Susan Travers, the only woman ever to have served in the French Foreign Legion.
The story of how she played the most pivotal role in saving the lives of 3,000 Legionnaires and various other British and Australian troops during the evacuation of Bir Hakiem under attack from General Irwin Rommel in the desert war of World War 2 is well documented.
But few people knew of the deeper, secret story, a love story, between her and General Pierre Koenig until I met Susan in Paris after a long search for her. It’s a fascinating story. I’ll tell it in pieces as it’s a bit of a long one.
Susan was an amazing woman and we became friends during her last few years alive. I’m not sure why I was the person she decided to tell the story to. I was certain the story was there and I worked hard to convince her to tell me so that I could tell the world. Anyway, she did in the end. And someone really quite huge in Hollywood now wants to make a movie about her – finally. It’s only taken me 22 years to get to this stage.
