Geoffrey Hallowes Geoffrey MacLeod Hallowes ( 15 April 1918 – 25 September 2006 ) was an officer of the Special Operations Executive ( SOE ) during the Second World War . He was the third husband of World War II heroine Odette Sansom ( née Brailly ) ; they married in 1956 . Biography . Hallowes was born in Kensington , London , the son of Edward Price Hallowes , a partner in Twiss , Browning & Hallowes of London , importers of Dry Monopole champagne , and Aileen Macleod of Adelaide , South Australia . He was educated at the Aldro prep school , Eastbourne , the Lyceum Alpinum Zuoz in Switzerland , and at Jesus College , Cambridge , but left without a degree . During the Second World War , Hallowes initially served with the 2nd Battalion , The Gordon Highlanders in the defence of Malaya against Japan in 1942 . His unit was one of the last to escape into Singapore before the causeway to Malaya was destroyed . When Singapore surrendered on 15 February 1942 , Hallowes joined Major " Nick " Nicholson to form one of two pairs of officers who were sent to carry the order to ceasefire to garrisons on the islands of Pulau Blakang Mati and Pulau Brani . They were given permission to try to escape from the Japanese after the order was delivered . They took a boat to the east coast of Sumatra , and walked to Padang , from whence they were rescued by Royal Navy destroyer which called in to refuel after the Battle of the Java Sea . They were shipped to Ceylon , and then flown to India . Hallowes became a staff captain in Bombay in May 1942 , but volunteered to join SOE . He joined a special forces training school in Haifa , and became a member of SOE ' s Force 133 , in Cairo , earmarked for assignments in Yugoslavia . Before long , he was reassigned to Peterborough to join an SOE " Jedburgh " team . 94 of these three - member teams , with one British or American officer , one French officer and a radio operator , were parachute d into France after D - Day , to assist the French Resistance with sabotage . Hallowes led his team , code - named " Jeremy " , with French Lieutenant Henri - Charles Giese and radio operator Sergeant Roger Leney . He and his team travelled via Algiers to arrive in the south of France on 24 August 1944 , where they were met by American SOE operative Virginia Hall . Hallowes and Giese travelled to Le Puy , the local Gaullist headquarters . He assisted the Free French forces by arranging a drop of arms , assisting them to liberate French villages , and encouraging them to prevent the Germans from withdrawing across the Rhône . He received a " Croix de Guerre " for his activities in France . Back in England in September 1944 , Hallowes joined SOE ' s Special Planning Unit 22 , to consider the feasibility of sending German - speaking SOE operatives ( particularly Poles and former German prisoners of war ) into German territory . He took charge of the prisoner of war elements , which gained useful intelligence of the Germans before the war ended , and of Soviet forces afterwards . He was mentioned in dispatches in 1945 . Post - World War II . After the war , Hallowes returned to England and joined the family wine importing company . He was co - founding director of the International Distillers & Vintners in 1962 , and the first chairman of the newly created IDV Europe in 1972 . Death . He retired from the board of IDV in 1983 , and died in 2006 , aged 88 , and is buried with his wife at Burvale Cemetery , Hersham , Surrey . In March 2008 a cache of arms was discovered during a house - clearance in a property in Walton - on - Thames . The weapons — an American M1 carbine , German MP 40 submachine gun , British . 38 Enfield No . 2 revolver , and American . 45 Ithaca M1911A1 , . 32 Colt Model 1903 Pocket Hammerless and German 9 mm Navy Model Luger pistols — were identified at the Imperial War Museum as belonging to Hallowes , before being donated to the Gordon Highlanders Museum in Aberdeen .