Parting Words - 14 incredible stories of human spirit from WW1 & WW2

In a period gripped by unimaginable conflict, quiet heroes from all corners of the world stood bravely in the face of war to help others through selfless acts of sacrifice.

Parting Words tells these incredible unknown stories, celebrating and honouring those who showed extraordinary human spirit in a time of terrible adversity.

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The last Comanche codetalker

Charles Chibitty Oklahoma, United States

A Native American Corporal who, alongside 17 other Native American ‘codetalkers’, was responsible for bewildering intercepting German forces with an unbreakable code drawn from their native Comanche tongue.

A joyous Bradley (center, waving) after being released from Japanese imprisonment, 1945. By US Army

America’s Angel in Fatigues

Ruby Bradley West Virginia, United States

Ruby Bradley was an imprisoned nurse in the Philippines during WW2, doing everything she could for other inmates and became known as ‘Angels in Fatigues’.

The visa vigilante

Chiune Sugihara Gifu Prefecture, Japan

A Japanese diplomat who defied orders and helped save thousands of lives by issuing Japanese visas to Lithuanian Jews so they could try to escape the Nazi Regime before it was too late.

The ‘Count of Auschwitz’

Charles Joseph Coward England

Coward by name, but certainly not by nature, Charles Joseph Coward helped save countless Jewish lives and was later able to testify against those responsible for the inhuman treatment of so many innocent people during the Second World War.

The brave pigeon that saved 200 lives

Cher Ami United States of America

Despite being shot through the breast, blinded in one eye and suffering trauma to a leg that meant it was hanging on only by a tendon, Cher Ami flew back to headquarters in just 25 minutes, saving the lives of 194 soldiers.

The cook that became a Pearl Harbour hero

Doris Miller Texas, United States

Doris Miller responded heroically when the battleship, West Virginia, was attacked at Pearl Harbor. He manned anti-aircraft guns, despite having no formal training and attended to the wounded. For his bravery, he was the first African American to be awarded the Navy Cross.

The maths whizz who helped prevent disaster

Eileen Younghusband London, UK

Like many women offering their services during the war, Eileen expected to be taken on first as a cook or a driver. But after revealing her aptitude for mathematics she was taken on as a special duties clerk, working in the Filter Rooms – the top-secret hubs of Britain’s air defence.

The Nazi sympathiser turned Jewish lifesaver

Georg Duckwitz Bremen, Germany

Adolf Hitler’s pursuit of the ‘Final Solution’ was horrifying and relentless. But in Denmark, one man’s daring act of heroism ensured that thousands of Jews escaped the Nazi regime unharmed.

Warsaw’s Guardian Angel

Irena Sendler Warsaw, Poland

Irena Sendler risked her own life to save around 2,500 Jewish children by smuggling them out of the Warsaw Ghetto, taking them to safe hiding places and found non-Jewish families to adopt them.

The Millionaire Matron

Julia Hunt Catlin Park Depew Taufflieb Vermont, United States

American socialite Julia Hunt Catlin Park Depew Taufflieb opened up her mansion to injured soldiers, turning it into a 300-bed military hospital. Julia remained and ran the hospital, using her own finances to help feed and treat the wounded who poured in from the front.

The ‘Vatican Pimpernel’

Hugh O'Flaherty Killarney, Ireland

An unassuming Irish priest, Hugh O'Flaherty, helped not only Jews but also prisoners of war and others in Rome escape imprisonment and death following the German invasion.

The White Mouse of Oceania

Nancy Wake Wellington, New Zealand

One of the most decorated servicewomen of the war, Nancy Wake's ability to foil and evade her German enemy gained her the nickname of the 'White Mouse', working behind enemy lines with the French Resistance and Special Operation Executive.

The weapon-less warrior

William Coltman Burton upon Trent, UK

William Coltman's Christian beliefs prevented him from taking up arms, but his feats of bravery without firing a shot were underlined when he ended the war as one of Britain's most decorated soldiers.

Britain’s greatest soldier

The Unknown Warrior United Kingdom

In Westminster Abbey lies the tomb of an ordinary man whose name will never be known. He represents not just the life of one, but of the hundreds of thousands of British and Commonwealth soldiers who died during the First World War.

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