life. For instance, I began this research because I was compelled by an image of women agents being parachuted into enemy territory by the light of the moon. I had a powerful and visceral embodied reaction to this image, but I didn't know why.

Why had it gripped me and crystallized in my mind, pushing me toward it? What I did know is that I was intensely curious about these women's courageous stories and why their war contributions had fallen into the fault lines of history. I suspected that studying women in wartime would magnify the overall complexity of the era's cultural character and how women navigated it, especially women in espionage who were asked to be in combative, strategic, and in dangerous positions.

which had not been sanctioned pre-World War II. Through the years and leaning into the research, I've discovered that the original image of women parachuting into enemy territory was an archetypal push from my unconscious to individuate further. Like a noir film, I began the research as a witness and then discovered I'm a character in it.

Not in the espionage part, but in being embedded in Western culture myself, and not realizing to what extent I had internalized certain beliefs about women and gender, about myself. The research itself was transformative. as it sent me on a journey, as I magnified the darkened stories of World War II women and the history of the feminine. The findings magnified my own internalized lenses and invited me to re-examine my life.

It's not just about me or you hearing about the women agents' stories. It's also the narrative of women and others in Western culture. the parameters of living in an authoritarian culture which does not serve us well. This research is about our invisible lenses which eclipse our reality, hindering our individual and collective potentials. including different creative solutions for the serious issues we are facing today. All is not lost.

The collective psyche is trying to balance itself, and we witness this through movements such as Me Too, LGBTQ+, and others. Coming into new consciousness and into different ways of being and working. different worldviews, with different kinds of empowerment such as discernment and compassion, which relate historically to the feminine, is at the very heart of individual and collective success.

What we have given up historically, the parts that have fallen into cultural shadow, can't be regained through attending to our embodied, lived experiences. reclaim lost aspects of ourselves to broaden the myopic and ill-fitting cultural mantles we share.

I interviewed Janice in the spring of 2005. We had numerous conversations about World War II, her long life, and her various publications. When we talked, she was still writing. and very concerned about the ecological crisis. Janice had not spoken to anyone at length about her espionage activities for the United States Office of Strategic Services .

She was gracious and eloquent and well-versed in the art of dialogue and manners, answering my questions with humor and directness. It was evident that the war work shifted the course of her life and worldview forever. I grew up in a small town, Great Bend, Kansas. My father owned the first hardware store. He was an entrepreneur and spoke Spanish fluently. My mother kept the house and was extremely well read. A voracious reader. I had one brother who has since passed.

I graduated valedictorian and went on to university, which was not typical for a woman in the 30s. I attended the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and did two bachelors, a major in music and a minor in arts. I played piano quite well and had hoped to develop my voice and perhaps instruct. I loved music. I had a good ear.

Well, women were discounted in my provincial town to begin with. I had a very Protestant upbringing, but as soon as I went to college, I met people from New York and other more progressive places, which challenged my upbringing and my early views. When the war broke out, I was keen to do something for the war effort. I applied for military service and was offered clerical or nursing jobs. My male friends were drafted or volunteered for the war.

Nobody wanted me unless I was a nurse. They wanted a number of women for clerical work, not my interest. No, well, I was a woman. Not easy in those days to be wanted. Before graduation, I felt that being a linguist would be a good idea for me, as I had a good ear, and that Japanese classes may be the way to go.

as not many people could handle learning it. The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where I was, offered Japanese language courses, so I applied. I was refused due to my gender because I was a woman. And I found out that women were not allowed to take Japanese language courses at the two universities in the U.S. that offered them at the time. Very conservative. However, I was determined not to be denied my equal right.

and began a one-person sit-in in protest outside the classroom door of the Japanese language program. Well, I think I learned to take risks for my father, who was an entrepreneur. I sat outside that door for two weeks until they finally gave in and I joined the program. I had a girlfriend, Maureen, sign up. so that we could each learn half of the Japanese characters, which quickly enabled us to develop a tandem team that worked very well for learning, and for later on, too.

Once Pearl Harbor was bombed, December 1941, anyone who could read Japanese was wanted. Immediately there was a need which made me useful.

I had no expectation of what I would do with my career. And then my former geography professor, who was already working for the OSS, recruited me as he did Maureen. First, I went to San Francisco where the OSS had an office. I was extracting all the war-related articles from Japanese newspapers and translating them.

Then, due to the internment of Japanese Americans beginning in early 1942, I was asked to interpret documents confiscated from the homes and temples of Japanese Americans who were sent to the relocation camps. There were ten camps in California. I was there a year and then the fellow who had recruited me asked me if I would go to India as the OSS was relocating him there.

I didn't really know what I was getting into, but said yes, and was sent to the OSS Assessment School in Virginia. There, I had training in spycraft. legend identities and how to forge documents. I used to call it the Office of Silly Secrets. But I soon realized in India how things needed to be secret. Then in January 1944, I was on my way to New Delhi, to the headquarters of the OSS in South Asia.

At that time, I was not especially interested in India. They had asked me to go. Well, in effect, they told me to go. It was not a place that I wanted to go. But I did. And I fell in love with India.

Well, there was worry, of course, that the Japanese would invade India through Burma, so the US sent their troops over in 1942. As you know, once France fell to the Nazis, the Japanese stepped up their invasions throughout the region. A U.S. Army Intelligent Group had been set up to observe only prior to the OSS arriving.

It was working with limited freedom. The British were cautious. They didn't want a U.S. special operation active in the same areas. There had been objections from the British, from MI6 and the SOE. The SOE were operating in the area, that is China, India, Burma. The Brits and Americans agreed that both OSS and SOE could function in Burma. So...

In spring 1942, a special operations unit, Detachment 101, was sent in from the U.S. to work in Burma. They went to the Nassam, India, and they launched paramilitary operations into Burma from there. I went in with others on the research and analysis, the RNA branch to New Delhi. We initially did research on Burma for Detachment 101, interpreting intercepted documents from Burma towards supporting their efforts.

Our department had good relations with the British, but it was really a time of upheaval. The Brits and the Chinese caused problems generally for American intelligence in India. In 1942, Gandhi had begun the Quit India Movement. Mass civil disobedience called Do or Die to force the British to leave India. The movement attacked institutions of colonial rule and there was violence directed at railway stations, government buildings and such. Gandhi was arrested and spent two years in prison.

He was released in 1944 because of ill health. The Raj did not want him to die in incarceration. There was a huge suppression of the movement by the Brits before he left prison. They were quite ruthless. The Brits knew then that the Indian soldiers were not interested in fighting for them. As I mentioned, I worked with Japanese documents from the Burma campaign.

We spent some time on such things as the Manchurian Industrial Development Corporation and other Japanese-occupied industries to analyze them as possible bombing targets.

At the same time, I had come to love India and wanted to learn Hindi, and it fit in well with my next assignment. It was exotic, of course. Everything about it was different from where I had grown up. It was exciting to be there at such an incredible time of change and to experience a historical transition, but also... Through the people, I came to deeply care about their sense of community and family. I felt that quite quickly I became as much Indian as American.

I enjoyed photography, sketching and poetry, and published a book on my sketches of India, the landscapes from places I traveled. I sent letters home to my parents at least twice a month, writing about what I could tell them. Also, I visited with many Indian people. I eventually began living with an Indian family. I learned a lot from Indian women. They were prominent and considered equal. Women have played an important role in India.

Nehru's sister was older than he and was representing India in the U.S. before India was independent. She was well-known in India before Nehru came along. No distinction was made professionally between women and men. It was a joy to be amongst women who were treated equally, and responsibilities in the home were also shared. And it took me a long time to be accepted fully by the Indians because of the British, but I was. It helped that I was an American.

I went to the Delhi Women's College and placed a note on their bulletin board for a tutor. This resulted in not only tutors, but a large variety of Indian friends. It became a place I went to socialize. and learn about different political perspectives. And I became very interested in Hindu mysticism. I made good friends there and was eventually invited to live with an Indian family.

Of course the OSS was delighted and encouraged this. Through these Indian connections, I sought out the most influential people. And by 1945, my undercover work became serious as I was delivering to the OSS biographical political profiles of Indian leaders and assessing Indian politics. I was traveling extensively throughout India, meeting various area leaders. I visited the Himalayas, Ceylon, Udaipur. I loved it.

The landscapes were strikingly beautiful, and the monuments, fascinating. I met many prominent Indians, such as Sufiros Kanun, of the Viceroy Cabinet and the Solicitor General, and also Dr. Roy, Mahatma Gandhi's physician. He later invited me to the famous Simla Conference on Indian Independence. where I made many important contacts and wrote a report for the OSS. The height of it all was when Dr. Roy also arranged for an interview with Mahatma Gandhi at an ashram near Calcutta in January 1946.

It was after India was independent and he was at the end of his life. I was there with another woman agent. I was extremely interested in his non-violence perspective and learned a great deal. Years later, in 1960, Nirmal Bose, an Indian anthropologist and a friend of Gandhi, gave me a copy of Gandhi's personal notes. Absolutely genuine. What you saw publicly was who he was privately. Gandhi is forever.

I was fascinated by setiagraha, the philosophy of non-violent resistance. Setia means truth, and agraha means effort or endeavor. In the 40s, there was great unrest and violence in India. I witnessed a tumultuous time with the Gandhian movement in full swing. Many factions within India fighting and the colonial pressure.

Initially, many thought the Americans were there to support the British hold on India, but that was not true. We were there to help the Brits with a potential Japanese invasion, and as time moved on, With the British withdrawing, we didn't want to leave a gap for communism to move in. I also witnessed the Gandhian philosophy in practice.

As I mentioned, I was traveling around during political upheaval and I witnessed many acts of violence, sword fighting and head rolling, literally. I would see violence right outside my apartment window. Sikhs, Muslims and Hindus fought out in the streets in front of me. A lot of violence came from the breakaway of Pakistan. One day, the Muslims and Sikhs were fighting with swords in the street.

It was a large riot with serious intent. They were ready to kill. Then Nehru came with his men. He drove up in a large black sedan, and they all jumped out, including Nehru. all in the Gandhian uniform, and they, to my amazement, stood between the opposing warriors without weapons and without the use of any violent language. They just stood there. And the fighting stopped. And the fighting factions turned away. Truly, it was perplexing.

I withdrew from the balcony to go think about it. How is this possible? How are they succeeding with this method? What are the motivations? I had an epiphany. that this method of non-violence was so very positive and a different method. I had to find out I was fascinated by this philosophy. and in part because I was not married to any given philosophical or religious systems. I had been brought up Protestant and not Catholic, which is a more open system.

I began studying satyagraha, this method of conflict resolution, and began adopting it in my own life as much as possible to the degree that I understood it. I am intense in whatever I do. I go deeply into it. My OSS boss used to say I was violently non-violent. You have to understand that India was different from America. There was no distinction between men and women politically. If you were a woman and capable enough to be involved in political conversations, perspectives, so be it.

I was always working toward finding and reporting on the movers and the shakers, the leaders of various regions. I got over my shyness and I sought out the most significant people in the political arena. It was easy for me to make contacts, irrespective of my sex and my background. I found it helped me when I returned to the US. I did not pay attention to the distinctions. I focused on the fact that we are all the same. It did not matter to me that I was a woman, and it did not matter to India.

As she described her work and exploration in India, I asked Janice about whether she was ever in any personal danger. The answer was yes, but in an unexpected way. It was during the two years I was traveling to the various unsettled and warring parts of India and Ceylon, meeting, interviewing, and learning from various high-level political leaders and writing reports up. I was accosted and...

almost raped in a hotel on my way back from Ceylon to India after meeting with my supervisor. I was on the third floor of the hotel, and suddenly, through the open window, a man crawled in. I was completely naked and getting ready for bed. It was incredibly hot and muggy. I was shocked. I was able to get a hold of myself and not grab a sheet and scream like a typical response might be.

I had already spent a lot of time studying Gandhi's non-violent method and understood it well enough and with confidence in Hindi to speak to him. I asked him if he'd like to come in and sit on the floor and talk. He was so astonished he did what I told him to do. So I slowly put my robe on all the while that I talked with him in Hindi. We talked together for four hours.

When he left, he was going out the door. He asked if I wanted to know his name. I said only if he wanted to tell me and that I would never reveal it or what he tried to do. He told me, and I never have. I hope I did some good. This was a highly significant life event for me. applying Satyagraha.

World War II was at its height when I was there, and India was going through a revolution. Then I was hot on the trail to the alternatives to war, which I am still exploring. My worldview had changed because of my experiences in India. India was personally more freeing, and this attracted me to it. There are big differences between India and where I'd come from. Women in India were real leaders working toward independence and have continued to be leaders. I have close friends in India.

They are like family. I lived with them when I returned. Initially, with the war, I was devoted to the whole idea of politics and took sides. But through coming to witness and understand Satyagraha, my views shifted. I saw Satyagraha going on right in the middle of warring sides, and it worked.

Well, after doing clandestine work in India, I was expected to continue my OSS career in intelligence in Washington, but I went back to university. In 1948, I enrolled at the University of California at Berkeley. and earned my PhD in political science in 1952. More men were getting advanced degrees than women in my time, but it didn't matter to me that I was a woman. Women were not considered, really.

Not listened to, much. And I had things to say, and I wanted to find a way to say them. There is so much more to Gandhi's method than nonviolence. I came to understand the Gandhian approach in interpersonal relationships, that daily we might use it. He did not have a single approach, and he was very creative. The method was transformative.

I'm speaking of myself. I mean, it certainly happened to me. I would like to see the better development of alternatives to violence. The OSS were not unhappy about my return to university. I continued to stay in contact with Indian leaders, writing privately and publicly, and eventually teaching about India, its many factions, its history and political leadership.

I had ongoing correspondence with Nehru and spent half of the next 20 years in India. I received a grant to continue my work and spent half of each year in India and half at Berkeley. No one else was doing this. and I continued to produce information about Indian politics and the political situation in India. Of course, the OSS had access to all of this for their own means.

I continued my passionate pursuit of the Satyagraha method of resolution of conflict, that is, finding ethical and moral ways to conflict resolution through inquiry. My raison d'être has always been to pursue a way of conducting conflict which is constructive. In 1958, I published a thorough review, a text of the Satyagraha method. I believe it's still in print. The foreword is written by Nehru. Through my time in India, I had discussions and correspondence with all of the prime ministers.

I did my best work at midlife. Don't make a distinction between women and men. People are people and we are different. Don't pay much attention to it. If you have something to say, find a way to do it. My whole educational process was stopped by the war. Everything about my life shifted. It's good in the sense that it makes you consider what you really care about, what is most significant to you, and to get on with it. That was Genesis story. Tanya Dixon Warren was the voice of Genesis.

This is the last episode of Invisible Women for the season. Please visit us on the web where you'll find additional information and resources. And I'd also like to invite you to leave comments or ask any questions you may have and subscribe to the newsletter. You can do that on the website at www.invisiblewomen.ca This podcast is produced by Robert Wemet. I'm Diane Gregg. Thanks for listening.